Increasing level of education and falling labour force participation of women in the context of Kerala, India

Jameela Vadakarasseril Anandan, University of Kerala
Anjali Anchayil, National Law School of India University

Labour force participation among women in most of the developing countries is rising in recent years. In India also this trend can be witnessed even though the work participation rates are less compared to all other countries. Education is identified as a factor contributing to WPR. But in Kerala, female work participation rate appears to be lower and showing a declining trend despite its achievement in the field of female education. Hence, in this paper a modest attempt is made to probe the trends in female work participation rates, nature of the education system and the reasons for the decline in the work participation rate among females.The study found that the work participation of females are declining even though female education in the state is making headway .Faulty education system in the state of Kerala, predominance of arts and science colleges with conventional courses, huge fees charged in the self- financing colleges, lack of professional colleges in the government sector, gender discrimination etc are some of the factors identified leading to low work participation of women.