ABSTRACT
Participation in the labor force is one of the traditionally significant motives for male migration to the cities in Asia and is becoming increasingly significant for females. The relationship between female migration and employment in Asian countries has not been studied extensively. Age and marital status represent the respondent's demographic status and have been shown to be important variables in the work history of migrant women. Migration from rural to urban areas is regarded as a function of the rural/urban wage differential and the probability of obtaining formal urban employment, taking into account the direct and indirect effects of sex discrimination. Women who were household heads had consistently higher participation rates than nonheads among both migrants and nonmigrants. The chapter analyzes female work participation both in terms of activity rates—calculated as percentages economically active among females in a specified age group and other population categories—and in terms of occupational distributions.
