An Analysis of Linkages between Literacy and Economic Participation of Women in India

An increase in women’s economic empowerment increases access and control over their strategic life choices, which affects their ability to effectively utilize available opportunities and understand their abilities. Education is one of the critical factors influencing women's economic empowerment. Due to several interventions for promoting female literacy, school enrolment of girls has increased, and the literacy rate improved significantly in India, especially in rural areas. However, this has no impact on female work participation when we compare it to male work participation. An attempt is made in the present paper to analyze the linkages between literacy and economic participation of women to understand the inter-state disparities in India. The study observed a weak correlation between literacy and female work participation rate, suggesting that higher literacy will not lead to a high female work participation rate due to the gender norms deeply rooted in the culture.