Women’ Working Status and their Children’ Education in Pakistan: An Evidence from PSLM Survey

Abstract

Working women contribute to household welfare in the form of child education, health, recreation, and nutrition. It also increases the welfare of household members. However, the situation varies depending on the formal and informal labor market, the adaptation of technology, the economic level of the country, and the socio-cultural status of the women in the household, community, and country. In this situation, the issue of the contribution of working women in child schooling is the focus of the current study. The study empirically investigates the relationship between female labor force participation and child schooling (5-15 years children) Pakistan by using micro data of Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement Survey (PSLM) 2011-12. The results of binary logistic regression show that women's employment has negative impact on child schooling, i.e. there is less probability of children to attend school as the mothers participate in the labor force. It is due to the higher ratio of female labor force participation in the informal labor market. The parental education, household income, gender of household head, and provision of electricity to the household have shown a positive impact on child schooling, while the number of children in the household and female gender of the child has shown a negative impact on child schooling.