Probing the linkages between educational level and occupational choices of women working in urban informal sector of India

BACKGROUND: Education is crucial for empowering women in the labour market. However, the choice of occupation may not always necessarily be determined by their level of education. OBJECTIVE: The present study seeks to answer two important questions: (1) Does education help in determining occupational choices of women working in the informal sector? (2) How do factors like number of dependents in the family, woman staying with family, migration status of a woman and the use of networks in the job-search process, affect the occupational choices of women working in the informal sector? METHOD: The study utilised the data collected from 476 women, working in the urban informal sector of three northern States of India. We have estimated multinomial Probit model to analyse the data. RESULTS: This paper argues that education level cannot be the sole premise for a woman to have a better occupational choice within the informal sector. Other factors play a relatively significant role in determining the choice of occupation by a woman. CONCLUSION: Working women in the urban informal sector have less autonomy in the choice of their occupation and the education levels alone cannot help in providing access to more hygienic, career enriching and well-paying options to them.