ABSTRACT

The relationship between female labour force participation (FLFP) and economic development is far more complex than it is often described in academic literature. Most studies have relied on income as the only proxy for development. In this paper, we re-examine this relationship from a multidimensional perspective.

A principal component analysis method was used in order to cluster the information contained in multiple development indicators. The analysed data include the following dimensions: access to basic services, environment, inequality, poverty, education, economic structure, health, income and FLFP.

The results provide evidence about the existence of a U-shaped relationship between development and FLFP. Least and most developed countries have the highest levels of FLFP and, conversely, countries with intermediate levels of development have the lowest. We observed that MENA and South Asian countries present a lower FLFP in relation to what is expected for their level of development. Our estimates suggest that FLFP is also affected by social, cultural and legal norms. Thus, greater freedom to travel or work as well as the existence of laws that criminalize workplace harassment promote FLFP. This suggests that differences in FLFP are explained by economics and non-economic factors and policy makers should explicitly consider this multidimensionality.

摘要

女性劳动力参与（FLFP）与经济发展之间的关系远比学术文献中描述的要复杂得多。大多数研究都依赖收入作为发展的唯一代表。在本文中，我们从多维的角度重新审视了这种关系。

为了对包含在多个发展指标中的信息进行聚类，使用了主成分分析方法。分析的数据包括以下维度：获得基本服务、环境、不平等、贫困、教育、经济结构、健康、收入和 FLFP。

这些结果提供了关于发展与 FLFP 之间存在 U 型关系的证据。最不发达国家和最发达国家的 FLFP 水平最高，相反，中等发展水平的国家最低。我们观察到，中东和北非和南亚国家的 FLFP 相对于其发展水平的预期较低。我们的估计表明，FLFP 也受到社会、文化和法律规范的影响。因此，更大的旅行或工作自由以及将工作场所骚扰定为犯罪的法律的存在促进了 FLFP。这表明 FLFP 的差异可以通过经济和非经济因素来解释，政策制定者应该明确考虑这种多维性。