Gender Wage Gap and Gender Work Inequality in India

This study attempts to find how gender inequality in wages influences the inequality in gender work division within households. While the gender wage gap is falling, there is continuous fall in female labour market participation, rather than rising, which is a puzzling situation. This study has tried to explain this puzzling situation using Periodic Labour Force Survey (2018-19) and Time Use Survey (2019). Inequality in wages have been considered in terms of gender wage gap. Using fractional regression analysis, we find that gender wage gap positively influences the paid work participation for both males and females. Simultaneously, it causes a fall in unpaid work activities, such as care work. For females, the impact is more strong implying that own income effect is stronger than substitution effect of wages, while for males, the substitution effect is stronger. The males switch their time from domestic and care work to paid work when wage gap rises. But females switch time from care work and own production work to paid work when wage gap rises. The study ends with recommendation of policies such as incentives and benefits for working women which will increase the substitution effect of wages for the females and induce them into the labour market.