The lecture discussed changing livelihood strategies and labor market prospects from a gender perspective. It defined key terms like livelihood strategies and explored how they are dynamic and shaped by factors like policies, institutions, and access to resources. The lecture then examined how livelihoods are vulnerable to sudden changes and trends. It discussed how changes in livelihoods impact women disproportionately. The lecture also analyzed gender roles in livelihood strategies and sustainable development. Finally, it explored shifting labor market trends like globalization and women's participation being characterized by unpaid work, lower wages, and sectoral segregation. The reasons for fewer women in the workforce were summarized from structural, socio-cultural and feminist perspectives.

1. Gender & Economy-Lecture Two
A Lecture at Department of Conflict, Peace and Development Studies,
TU
‘Changing Livelihood Strategies: Changing Labour Market Prospects’
Date: 23/05/2016
Lecture By Keshab Giri

2. Today’s Lecture
 Meaning of the Terminologies
 Livelihood Strategies & Gender
 Gender and Labour Market
 Conclusion

3. Last Lecture
 Building Conceptual Framework: Startling Facts Unheard before
 Status of Women in a State and Prosperity and Security of that State
 Why Gender Equality is a must for Smart Economy? Some Statistics and
Stories
 Supposed Drawbacks of Gender Equality & Women’s Employment
 Gender Equality in Nepal
 Conclusion

4. Meaning: Livelihood Strategy & Labour
Market Prospects
Four dimensions of poverty according to Amartya Sen (1993):
(a) Lack of access to labour markets and employment opportunities and productive
resources;
(b) Lack of access to capabilities and public services as education and health;
(c) Vulnerability to economic risks and to public and domestic violence, as well as
constraints on mobility;
(d) Lack of representation/empowerment, being without voice and with- out power at
the household, community and national/international levels.

5. Meaning: Livelihood Strategy & Labour
Market Prospects
Livelihood Strategy: Put narrowly- strategy to make a living. Regular source of
income counts as major strategy to make a living.
"A livelihood comprises the capabilities, resources (including both material and social
resources) and activities required for a means of living." (Robert Chambers and
Gordon Conway, 1991)
Labour Market Prospects: What kind of work/employment opportunities are prevalent
in the Labour Market to support people in their Livelihood?
Mutually Reinforcing Each Other.
Both are Dynamic Process.

6. A. Changing Livelihood Strategies
 Any strategy for livelihood that is adaptive to adverse changes (structural and micro)
and can maintain and enhance its resources, capabilities, and activities and that being
done without depletion of any resources, is Sustainable Livelihood Strategy.
Dynamics of Livelihood Strategies: People can combine more than one activities to
supplement and steady their livelihood. Example: Sherpas working as Porters on
mountain climbing season and working in Austria during off-season.

7. Changing Livelihood Strategies
Livelihood Strategies beyond Materialism: Livelihood can comprise both material and non-
material resources.
Valdivia, et al, (2012)
"Latino/a Wealth and Livelihood
Strategies in Rural Midwestern
Communities". Choices.
Quarter 1
Conway and Chambers (1991):
Capability, Equity, and
Sustainability for the Sustainable
Rural Livelihood.

8. Changing Livelihood Strategies
 Marsh, Robin (2003) Working with Local Institutions to Support Sustainable
Livelihood. FAO (Rural Development Division).

9. Changing Livelihood Strategies
 Determinants of Livelihood (Strategies):
Policies: Government Plan, Rules, Provisions, etc.
Institutions: Government Institutions to implement Policies, Social Political
Organizations, Local Institutions, Governance, etc.
Access to Resources: Infrastructures, Human Resource, Social Resource, and
Natural Resource.
 Tangible Resources (resources And stores) Intangible Resources (Claim and Access)
Chambers and Conway, 1991.

10. Livelihood Vulnerabilities: Macro
Sudden Change: Natural Disasters, Epidemic, War…
Trends: Global Warming, Over Population, etc.
Seasonality: Cyclical Trends: Winter Snow, Flooding…
See Jane Corbett (1988) ‘Famine and Household Coping Strategies’

11. Livelihood Vulnerabilities: Micro
Sudden Change: Death, illness in Family
Trends: Rising Health/Education Level
Cycles: Changing Dependency Level
Read Agrawal (1990) who also likes to call them
‘idiosyncratic shocks’

12. Impacts of Livelihood Changes
 Women are more likely to be disproportionately affected
 Impact depends upon Income Level/Economic Status
 Impact is different to different occupation groups
 Caste and Impact of Changes on Livelihood
 Geographical Location

13. Gender, Livelihood Strategies and
Sustainable Development
Sustainable Development: Fulfilling present development needs without
compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs (WCED, 1987: 8).
Sustainable Livelihood: It also goes beyond traditional approaches to poverty
eradication. Integrated approach and holistic perspective on poverty.
The sustainable livelihoods idea was first introduced by the Brundtland Commission on
Environment and Development as a way of linking socioeconomic and ecological
considerations in a cohesive, policy-relevant structure (Krantz, 2001).
But SL too puts minimal focus on intra-household inequality which can impact
sustainability of this approach (Ibid).

14. Gender, Livelihood Strategies and
Sustainable Development
 More women perceived that they have higher sensitivity and lower adaptive
capacity - family decision making
 Providing adequate and predictable financing resources for gender equality is
crucial to achieving existing goals and political commitments on sustainable
development, including addressing climate change (Schalatek, Liane, 2012).
“We also resolve to promote gender equality and the
empowerment of women as effective ways to combat
poverty, hunger and disease and to stimulate development
that is truly sustainable.” —UN Millennium Declaration, 2000
International Day for Rural Women, to be commemorated
on 15 October every year, beginning in 2008 as declared
by UN General Assembly (UN, 2008). Also MDG Three.

15. B. Changing Labour Market Prospects
Major Trends:
Agro-Economy to Knowledge Economy.
Globalization of Economy and Globalized Labour Market
Outsourcing: Offshore Western Factories in China, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, etc.
Mobility of unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled human resources.
Distance Working

16. Women in Labour Market: A Glance

17. Women in Labour Market: A Glance
 3 Major Characteristics of
Women in Work Force:
Predominantly Unpaid Work
Even when they work, they are more
likely to work part-time compared to
men who mostly work full-time.

18. Women in Labour Market: A Glance

19. Women in Labour Market: A Glance
Unequal Pay: Less pay even for comparable work.

20. Women in Labour Market: A Glance
 Unequal Pay : Wage gap in the World 23% (ILO, 2016), in OECD about 16%
(Ghazala Azmat, 2015). It will take another 70 years to fill the wage gap (ILO, 2016).
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Pakistan India Bangladesh Sri Lanka Bhutan Nepal
GDP Per Capita for Women Compared
to Men in South Asia (Percentage)

21. Women in Labour Market: A Glance
Sectoral and Occupational Segregation:
ILO Report, 2015 & 2016

22. Women in Labour Market: A Glance
Sectoral and Occupational Segregation:
According to ILO Report 2015 & 2016-
 More than Half of the women’s world population employed in Service Sector (61.5%).
 In Higher income countries a third of women in Labour Force are in Health and
Education Sector, in Higher Middle Income Countries, they are in Retail Sector
(33.9%), in Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa 60% in Agriculture.
 Women represent only 7% of Corporate Board Members of top 500 Companies and
Corporate Houses and only 3% of the top 500 CEOs (Hudson, et al, 2012).

23. Women in Labour Market: A Glance
 Impact on Efficiency of Manpower due to Segregation:
 Market Distortion Effect (Klasen, 1999)
 Overcrowding Model
 Negative Feedback Loop & Greater Inequality: Further Deterred

24. Why Less Women at Work?
 Structural Factors
Socio-Cultural Factor
State Policies
Inequality in Education and Health
Inheritance and Ownership of Property/Land
Patriarchy

25. Why Less Women at Work?
 Feminist Perspectives
Essentialism and Difference Feminism
Liberal Feminism
Constructivism

26. Recap
Poverty, Livelihood, and Sustainable Livelihood Strategy
Tools and Determinants of Livelihood Strategy
Causes of Livelihood Change
Gender, Livelihood Strategy, and Sustainable Development
Changing Labour Market Perspectives
Women in Labour Market: Three Characteristics and Impact.
Reasons behind Fewer Women in Labour Market and Feminist Perspective

27. Conclusion
Livelihood Strategy should be understood Holistically.
In spite of progressive approach on Development, SLA still fails to entail gender
perspective rigorously
Gender Equality, a prerequisite for Sustainable Development.
Pervasive Gender Inequality in Labour Market both in Developed and
Developing/Underdeveloped countries but very slow improvement.
Less women in Work force is a waste of human resource and costs are higher
Must address underlying causes of Gender Inequality in Labour Market.

28. Selected Bibliography
• WCED (1987) Our Common Future. The Report of World Commission on Environment
and Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Sen, Amartya (1987) The Standard of Living, The Tanner Lectures, Clare Hall,
Cambridge 1985. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
•Sen, Amartya (1993) Capability and Well-being. In: Martha Nussbaum and Amartya
Sen (eds), The Quality of Life. Clarendon: Oxford, UK.
•Chambers, R. and Conway, G. R. (1991) Sustainable Rural Livelihoods: Practical
Concepts for the 21st Century. IDS Discussion Paper 296.
•Marsh, R. (2003) Working with Local Institutions to Support Sustainable Livelihood.
Rome: Rural Development Division, FAO.
•Collier, Paul (1998) Social Capital and Poverty. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.
•DFID (1998) Sustainable Rural Livelihoods: What contribution can we make? ed. by
Diana Carney. London: DFID.
•Krantz, L. (2001) The Sustainable Livelihood Approach to Poverty Reduction: An
Introduction. Stockholm: Division for Policy and Socio-Economic Analysis, SIDA.

29. Selected Bibliography
• ILO (2016) Women at Work: Trends 2016. Geneva: ILO Office.
•Kelkar, Govind (2005) Development Effectiveness through Gender Mainstreaming: Gender
Equality and Poverty Reduction in South Asia. Economic and Political Weekly, 40(44/45), pp.
4690-4699.
•Kabeer, Naila (2016) Gender Equality, Economic Growth, and Women’s Agency: the “Endless
Variety” and “Monotonous Similarity” of Patriarchal Constraints. Feminist Economists, 22(1), pp.
295-321.
• UN (2008) Women 2000 and Beyond. New York: United Nations- Division for the Advancement
of Women, Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
•Agarwal, Bina (1990) Social security and the family in rural India coping with seasonality and
calamity, Journal of Peasant Studies, 17(3), pp. 341–412.
•Corbett, Jane (1988) Famine and household coping strategies, World Development, 16(9), pp.
1099–112.
•Kabeer, Naila (2015) Gender, Poverty, and Inequality: a brief history of feminist contributions in
the field of international development. Gender and Development, 23(2), pp. 189-205.
•ILO and ADB (2011) Women and Labour Markets in Asia: Rebalancing towards Gender
Equality in Labour Markets in Asia. Bangkok: ILO Regional Office for Asia and Pacific and ADB.

30. Question Time
Please introduce yourself before presenting your question.
Do try to make it brief and precise.

31. Next Lecture
Women Participation in Labour Market

32. Thank you
Thank you for your Patience!