Impact of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) on Rural Female Workforce Participation Ganguly Nidhi1, Narayan Jagdish2 1Research Scholar, Department of Economics, University of Allahabad, Allahabad, India. ganguly.nidhi@gmail.com 2Professor and Dean, Faculty of Commerce, Department of Economics, University of Allahabad, Allahabad, India. jnpurwar@rediffmail.com Online published on 11 October, 2017. Abstract This paper aims to analyze the factors that affect female workforce participation in rural India and the role Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has played in this regard. We have used nationally representative individual level data of second round of India Human Development survey (2011–12). With cross sectional study of male female work participation comparison, we examine the occupational distribution of female workforce. We show how MGNREGA has helped, to some extent, to arrest the falling rural female workforce participation. In unskilled occupations, the difference in workdays’ participation is the highest in favour of female scheme participants. Using linear regression analysis with interaction terms, we evaluate the occupational pattern and MGNREGA effect on various aspects of workforce participation. Top Keywords Rural, Female Workforce Participation, MGNREGA, Education effect, Income effect. Top |