What drives women participation in unpaid work in India?

The primary goal of this paper is to examine the factors that bear on the greater participation of women in unpaid activities in India. The study is based on the employment-unemployment survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO)in 2011-12, and NSS Report Numbers 550 and 559. The results of descriptive and regression analysis show that socio-cultural factors strongly affect women’s participation in unpaid work as compared to other economic and non-economic factors. It is also found that women belonging to rich and affluent households with better education are less likely to participate in paid work.