Female Work Participation in Villages of India

This paper attempts to identify patterns of female work participation in more than 578 thousand villages of India using the data mining approach. The analysis is based on an index of participation that has been developed for the purpose and takes into the consideration both the extent and the intensity of participation in productive activities. The analysis reveals that Indian villages can be grouped into 10 clusters with different level of female participation and with distinct village characteristics and there are distinct regional patterns. An interesting finding of the analysis is that participation of females in productive activities at the village level is relatively lower in villages higher level of female education as compared to villages with lower levels of female education. It appears that appropriate opportunities of participation for educate females are not available in the villages of India. Creating these opportunities at the village level is necessary not only for the transformation of village economy but also for women’s empowerment.