It costs a woman 90% of her expected monthly earnings to work in SL, says research paper

• Perceived overall cost of working for an urban woman is estimated to be Rs.22,672 per month compared to expected median earnings of Rs.25,500 
• Employed women perceive an overall cost 1.6 times greater than compensation they receive
• Unpaid labour of extended family members is a critical enabler of women’s labour force participation
• Despite perceived costs outweighing earnings, no woman currently employed expresses any desire to leave labour force

By Shabiya Ali Ahlam
Working in Sri Lanka for women is becoming increasingly unappealing, as the cost borne by an urban female employee is about 90 percent of her month’s expected earnings, an award-winning research paper revealed.

‘Cost of Doing a Job for Urban Women in Sri Lanka’, a research paper by independent economic think tank Verite Research, found that the perceived overall cost of working for an urban woman in Sri Lanka is estimated to be Rs.22,672 per month, while the expected median earnings are at Rs.25,500.

“It costs more for women to engage in paid work. This deep cost might actually help explain why Sri Lanka’s female labour force participation rate is so low,” said Sumini Siyambalapitiya, one of the co-authors of the paper, during the launch of the study findings.

Currently, employed women perceive an overall cost 1.6 times greater than the compensation they receive. This suggests that they discount the non-monetary costs in their decision-making to engage in market work, the study revealed.

The women surveyed stressed that working was associated with higher monetary costs but the costs seemed to be somewhat offset by the instrumental and intrinsic value that they assigned to work. 

This was deduced in the study on the basis that despite reporting higher perceived costs than actual earnings, none of the currently employed women expressed a desire to leave the labour force.

While the patriarchal gender norms regarding women and work that are internalised within the institution of marriage are a contributing factor to the decision-making process, the unpaid labour of the extended family members is a critical enabler of women’s labour force participation, the study highlighted.

To elaborate on the latter, the research sheds light on the fact that the cost of existing paid childcare services is not affordable for women below the second household income quintile of Sri Lanka. The monetary cost of outsourcing childcare ranges between Rs.22,400 and Rs.27,000.

The paper, which was recognised as the research of the year for 2021 by the University of South Carolina, found that overall, all participants valued employment for instrumental reasons of financial independence and opportunity to network in society. They valued it intrinsically for the opportunity to apply their knowledge and learn further.

Sri Lanka’s female labour force participation has been grim for decades and shows very little signs of improvement. In 2021, only 30.9 percent of women were in the labour force, compared to 71.1 percent of men.

The 2021 Global Gender Gap Report found Sri Lanka to have the 17th largest gender gap in labour force participation in the world. The island nation ranks low for female labour force participation even within the South Asian region, although it ranks higher in other human development outcomes such as female education rates and low fertility.