Husband's higher earnings lead to fluctuating employment likelihood for wife: Study

livemint.com:

₹40,000 (approx) per month, a study has found. A common gender norm is the “male breadwinner" norm, that is, husbands are considered the primary earners with wives contributing to household income only if necessary. However, the study showed that in households where the husband’s earnings are high, the probability of the wife being employed is low.

This trend slows down as the husband's income rises in rural India. In the case of urban India, as husband’s earnings keep rising, from approximately ₹40,000 per month onwards, there is an increased likelihood of wives being employed. This could be because such husbands are matched with higher-educated wives who have preferences as well as opportunities to access better-paid work, according to the State of Working India 2023 report by Azim Premji University released this week.

In another trend, the report highlighted that women seek more formal employment if their mother-in-law has a job. If the mother-in-law was present and employed herself, this is associated with a higher likelihood of women’s participation to the extent of 50% (rural) to 70% (urban) more than households with no mother-in-law present. As per the study, marriage increases the likelihood of being employed for women in rural Karnataka and Rajasthan.

Women experienced a sharp jump in workforce participation from 26% in the year preceding marriage to 49% in the first five years of marriage. This employment was largely as contributing family workers or self-employment in agricultural work, the study added. For most women in India, decisions around employment are seldom their own but rather made by or in conjunction with household members - parents, spouses, and/or in-laws.