Does living in a joint family affect married women's employment?
Last reviewed:
Direct answer
Joint-family living can affect women’s employment in opposite directions. Other adults may share childcare and housework, making paid work easier, or senior relatives and larger household duties may restrict job choice, mobility or time. Research from Northern Punjab found that family structure matters for female labour supply, but its regional sample is not a national causal estimate. The outcome depends on who controls decisions, whether care is actually shared, job location, transport and the presence of young children—not simply the number of relatives in the home.
Sources used
Labour Supply and Earning Functions of Educated Married Women: A Case Study of Northern Punjab
Pakistan Development Review
Regional study published in The Pakistan Development Review in 2007. Its selected educated married women do not represent all Pakistani women or establish a national causal effect.Source checked:
View sourceFemale Labor Force Participation in Pakistan
World Bank
Research context on women’s work, marriage and structural barriers to labour-force participation.View sourceLiving with own or husband's mother in the household is associated with lower number of children: a cross-cultural analysis
Royal Society Open Science
Published 2017, using historical IPUMS census samples. Pakistan: 1973 census, 68,086 married women aged 15–34 living with a spouse; 41.21% lived with his mother. Not DHS or current newlywed data.Source checked:
View source