ABSTRACT
Using quantitative and qualitative data, factors affecting women working include age, marital status, household head and income status. There were persistent inequalities in women's wages, which were lower than men's wages for similar types of occupation. Among households with female earners, women contributed 34 percent of total income and 58 percent of total work days by women. Fifty three percent of husbands do not allow women to work at all, which supports male control over female labour. This reinforces women's subordination within and outside the household. For example, as well as working full time, women have the responsibility for domestic and child care work
Introduction
The increasing involvement of women in the paid labour force is likely to have important implications for various dimensions of women's lives, for their own and their family members well-being. The most obvious result of women's work is that it offers the possibility of higher family income and greater diversity of income sources. Women's wages can introduce stability to the income flow into the household and so ensure basic subsistence needs (Kabeer, 1995). Research suggests that women's decision making power within the family increases if they are wageearning members, and this may have positive implications for women's access to resources and personal well-being (Kabeer, 1995; Standing, 1991; Creevy, 1996; Sharma, 1986).
