Abstract:
Female employment in India remains among the lowest globally, despite rising education and economic growth. We examine whether gender-restrictive labor regulations constrain women's employment by studying removal of restrictions on women working night shifts in the services sector. Exploiting state-wise staggered policy adoption and nationally representative labor force surveys, we estimate causal effects of these reforms. Removing nightwork restrictions increases women's employment; likelihood of holding formal contracts; and increases wages in urban services sectors; led by formal and higher-skilled occupations. Time-use surveys reveal household spillovers with women, relative to men, being more likely to take-up and spend time in night-work. Results are suggestive of reallocation of women towards better jobs within the sector.
