Economic development and female labor force participation: A reconsideration

Despite theoretical arguments relating economic and industrial structures to fe-male labor force participation, cross-national studies have failed to empirically confirm such a relationship. This paper reconsiders the cross-national determi-nants of female labor force participation by examining: (1) the curvilinear and interactive effects of economic development, as properly specified from existing theories, and (2) a more complete set of explanatory variables than has been used in previous studies. Models are estimated using data for 70 nations for two time points-1965 and 1970. The results show curvilinear effects of energy use on fe-male labor force participation: development initially forces women out of the labor force, but at advanced levels increases female participation. Other variables found to be important determinants of female labor force participation include family size, female education, the adult sex ratio, economic dependency, and labor force growth. Further, several of these variables are found to have different effects by level of development. Thus, the results affirm the curvilinear effects of economic development as a determinant of female labor force participation and suggest that they be considered with family, social, and demographic explanations of the status of women. Cross-national studies of the relationship between industrial development and female labor force participation (FLFP) show that it is either nonexis-tent or spurious (Ferber and Lowry; Safilios-Rothschild). Several studies suggest that a bivariate linear relationship exists, but that it disappears with controls for family structure and fertility (Coilver and Langlois; Yous-sef), income inequality (Semyonov), economic dependency (Ward), o