Women's participation in the labour force: a methods test in India for improving its measurement

Labour force statistics in developing countries have come under heavy criticism in recent years, as much of women's labour force activity has gone unreported or under-reported. Partly for this reason, women are frequently excluded from development plans and the allocation of resources, even though their work in both market and non-market activities is often essential to the survival of their families.

This original study based on a specially designed survey of 1,621 households in Uttar Pradesh State, northern India - is concerned with ways of improving the measurement of women's participation in the labour force. What types of questionnaire provide the most accurate data? Does the sex of the interviewer or the respondent influence the outcome? Do proxy respondents (people answering for the women) provide different replies from the women themselves? The authors address these issues and show that appropriate survey techniques and questionnaire design can lead to a more accurate and complete measurement of women's labour force activity. Their conclusions are relevant to developing countries as a whole and to planners, policy-makers and statisticians alike.