IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/ijlaec/vyid10.1007_s41027-020-00223-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Female Domestic Workers: Income Determinants and Empowerment Correlates—A Case Study

Author

Listed:
  • Sanghita Bhattacharjee

    (Women’s College, Calcutta)

  • Bhaskar Goswami

    (University of Burdwan)

Abstract

This paper deploys the information of 300 female domestic workers who work to make up the difference between subsistence requirements and the total earnings of the family. The determinants of monthly income of the workers are age, type of work, total family members, per-capita monthly household income, year of schooling and number of houses serviced. Low wages, low level of education, less control over assets and income, verbal and physical abuse and the absence of social security are reflected in their weak bargaining power which results in a low level of empowerment. Women’s earnings do not always ensure empowerment, especially when the wages are low. Meaningful legal safeguards, welfare measures and other provisions for empowerment must be inducted in modern society to reduce injustices, deprivations and indignities towards female domestic workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Sanghita Bhattacharjee & Bhaskar Goswami, 0. "Female Domestic Workers: Income Determinants and Empowerment Correlates—A Case Study," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 0, pages 1-16.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ijlaec:v::y::i::d:10.1007_s41027-020-00223-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s41027-020-00223-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s41027-020-00223-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s41027-020-00223-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rai, Ashok & Ravi, Shamika, 2011. "Do Spouses Make Claims? Empowerment and Microfinance in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 913-921, June.
    2. Punita Bhatt Datta & Robert Gailey, 2012. "Empowering Women through Social Entrepreneurship: Case Study of a Women's Cooperative in India," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 36(3), pages 569-587, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sanghita Bhattacharjee & Bhaskar Goswami, 2020. "Determinants of Empowerment: An Insight from the Study of the Female Domestic Workers," Paradigm, , vol. 24(2), pages 226-238, December.
    2. Ankita Tandon & Unnikrishnan K. Nair, 2015. "Enactment of knowledge brokering: Agents, roles, processes and the impact of immersion," Working papers 183, Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode.
    3. Thilde Langevang & Katherine V. Gough & Paul W. K. Yankson & George Owusu & Robert Osei, 2015. "Bounded Entrepreneurial Vitality: The Mixed Embeddedness of Female Entrepreneurship," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 91(4), pages 449-473, October.
    4. repec:kqi:journl:2018-2-2-1 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Jean C. Kouam & Simplice A. Asongu, 2022. "Effects of Taxation on Social Innovation and Implications for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals in Developing Countries: A Literature Review," Working Papers 22/046, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    6. Weber, Olaf & Ahmad, Adnan, 2014. "Empowerment Through Microfinance: The Relation Between Loan Cycle and Level of Empowerment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 75-87.
    7. Gras, David & Nason, Robert S., 2015. "Bric by bric: The role of the family household in sustaining a venture in impoverished Indian slums," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 546-563.
    8. Tchakoute Tchuigoua, Hubert, 2016. "Buffer capital in microfinance institutions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 3523-3537.
    9. Celestine Katongole & John C. Munene & Muhammed Ngoma & Samuel Dawa & Arthur Sserwanga, 2015. "Entrepreneur’s Intrapersonal Resources and Enterprise Success among Micro and Small Scale Women Entrepreneurs," Journal of Enterprising Culture (JEC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(04), pages 405-447, December.
    10. Kendo, Sandra & Tchakounte, Josephine, 2022. "The drivers of the financial integration of microfinance Institutions: Do financial development, agency costs and microfinance performance matter?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 128-142.
    11. Norin Arshed & Dominic Chalmers & Russell Matthews, 2019. "Institutionalizing Women’s Enterprise Policy: A Legitimacy-Based Perspective," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(3), pages 553-581, May.
    12. Welsh, Dianne H.B. & Kaciak, Eugene & Fadairo, Muriel & Doshi, Vijayta & Lanchimba, Cintya, 2023. "How to erase gender differences in entrepreneurial success? Look at the ecosystem," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    13. Rajeev Goel & Devrim Göktepe-Hultén & Rati Ram, 2015. "Academics’ entrepreneurship propensities and gender differences," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 161-177, February.
    14. Verena Gramm & Cristina Dalla Torre & Andrea Membretti, 2020. "Farms in Progress-Providing Childcare Services as a Means of Empowering Women Farmers in South Tyrol, Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-18, January.
    15. Bhup KC, 2018. "The Role of Saving and Credit Co-operatives in Rural Women Empowerment in Dang, Nepal," Journal of Development Innovations, KarmaQuest International, vol. 2(2), pages 26-33, November.
    16. Kai Hockerts, 2017. "Determinants of Social Entrepreneurial Intentions," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(1), pages 105-130, January.
    17. Sara Poggesi & Michela Mari & Luisa Vita, 2016. "What’s new in female entrepreneurship research? Answers from the literature," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 735-764, September.
    18. Bonfanti, Angelo & De Crescenzo, Veronica & Simeoni, Francesca & Loza Adaui, Cristian R., 2024. "Convergences and divergences in sustainable entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship research: A systematic review and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    19. Samer Ali Al-shami & Abdullah Al Mamun & Nurulizwa Rashid & Mohammed Al-shami, 2021. "Microcredit Impact on Socio-Economic Development and Women Empowerment in Low-Income Countries: Evidence from Yemen," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-18, August.
    20. Mohd Yasir Arafat & Javed Ali & Amit Kumar Dwivedi & Imran Saleem, 2020. "Social and Cognitive Aspects of Women Entrepreneurs: Evidence from India," Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, , vol. 45(4), pages 223-239, December.
    21. Elvis Dze Achuo & Simplice A. Asongu & Vanessa S. Tchamyou, 2022. "Women empowerment and environmental sustainability in Africa," Working Papers of The Association for Promoting Women in Research and Development in Africa (ASPROWORDA). 22/003, The Association for Promoting Women in Research and Development in Africa (ASPROWORDA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Female domestic workers; Informal; Empowerment; Cumulative Empowerment Index; South 24 Parganas;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J46 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Informal Labor Market
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:ijlaec:v::y::i::d:10.1007_s41027-020-00223-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.