An Economic Analysis Of Women Working In Non-Farm Sector In A Selected Area Of Kushtia District

The study examines the nature and extent of women's participation in non-farm sector covering 70 women workers of Daulatpur upazila in Kushtia district. The selected available workers were classified according to household income, of which 34 of them were very poor, 8 were medium poor and 28 were moderately well-to-do. Evidence showed that female workers were mostly engaged in non-farm sector, 95 per cent of the very poor women workers worked as day labourer while 64 per cent under moderately well to do households worked in services. Twenty and 30 per cent of the selected rural women workers were respectively divorced and widow. The female workers worked monthly on an average 17.95, 9.70 and 13.73 man-days in non-agricultural activities respectively for very poor, medium poor and moderately well-to-do workers while the male counterparts worked 21.88, 26.00 and 19.43 man-days. The annual household incomes of very poor, medium poor and moderately well-to-do groups were Tk. 36074, Tk. 80989 and Tk. 176639 respectively and the contributions of women were 43.10, 31.08 and 35.90 per cent. The shares of expenditure on food and non-food items were 79.47 and 20.53 per cent for very poor, 81.59 and 18.41 per cent for medium poor and 71.31 and 28.69 per cent for moderately well to-do worker, respectively. The household income was significantly influenced by education, number of earning member and income from agriculture; and family size and number of earning member significantly influenced on labour supply.