Women and Choice of Rural Non-Farm Employment: A Micro Study in The Himalayan Region of West Bengal

This paper utilises primary household survey data from the Himalayan region of Darjeeling district of West Bengal state to examine the nature and structure of women employment in the district. An extended technique of Heckman selection as modelled by Tulani (1986) is used, and the estimation is done by following the Heckman (1979) procedure. The study has found a huge informalisation of women employment with growing feminisation of agricultural activities in the study region. Various socio-economic features of the household are found to play an important role in determining the choice of non-farm employment for women. Educational attainment is found to be the most important factor that determines the choice for wage-employment as against self-employment. The wage equation revealed that age, education, and experience are the important factors that determine the wage rate of women in our study region. The presence of children below 6 years of age and the number of workers at home reduce the hours of work supplied by the women.