Journal of Southeast Asian Studies Vol XI No. March 1980, Women’s Labour Force Participation and Socioeconomic Development: The Case of Peninsular Malaysia, 1957-1970 CHARLES HIRSCHMAN and AKBAR AGHAJANIAN The changing role of women’s economic activities in developing countries is a topic of particular importance, not only because women represent a significant resource of much underutilized labour in the non-household sector but also because women’s activities are intimately tied to the structure of the family. Low levels of female participation in the labour force suggest that much of the potential human talent and skills in a society arc restricted to household endeavours. For the objectives of both eliminating discrimination against women in employment and expanding the pool of human resources for development, there is a growing scientific and policy interest in the study of socioeconomic development and women’s labour force participation. Of considerable interest is the relationship between women’s economic roles and fertility. While the causal structure of this relationship is still an unresolved topic, there is a basic consensus that the transition from high to low fertility levels is closely intertwined with the changing social and economic roles of women.’ In spite of these concerns, there are only a handful of empirical studies of trends in women’s labour force participation in developing countries. The major factor accounting for this dearth of studies has been the lack of comparable time-series data in most developing countries. Moreover, the difficulties of accurately measuring the often multidimensional economic activities of women complicate the problems of comparability of different data sources. While the possibility of cross-national analysis as a surrogate for longitudinal study is instructive, the inference of secular trends and the relationships to developmental processes must always be tentative. This study analyses changes in labour force participation of women, in both the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors in Peninsular Malaysia, based upon 1957 and 1970 census data. By examining patterns among the three major ethnic com- munities of Malays, Chinese, and Indians, it is possible to have both a comparative and trend analysis. The richness of the 1970 census data, available in a two per cent sample tape, makes possible a rather detailed examination of the determinants of and constraints on women’s participation in the modern sector. Economic Development and Female Labour Force Participation The conventional hypothesis is that labour force participation of women increases during the course of socioeconomic development. This hypothesis is largely informed This research was supported by a grant, "Social Change and Ethnic Inequality in Malaysia" (MH 30663-1), from (he National Institute of Mental Health. The authors gratefully acknowledge (he coopera- tion of the Malaysian Dept. of Statistics, especially Mr. R. Chander and Ms. Dorothy Fernandcz, in making the 1970 Census data available. We also appreciate the valuable comments on an earlier draft by Avery Guest and Lenore Manderson, and thank Teresa Dark for typing the manuscript. ’For a review of the recent literature on this topic, see William P. McGrevey el at.. The Policy Rele- vance of Recent Social Research on Fertility (Washington, D.C., 1974), pp. 20-23. 30
Transcript
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies Vol XI No. March 1980,
Women’s Labour Force Participation and SocioeconomicDevelopment: The Case of Peninsular Malaysia, 1957-1970
CHARLES HIRSCHMANand AKBAR AGHAJANIAN
The changing role of women’s economic activities in developing countries is atopic of particular importance, not only because women represent a significantresource of much underutilized labour in the non-household sector but also becausewomen’s activities are intimately tied to the structure of the family. Low levels offemale participation in the labour force suggest that much of the potential humantalent and skills in a society arc restricted to household endeavours. For the objectivesof both eliminating discrimination against women in employment and expandingthe pool of human resources for development, there is a growing scientific and policyinterest in the study of socioeconomic development and women’s labour forceparticipation. Of considerable interest is the relationship between women’s economicroles and fertility. While the causal structure of this relationship is still an unresolvedtopic, there is a basic consensus that the transition from high to low fertility levels isclosely intertwined with the changing social and economic roles of women.’
In spite of these concerns, there are only a handful of empirical studies of trends inwomen’s labour force participation in developing countries. The major factoraccounting for this dearth of studies has been the lack of comparable time-seriesdata in most developing countries. Moreover, the difficulties of accurately measuringthe often multidimensional economic activities of women complicate the problems ofcomparability of different data sources. While the possibility of cross-nationalanalysis as a surrogate for longitudinal study is instructive, the inference of seculartrends and the relationships to developmental processes must always be tentative.
This study analyses changes in labour force participation of women, in both theagricultural and non-agricultural sectors in Peninsular Malaysia, based upon 1957and 1970 census data. By examining patterns among the three major ethnic com-munities of Malays, Chinese, and Indians, it is possible to have both a comparativeand trend analysis. The richness of the 1970 census data, available in a two per centsample tape, makes possible a rather detailed examination of the determinants ofand constraints on women’s participation in the modern sector.
Economic Development and Female Labour Force ParticipationThe conventional hypothesis is that labour force participation of women increases
during the course of socioeconomic development. This hypothesis is largely informed
This research was supported by a grant, "Social Change and Ethnic Inequality in Malaysia" (MH30663-1), from (he National Institute of Mental Health. The authors gratefully acknowledge (he coopera-tion of the Malaysian Dept. of Statistics, especially Mr. R. Chander and Ms. Dorothy Fernandcz, inmaking the 1970 Census data available. We also appreciate the valuable comments on an earlier draft byAvery Guest and Lenore Manderson, and thank Teresa Dark for typing the manuscript.
’For a review of the recent literature on this topic, see William P. McGrevey el at.. The Policy Rele-vance of Recent Social Research on Fertility (Washington, D.C., 1974), pp. 20-23.
30
Women’s Labour Force Participation in Malaysia 31
by the historical experience of some Western countries over the last century, thoughthe upward trend of women in the labour force has not been linear or even con-tinuous.2 The expected relationship of higher women’s labour force participation(outside the home) as a result ofdevelopment is given further credence by the evidencefrom cross-sectional studies that compare the more developed countries.3 A some-what different formulation is that the trend during economic development followsa U-shaped pattern, with women’s participation rates first falling and then risingduring the latter stages ofthe developmental process.4 The initial drop in participationis due to a decline in agricultural work, while the latter rise occurs as the modemsector expands.
However, detailed empirical analyses of both cross-sectional and longitudinaldata have not found unequivocal support for any hypothesis that female labourforce participation is a simple function of economic development.5 In the mostcomprehensive comparative study to date, Durand finds modest support for the firstpart of the U-shaped hypothesis, that women’s activity rates declined in the earlystages of economic development, but finds no consistent patterns among countriesat medium and at higher levels of development.6
There seem to be many other factors that also determine the extent of women’slabour force activities in any society, particularly those related to the nature offamily organization and cultural values regarding women’s roles. For instance, thesociocultural context of the family and women’s roles in Latin America and theMiddle East appear to be almost polar opposites, and this is also reflected in theirlevels of women’s labour force activities, in spite of comparable levels of economicdevelopment.7 Yet other than providing post-hoc explanations for empiricaldifferences, the cultural hypothesis does not lead to greater understanding of societaldifferences, for the basic question of the determinants of cultural orientations as wellas their interrelationships to socioeconomic change are unresolved.
In this analysis, we observe the changing levels of women’s labour force activitiesin Peninsular Malaysia and their variance between ethnic communities. Thedifferences between ethnic groups only seem partially due to differential opportuni-ties for work, yet we remain skeptical about cultural orientations as the majorexplanation of ethnic differences in the economic roles of women.
’For an examination of the historical trend in the United States, sec John D. Durand, The LabourForce in the United Stales. 1890-1960. (New York, 1968, original ed. 1948). pp. 23-28, and ValericKincade Oppenheimer, The Female Labor Force in the United Stales, Population Monograph Series,No.5, (Berkeley, Cal., 1970), ch. I. Durand concludes that one cannot make a consistent generalizationabout the trend in women’s labour force participation of Western industrial nations see John D.Durand. The Labor Force in Economic Development (Princeton, N.J., 1975), p. 123.
’For instance, see H. Wilensky, "Women’s Work: Economic Growth, Ideology and Social Structure",Industrial Relations 7 (1965): 235-48, and H. Collver and E. Langlois, ’The Female Labor Force inMetropolitan Areas: An International Comparison", Economic Development and Cultural Change10 (1962): 367-85. The interpretation in these articles is not simply (hat women’s labour force participa-tion is a response to economic development, but that it is an important factor.
’See Durand, The Labor Force in Economic Development, p. 131. This hypothesis was first intro-duced in J.N. Sinha, "Dynamics of Female Participation in Economic Activity in a Developing Economy",United Nations World Population Conference. 1965 WPC/285, Session A.5 (mimeo.).
’Nadia Haggag Yousscff, Women and Work in Developing Societies, Population Monograph Scries,No.15, (Berkeley, Cal., 1974), ch. 2; also see studies cited in note 4.
’Durand. op. cit., p. 138.’Yousseff. op. cit.
j5 Charles Hirschman and Akbar Aghajanian
Peninsular Malaysia: Socioeconomic Development and Ethnic CompositionMalaysia, one of the new states of Southeast Asia, was formed in 1963 by the
federation ofthe independent nation of Malaya with the British colonies of Singapore,Sabah, and Sarawak the last two being states on the island of Borneo, about 400miles from the Malaysian Peninsula. After a political dispute, Singapore left Malaysiain 1965 and became a separate nation. Malaya, now known as Peninsular Malaysia,had a population of 8.8 million in 1970, which was about 84 per cent of the total
population of Malaysia.8The rate of socioeconomic progress of Malaysia has been considerable over the
post-war era, especially since Independence in 1957. With the exception of the
city-states of Hong Kong and Singapore, Taiwan, and the modern nation of Japan,Malaysia was the most affluent nation in Asia with a per capita gross domesticproduct (GDP) of US$570 in 1973.9 This favourable economic situation rests partlyon the historical legacy of being the world’s leading producer of natural rubber and
tin ore, and partly also on a concerted effort in recent decades to diversify theeconomic base into other areas, including industrialization.10
These economic changes have influenced the labour force participation of womenin two ways: directly by affecting the demand for labour, both in number and
composition, and indirectly by abetting the general forces of modernization. Thislatter influence may work by making it more acceptable for young women to seekwage employment. To provide some concrete evidence on these changes in theeconomic structure. Table shows the growth and shift in economic production ofPeninsular Malaysia from 1960 to 1970 (measured by GDP at factor cost). TheMalaysian economy grew by two-thirds over this ten-year period, implying anaverage annual growth rate of over 5 per cent. This above average economic growthwas accompanied by a substantial amount of sectoral redistribution. Manufacturingwas the most dynamic sector, almost doubling in size, while agriculture grew at a
much slower rate and declined proportionately from 41 to 29 per cent of GDP.Changes in economic production arc of course not exactly paralleled by changes in
the demand for labour, especially with much of the industrialization in PeninsularMalaysia, as in other third world countries, being of a capital intensive nature. Nonethe less, there have been proportional shifts in the sectoral distribution of labourfrom the primary to the secondary and tertiary sectors." In the subsequent analysis,we will measure the changing employment of women in agricultural and non-
agricultural activities during this period when the economy has experienced both
growth and structural changes.Peninsular Malaysia is a plural society, par excellence, with slightly over half the
population consisting of Malays, generally considered the indigenous population,while over a third of the population is Chinese and more than 10 per cent is Indian.These ethnic divisions are the major categories of a census classification of"communities" which is reported subjectively by respondents and based upon a
Malaysia. Dept. of Statistics, 1970 Population and Housing Census of Malaysia: Community
Groups, by R. Chancier (Kuala Lumpur, 1972). p. 45.’World Bank, World Tables. 1976 (Baltimore, Md.. 1976), p. 498.’"David Lim, Economic Growth and Development in West Malaysia, 1947-1970 (Kuala Lumpur.
TABLEGROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT BY INDUSTRIAL ORIGIN, PENINSULAR MALAYSIA, 1960-70
IndustrialOrigin
Agriculture
Mining
Manufacturing
Construction
Services
TOTAL GDP
196MS
2,013
301
425
149
2,074
S4.962
C
0
%
41
6
9
3
42
100
iross Domestic
\9T
MS
2,428
548
1,254
290
3.832S8.352
Product
0
%
29
7
15
3
46
100
1960-70
% Growth
21
82
195
95
85
68
Note: GDP is in millions of current Malaysian dollars. There was minimal inflation in Malaysia from1960 to 1970, see Malaysia, Dcpt. of Statistics, Consumer Price Index /or West Malaysia(Kuala Lumpur, 1972).
Sources: Malaysia, Dept. of Statistics, National Accounts of West Malaysia, 1960-68, (Kuala Lumpur,1972). p. 18.Malaysia, The Treasury, Economic Report. 1974-75 (Kuala Lumpur, 1974), pp. vi-vii.
combination of national origin, language, religion, and cultural criteria. While theMalaysian peninsula has historically had a heterogeneous population as a result ofits geographical position along major Asian trading routes, the plurality of its societytoday is largely due to the substantial flow of immigrants from China and India fromthe middle of the nineteenth century through the early decades of the twentieth.Attracted by the opportunities for wage labour in the growing rubber and tinindustries of the colonial economy, most immigrants planned on only temporaryresidence, but a substantial number settled and became permanent residents. Sinceimmigration has been restricted since the Second World War, the overwhelmingmajority of ethnic Chinese and Indians are second-generation or longer residentsof Malaysia.Among the ethnic communities there are substantial cultural and socioeconomic
divisions that have narrowed only slightly over the years.12 To illustrate some of thebasic demographic and socioeconomic differences. Table 2 presents some basiccharacteristics from the 1970 Census of Population and other national data sources.In general, Chinese are more likely to live in urban areas and to have a morediversified occupational structure than the Malay population. Only about one-fourthof the Chinese men work in the agricultural sector, while almost two-thirds of theMalay men do. On most characteristics, but not all, Indians are intermediate betweenthe Chinese and Malay populations. One important difference in the rural-agricultural sector between the ethnic communities needs to be noted. Most Malayagriculturalists are peasant farmers (some as tenants) living in rural villages, whereasa high proportion of Chinese and especially Indian agricultural workers are wagelabourers on large agricultural (rubber, oil palm, etc.) estates.
"Charles Hirschman, Ethnic and Social Stratification in Peninsular Malaysia (Washington, D.C.,1975).
34 Charles Hirschman and Akbar Aghajanian
TABLE 2
SOME SELECTED DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIOECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THEPLURAL SOCIETY OF PENINSULAR MALAYSIA, 1970
TotalPopulation Malay Chinese Indian
Population (000) 8,810 4.672 3.131 936
Ethnic Composition’1 100.0% 53.0% 35.5% 10.6%
%bom in Malaysia or Singapore1’ 89.9 98.1 82.8 75.0
% in towns of 10,000 or more0 28.7 14.9 47.4 34.7
% of Population aged 25 and over,who have completed primaryschoolingb 24.6 21.6 27.3 28.1
%of Men in the Experienced LabourForce in the Agricultural Sector0 47.3 63.2 27.2 38.8
Infant Mortality Rated 40.8 47.6 28.5 46.0
Mean Household Incomee (in MS permonth) $269 $179 $387 $310
Source*:aMalaysia, Dept. of Statistics, 1970 Population and Housing Census of Malaysia: Age Distri-butions, by R. Chander (Kuala Lumpur, 1973), pp. 93-97.^1970 Population and Housing Census of Malaysia, 0.02 Sample Tape.’Malaysia, Dept. of Statistics, 7970 Population and Housing Census a/Malaysia: CommunityGroups, by R. Chander (Kuala Lumpur, 1972), pp. 207-83.^Malaysia, Dept. of Statistics, Vital Statistics, 1972 (Kuala Lumpur, 1974), p. 133.’Malaysia, Mid-Term Review of the Second Malaysia Plan, 1971-1975 (Kuala Lumpur, 1973),p. 4.
According to the simple economic development hypothesis, one would expectChinese women, as the most urbanized, to have the highest labour force participationrates, and the Malays the lowest. But our findings reveal a complicated picture oftrends and differentials that can only partially be explained by the standardtheoretical expectations.
Past Research on Women’s Labour Force Activity in Peninsular MalaysiaPrior research on the labour force activities of women in Malaysia has been
greatly limited by the availability of data. The 1957 Census was the first to publishdata on activity rates by age-group, which is almost a prerequisite for any detailedanalysis of labour force patterns. In the most comprehensive study based on the1957 Census (with some comparisons with the 1947 Census and the 1962 Survey ofEmployment), Gavin Jones examined variations in women’s participation ratesbetween the three ethnic communities, using states (there are eleven states) as asurrogate measure for urban-rural differences.13
Jones noted significant variations in the labour force participation rates amongthe three major ethnic communities that could not simply be explained by differentialrural-urban residence. The highest activity rates were among Indian women, perhaps
"Gavin Jones, "Female Participation in the Labour Force in a Plural Economy: The MalayanExample", Malayan Economic Review 10 (1965): 61-82.
Women’s Labour Force Participation in Malaysia 35
explained by the high proportion of the Indian population living on agricultural
estates that offer wage employment opportunities to women. There appears to have
been a moderate decline in the Indian participation rate from 1947 to 1957, althoughit still remained above the Malay and Chinese levels in 1957. Jones suggests that this
decline was due to gradual urbanization among the Indian population. The overall
participation rates of Chinese and Malay were fairly close, but there were quitedifferent age patterns and rural-urban differences. Chinese women have an ageprofile of labour force activity that is typical of industrial countries, with peaksaround age 20 and 50 and a trough during the childbearing years. The activity rates
of Chinese women did not seem to vary systematically between states in terms ofrural-urban composition or levels of agricultural activity. The economic role ofMalay women seemed closely tied to agriculture, with participation rates highest inthe rural states. Jones speculated that female participation rates would decrease inthe coming years as the population became more urbanized, although the rates ofyoung women might rise as urban employment opportunities increase.
The only other major analysis of women’s labour force participation in Malaysiawas by Monica Fong, who analysed census data from 1921 to 1957.14 She measureddifferential trends in the overall female activity rate by ethnic community and state,and correlated aggregate activity rates with other demographic characteristics at thestate level. Fong concluded that there has been a general decline in the women’slabour force activity rates for each ethnic community from 1921 to 1957 in both theagricultural and non-agricultural sectors, although the Chinese activity rates turnedupward slightly from 1947 to 1957. However, lack of age-specific labour force dataprior to 1957, and the problems of comparability ofmeasurement between Malaysiancensuses made any interpretation of trends somewhat tentative.
The studies of Jones and Fong lend support to Durand’s generalization ofdecliningfemale labour force participation in the early stages of economic developmentprior to 1957 in Peninsular Malaysia (with the small rise among Chinese womenfrom 1947 to 1957, supporting the second half of the U-shaped empirical expecta-tion). Before appraising the post-1957 changes, it is necessary to review the availabledata sources, namely, the 1957 and 1970 censuses,
Malaysian Census Data and Labour Force MeasuresOur trend analysis is based upon the thirteenth-year period from the 1957 Census
to the 1970 Census; inasmuch as Malaya received formal independence in 1957, theintercensal period also represents the first thirteen years of independence. Our useof the 1957 data is limited by the detail of the tabulations in published censusreports,13 while more flexibility is possible with the 0.02 random sample of the 1970Census,16 available on magnetic tape. The 0.02 file sample of the 1970 Census is only
"Monica Fong, "Female Labor Force Participation in a Modernizing Society: Malaya and Singa-pore, 1921-1957", Papers a/ the East-West Population Institute. No. 34. (Honolulu, 1975).
"Federation of Malaya, Dcpt. of Statistics, 1937 Population Census of the Federation of Malaya:Report No. 14, by H. Fell (Kuala Lumpur, 1960). There are also a series of 1957 Census reports for eachstate.
"The sample tape was constructed by systematically selecting every 50th household from the masterfile of 1970 Census of Peninsular Malaysia. The tape is available to academic researchers for specificresearch projects from the Chief Statistician, Dept. of Statistics, Malaysia. The publications from the 1970Census include several national and state level reports under the general title, 1970 Population andHousing Census of Malaysia.
36 Charles Hirschman and Akbar Aghajanian
available for Peninsular Malaysia, which is equivalent to the old Federation ofMalaya in the 1957 Census. Evaluations of the coverage of both censuses provideconfidence that the enumerations were quite comprehensive, and probably muchabove the average quality and completeness of census data from other developingcountries.17
The measurement of the labour force concept is always problematic, especially forwomen in rural areas of developing countries. The roles of homemaker and unpaidfamily worker in agriculture are difficult to distinguish, and labour force measuresmay vary considerably depending on the exact question wording in the census orsurvey. This is particularly a problem in assessing temporal change with two or morecensuses or surveys. There were differences in the labour force measures in the 1957and 1970 censuses that may add bias to the measurement of change. The 1957 Censusused a modified labour force measure with an activity reference period of the lastyear. The labour force consisted of "all persons who had been gainfully occupied forat least four months out of the preceding twelve months, part-time workers whoaveraged at least three hours a day and persons who have been in employment forless than four of the preceding twelve months, but who have been actively lookingfor work for at least six of the twelve months".18 It seems that the obvious intent ofthe one-year reference period was to avoid the problem of seasonality, a particularproblem for work in the agricultural sector. The 1957 Census was taken in June,usually an off-season in rice cultivation a major activity of many Malay farmers.Jones noted that the female participation rates based upon the 1957 Census seemedtoo low in comparison with the 1962 Employment Survey." Perhaps some women inagriculture did not work the necessary four months to be classified as employed,or may have been inaccurately classified in terms of current activity rather than theone-year reference period.
The 1970 Census used a standard labour force measure, based upon UnitedNations’ recommendations that classified all persons working or looking for workduring the preceding week as in the labour force. Unpaid family workers whoworked three hours or more per day are included as in the labour force. The 1970Census was taken in late August, which is an active season in rice cultivation. Themeasurement differences between the 1957 and 1970 census labour force classifica-tions have probably affected comparability, but do not, in our opinion, make itimpossible. The major problem seems to be an underestimate of women working asunpaid family workers in agriculture in 1957. As we observe trends in the subsequentanalysis, we will be sensitive to this measurement problem.
Overall Trend in Labour Force ParticipationFigure shows the age patterns of women’s labour force participation rates in
1957 and 1970. The overall participation rate of women aged 15 to 64 rose from 31per cent in 1957 to 37 per cent in 1970. Figure shows that most of this increaseoccurred among younger women, especially among those in their 20s and early 30s.
"For the 1957 Census, sec United Nations, "Evaluation of the Population Census Data of Malaya",Untied Nations Bulletin for Asia and ihe Far East 13, No.2 (1962): 23-44, and for the 1970 Census, seeMalaysia, Dcpt. of Statistics, An Interim Report on the Post-Enumeration Survey. (Kuala Lumpur1974).
"Federation of Malaya. Dept. of Statistics, op. cil., p. 24."Jones, op. eit., p. 68.
Fig. 1. Labour Force Participation Rates of Women by Age, Peninsular Malaysia. 1957 and 1970
Source: Malaysia, Dcpt. of Statistics, 1970 Population Census of Malaysia. General Report, vol. 1, by R. Chandcr (Kuala Lumpur. 1977), p. 416.
^3S. Charles Hirschman and Akbar Aghajanian
’" Among older women, there was little sign of change. The rise in participation rates ofyounger women is congruent with the expectation of increased participation witheconomic development, but the flat age profile is typical of less industrialized area.An examination of ethnic group patterns reveals that Figure is an average of quitedivergent patterns and trends.
Figure 2 shows participation rates for the same two time points, 1957 and 1970,.for the three major ethnic communities separately: Malays, Chinese, and Indians.These graphs show a very sharp drop in participation rates for Indian women at allages, and a substantial rise in rates for Malay women at all ages. For Chinesewomen, there were rises below age 40, but declines above that age. Although therewas some convergence over time and virtually equivalent overall (age 15-64)participation rates (Malay 37 per cent, Chinese 37 per cent, Indians 36 per cent)among the three ethnic communities, major differences remain in age specificpatterns and in trends.
The increases among young Malay and Chinese women are interpretable as aresponse to the significant socioeconomic development during this period. As newemployment opportunities occur in a growing economy, it seems most likely thatyoung women will respond by joining the labour force in greater proportion thandid their older sisters and mothers. Not only are younger women more likely to havehigher educational qualifications, but they also may be less encumbered with familyresponsibilities that conflict with outside the home employment.20 But the rise inlabour force participation rates among older Malay women seems less explicable.We suspect these apparent changes may reflect measurement differences in the twocensuses, most likely an underestimate of women working on family farms in 1957.
The decline of labour force participation rates among Indian women at all agesreveals quite different social forces at work. The very high activity rates of Indianwomen in 1957 were due to the concentration of the Indian community on rubberplantations and other large agricultural estates, where jobs as rubber-tappers andlabourers were available for women as well as men. But by 1970, this economic basefor employment appears to have been cut dramatically. The overall participationrate was reduced by a third and the declines are evident at all ages. Other evidencealso suggests that loss of employment on agricultural estates was the major factorbehind this sharp drop in Indian female labour force participation. The SecondMalaysia Plan notes that the estate labour force was reduced by one-fifth from 1962to 1967.21 Another sign of depressed economic circumstances among the Indiancommunity is the sizeable number of Indian emigrants from Peninsular Malaysiafrom 1957 to 1970.22
These changes in labour force participation rates can be more clearly understoodby decomposing changes in employment into agricultural and non-agriculturalsubdivisions.
"’There was a sharp rise in the average age at marriage and a consequent decline in fertility amongyoung women in all ethnic communities from 1957 to 1970. See Charles Hirschman, "The Decline ofFertility in Peninsular Malaysia", Unpublished paper, Dept. of Sociology. Duke University. 1978
"Second Malaysia Plan. 1971-1975 (Kuala Lumpur. 1971), p. 97."Charles Hirschman, "Net External Migration From Peninsular Malaysia, 1957 to 1970", Malayan
Economic Review 20 (1975): 38-54.
Fig. 2. Labour Force Participation Rates of Women, by Ethnic Community and Age Groups. Peninsular Malaysia. 1957 and 1970.
Source: Malaysia. Dept. of Statistics, 1970 Population Census of Malaysia, General Report, vol. 1, by R. Chander (Kuala Lumpur, 1977), p. 416.
40 Charles Hirschman and Akbar Aghajanian
Trends in Agricultural and Non-Agricultural EmploymentThe theoretical expectations about the relationship between socioeconomic
development and women’s labour force participation are usually interpreted in termsof the type of employment. For instance, the U-shaped curve is based on the expecta-tion that participation rates first decline as agricultural employment decreases, butsubsequently rise as the modern non-agricultural sector expands. Table 3 shows theproportions of women employed in the agricultural and non-agricultural sector foreach ethnic community for 1957 and 1970. The lower panel in Table 3 summarizesthe 1957-70 employment changes with percentage point differences between thetwo censuses, separately by ethnic community, sector, and age group.
Table 3 differs from Figures and 2 in that the variable is the proportionemployed, not labour force participation. Women that were reported to be employedbut whose industry status was unknown were excluded from the denominator of allwomen in the calculation of the proportions employed in agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. This has the effect of distributing those with an unknown sectorin the same proportions (agricultural and non-agricultural) as those with a knownsector.
In 1957, almost half of Indian women were employed in the agricultural sector,reflecting the fact that almost all women living on rubber plantations were engagedin wage labour. Lesser fractions of Malay and Chinese women were working inagriculture; one-quarter of Malay women aged 15-64 and 17 per cent of Chinesewomen in the same age range. In the non-agricultural sector, very few Malay andIndian women were employed (3 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively), while only aslightly larger proportion of Chinese women (12 per cent) were at work in this sector.
By 1970, considerable changes had occurred for all three ethnic communities. Theoverall proportion in agricultural employment remained about the same amongMalay women, but there were declines at the younger ages counterbalanced withincreases among older women. The proportion of Chinese women in agriculturedeclined modestly, while the Indian proportion dropped by almost half. There weremarked increases in non-agricultural employment among all ethnic communities,especially for young women in their twenties.
These data suggest the structural mechanisms that underlie the changes inwomen’s economic roles during the period 1957-70. The single strongest interpre-tation is the structural shift from agricultural to non-agricultural employment foryoung women. This secular trend, to be expected from the U-shaped curve hypo-thesis, is evident for all ethnic communities, though the magnitude of change variesconsiderably. The pattern is strongest for Chinese women, whose lead might be dueto their greater urbanization and access to modern sector employment. About a thirdof Chinese women in their earlier twenties were employed in non-agriculturalemployment in 1970 double their 1957 percentage.A couple of other findings in Table 3 deserve some further comment. The rise in
agricultural employment among older Malay women, we believe, was the result of anartifact of measurement differences in the two censuses, namely, an underestimate ofunpaid family workers in 1957. There seems to be no social or economic changeduring this period that would have led to more women working in the peasantagricultural sector; if anything, the opposite might be expected.
The large reduction in agricultural employment among Indian women, however,is probably an accurate assessment, with wage employment presenting fewerproblems of measurement comparability. The wholesale elimination of jobs on
TABLE 3PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN EMPLOYED IN AGRICULTURAL AND NON-AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES. BY AGE GROUP AND ETHNIC
COMMUNITY: PENINSULAR MALAYSIA, 1957 AND 1970
Age Group
10-1415-1920-2425-3435-4445-5455-6465 and above
Total. 10and above
Total. 15-64
Total, 15-64
% ETotal
62123232726187
20
23
mpioMali
417212531312311
21
25 17
ycd in Agriculiy Chinese
62118141718123
14
Age Group
10-1415-1920-2425-3435-4445-5455-6465 and above
Total, 10and above
1957lure % Enndian Total
1445 647 845 652 743 925 89 4
40 6
46 7
Agriculture Non-AgricultureTotal
3630
2
2
nployed inMalay
02334553
3
3
Malay
02035523
2
Non-AgiChinese
21216101114114
10
12
% Point
Chinese
372
265
3
3
riculturcIndian
2467784
5
5
Change in
Indian
-12-29-20-15-18-15-15
7
-20.
-21
% EITotal
31520232827168
18
22
Employment, 1957-70
Total
51083
0
4
5
nployed itMalay C
415212836362514
22
27
Malay
47622
3
5
Aghinc:
3141615151272
11
14
Chinese
riculturcic India;
21627303428102
20
25
816114020
6
8
1970% Em(
n Total
2111814101074
10
12
Indian
3642
23
3
tloyedMalay
61096764
6
8
in Non-AgiChinese
3203221151494
16
20
riculturcIndian
251010986
6
8
Source: Federation of Malaya, Dcpt. of Statistics, 1957 Population Census of the Federation of Malaya. Report No. 14, By H. Fell(Kuala Lumpur, 1960), pp. 123-26, and 0.02 Sampleofthe 1970 Population Census ofPeninsular Malaysia
42 Charles ffirschman and Akbar Aghajanian
agricultural estates during the 1960s must have had a devastating effect on manyIndian families. The attrition of jobs in commercial agriculture was experiencedby young women entering adult life, but also among middle-aged women, who
presumably had many years of job experience.In spite of a common pattern of increased participation in non-agricultural
employment among young women in all ethnic communities, there remains wide
ethnic differences in levels and in the pace of change. Only 10 per cent of youngMalay and Indian women had modern (non-agricultural) employment in 1970, farlower than the Chinese figures. How are these differences to be explained? DoChinese women have greater access and opportunities for work in the growingsectors of the economy or do Chinese women respond differentially to employmentopportunities? Such a question cannot be addressed in a trend analysis because ofthe lack of detailed tabulations from the published 1957 Census reports. But withthe 1970 sample census data, it is possible to investigate the relationship betweenvarious social, economic, and demographic characteristics and women’s economicactivities in a cross-sectional analysis. Such patterns may reflect some of the socialchanges underway among women’s work in Malaysia.
Social Characteristics of Women and Type of Employment in 1970With the 0,02 sample data file from the 1970 Census, it is possible to examine the
cross-sectional relationship between a variety of social and economic characteristicsof women and their likelihood of being employed or in the labour force. Theserelationships may have changed over the years, but a snapshot picture (cross-sectional analysis) of the determinants of work force behaviour should indicate someof the most salient factors in the process of change.
In this analysis, we consider a more detailed classification of type of employmentamong women and four independent variables: Ethnic Community, EducationalAttainment, Size of Place of Residence, and Marital/Family Status. Our focus isexploratory in the sense that we only examine bivariate associations between the
dependent variable and each of the independent variables. In the following sectionof the paper, we measure both the gross (bivariate) and net (holding other effectsconstant) effects of these independent variables on one type of employment activityamong women.
The classification of women’s employment used here consists of four categoriesthat first divides the proportion employed into Agriculture and Non-Agriculture,and then divides both of these components into Traditional and Modern sectors. TheTraditional-Modern distinction is based on the census variable Employment Statuswhich is typically classified: Employer, Own Account Worker, Employee, andUnpaid Family Worker. We classify Employer and Employee as Modern and OwnAccount Worker and Unpaid Family Worker as Traditional. Traditional includesthose employed within the household, either self-employed with no employees or
unpaid family assistant. The Modern sector includes those who work for wages forsomeone else and those who hire others to work for wages (there are very fewemployers in the sample). Traditional Agriculture includes the peasant farmingcommunity, while Modern Agriculture is predominantly the large agriculturalplantations, although some small farmers may have employees. The TraditionalNon-Agricultural sector contains the one-family businesses and petty traders andperhaps some independent producers or service workers. Modern Non-Agricultural
Women’s Labour Force Participation in Malaysia 43
consists of all those who work for wages or employ others in commerce, manu-facturing, services, construction, or other industries. This category represents theexpanding sector of employment as the urban economy develops. It seems unlikelythat the factors that "cause" women to work will be the same for different types ofemployment.
Ethnic community contains the three major groups of Malays, Chinese, Indians,plus a residual group of Others (less than one per cent of the population of all women
see the marginal proportions in the last column of Table 4),Educational attainment is measured by the formal schooling completed. The first
three categories are None, Primary (1-6 years of school), and Lower Secondary(7-9 years). The final category, LCE or Above, refers to those who have successfullypassed a national exam, the Lower Certificate of Education, which is given at theend of nine years of schooling. Those who pass are eligible to go onto middlesecondary schooling. The LCE credential is also important for employment in thelower rungs of government employment, including teaching. Less than 10 per centof women aged 15-64 have passed the LCE (see Table 4); in fact, more than four often women have no schooling whatsoever. Our expectation is that education willincrease both aspirations and qualifications for employment in the Modern sector.
Size of Place of Residence is a fourfold classification of the urban-ruralcontinuum. It ranges from the largest cities of 75,000 or more to the smallest townsand rural villages of less than 1,000 people. Almost 60 per cent of women live in thislast, predominantly rural category. Residence may shape women’s work behaviourin two ways: firstly, by proving access to jobs of certain types. Peasant agricultureis probably the only possible opportunity for most women in rural environments,while larger towns and cities offer a more diverse setting of employment opportuni-ties. Additionally, in larger towns, women may be freed from traditional customsthat confine them to the household or household-owned farms or enterprises.
Our last independent variable is a combination of marital and family status.Women are first divided into three marital statuses: never married, married, andformerly married (widowed, divorced, and separated). Then married women aresubdivided into those who have children and those who do not. This was done on thebasis of a fertility question, and does not necessarily mean that dependent childrenare present in the household. Our expectation is that single women and marriedwomen without children have fewer family obligations and thus may be moreinclined to seek employment. Formerly married women, because of economic need,may be somewhat more likely to be employed than married women.
The associations between these four independent variables and type of employ-ment are shown in Table 4. The sample is confined to women aged 15-64. Moredetailed tables by age group generally reflect the patterns found in these data. Thefirst column contains the percentage of all women aged 15-64 who are employed,according to the conventional labour force criteria. The next four columns showsubdivisions of the percentage employed, based upon the type of work classification(Traditional Agriculture, Modern Agriculture, Traditional Non-Agriculture, ModernNon-Agriculture). The last column shows the marginal frequencies of the independentvariables among all women aged 15-64.
About one-third of women in each of three major ethnic communities areemployed, but they have rather distinctive patterns of type of work. The majorityof employed Malay women work in Traditional Agriculture, reflecting the householdbasis of peasant agriculture. Similarly, most employed Indian women work in the
44 Charles Hirschman and Akbar Aghajanian
TABLE 4
PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN AGED 15-64, EMPLOYED IN THETRADITIONAL AND MODERNSECTORS OF AGRICULTURE AND NON-AGRICULTURE BY SELECTED SOCIAL
Size of Place of Residence75,000 or more 27 010.000-74,999 26 31,000- 9,999 32 9
Less than 1,000 40 21
Marital Family StatusNever Married 37Married, No Children 34Married, With Children 32
Formerly Married 38
All Women 34 13
(Sample Size)
4
81235
221484
444169
18121357
274
5910
100(43,907)
Notes: Traditional is measured by those whose employment status is own account worker or unpaidfamily worker. Modern is measured by those whose employment status is employee or employer.
Source: 0.02 Sample of (he 1970 Population Census of Peninsular Malaysia.
Modern Agricultural sector as wage earners on plantations. Chinese women have a
more diversified employment structure, but almost half are in the Modern Non-Agricultural sector. The very small Others community is composed of so manydiverse groups (Thais, Eurasians, Europeans) that it is almost impossible to makeany meaningful interpretations.
Educational attainment has the opposite effect on employment in the differentsectors. Women with the least education are most likely to work in the agriculturalsector. But among women who have attended lower secondary schooling, andespecially those with an LCE or above, employment in agriculture is very rare. Mostwomen who are employed with these qualifications are found in the Modern Non-Agricultural sector.
Women’s Labour Force Participation in Malaysia 45
A similar pattern is found for Size of Place of Residence and type of employment.Women in larger towns and cities are predominantly found in the Modern Non-Agricultural sector, while rural areas provide agricultural employment both in thefamily and in the wage sectors. It is impossible to sort out the two potential effectsof urbanization, differential opportunity structure, and the normative milieu withthe present data.
Marital/Family status is a measure of life-cycle status and is closely related to theage of the woman. Single women are young, and most formerly married women arcmiddle-aged or older. Thus, our variable which is designed to tap family obligations
a demand that competes with outside-thc-home employment is closely inter-twined with the effects of age and highly correlated variables, such as education.But the results are in the expected direction, although the differences are very small.Single women and married women without children are slightly more likely to beemployed than married women with children, and formerly married women are a bitmore likely to be employed than married women. In terms of type of work, singlewomen are generally found in the Modern Non-Agricultural sector, while most otherwomen work in agriculture.
The results in Table 4 allow for several general observations. First, the majordeterminants of women’s participation in the world of work arc different, often inthe opposite direction, for different sectors of the economy. The secular forces ofurbanization, higher education, and later age at marriage are associated with modernnon-agricultural employment, while agricultural employment is associated with theopposite criteria, low education, rural areas, and being married. The traditionalnon-agricultural sector seems to have little association with the backgroundcharacteristics of women.
Thus the U-shaped curve hypothesis of the secular trend accurately points to thedifferential causes of women’s labour force activity. But rather than try to measurethe trend in the average of two different proportions or to measure its associationwith independent variables, it seems more realistic to separately examine the trendand determinants of the different types of work in a developing economy. In the nextsection, we consider both the bivariate and multivariate effects of these independentvariables on a particular type of labour force behaviour employment in themodern non-agricultural sector.
Multivariate Analysis of Social Characteristics of Women on Employment in theModern Non-Agricultural SectorWe choose to examine the determinants of work in the modern non-agricultural
sector (hereafter, modern sector) because it represents the growth pole of a developingeconomy. If women’s labour force participation is to grow, it will be in this directionas the economy shifts from agriculture to industry and services and from familyenterprises to bureaucratic organization.
Our objective is twofold in the subsequent analysis: firstly, to examine the effectsof education, urbanization, and marital/family status on modem sector employment,controlling for the other variables; and secondly, to compare ethnic variations inmodern sector employment, holding constant the effects of these other structuralvariables. Table 5 shows the results of this analysis, with the gross and net effects ofEducational Attainment, Size of Place of Residence, and Marital/Family Status onthe percentage of women employed in the modern sector. The statistical technique
46 Charles Hirschman and Akbar Aghajanian
used is multiple classification analysis, a form of multiple regression that allows forcategorical independent variables. The universe of women in Table 5 consists of allwomen aged 15-64 who are not currently enrolled in school (past enrolled). Theexclusion of those currently enrolled in school makes possible a more accuratepicture of the effect of higher education on employment. (It also renders comparisonswith Table 4 very difficult because it included all women aged 15-64.) The columnsheaded "gross" effects show the bivariate associations, while "net" effect shows theproportion of women employed in the modern sector, holding constant the effects ofthe other independent variables.
TABLE 5GROSS AND NET EFFECTS OF SELECTED SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS ON THE
PROPORTION OF WOMEN AGED 15-64 AND POST-ENROLLED, EMPLOYED IN THEMODERN NON-AGRICULTURAL SECTOR, BY ETHNIC COMMUNITY: PENINSULAR
MALAYSIA, 1970
Percentage of Women Employed in the Modem Non-Agricultural SectorIndependent Total Women Malay Chinese Indian
Note: The effects of each independent variable, gross and net, are statistically significant at the 0.01level. The Eta value is standard correlation ratio, whose square indicates the proportion ofvariance explained by the set of categories in one variable in the gross effects model. The partial-correlation ratio, labelled Beta in SPSS programme output, can be viewed as a standardizedpartial regression coefficient for the set of categories in one variable.
Source: 0.02 Sample of the 1970 Census of Population of Peninsular Malaysia.
Women’s Labour Force Participation in Malaysia 47
Educational EffectsBy excluding the currently enrolled, the effect of education on modern sector
employment is even stronger than it appeared in Table 4. Over half of all womenwith an LCE credential work in the modern sector, while only 5 per cent of womenwith no education do. Controlling for residence and marital/family status, the effectof education on modern sector employment is only modestly attenuated. Clearly,higher education provides aspirations and credentials that enable women to findmodern sector employment that is largely independent of access to jobs (residence)or family obligations.
The same general pattern is evident for Malay, Chinese, and Indian women.Chinese women are more likely to be employed in the modern sector at all levels ofeducation, but the effect of education (measured by percentage point differences, orthe eta and beta coefficients) is about the same. Does the remaining ethnicdifferential, within education levels, mean that Chinese women are more likely torespond to employment opportunities than Malay and Indian women (whose figuresare about the same)? It may, although one might question whether all structuralvariables, especially access to jobs, have been equally controlled across ethniccommunities. With the predominance of Chinese employers in many urban areas,Chinese women may have some edge in employer preference (discrimination) or
language ability that makes a difference. It is a possibility worth exploring.
Size of Place of ResidenceThere is a strong monotonic effect of Size of Place of Residence on modern sector
employment as one goes up the urban hierarchy. It is not quite as strong as educationbut it is substantial, and is only slightly reduced as other variables are controlled.Since there are more modern sector employment opportunities available in thelargest cities, the results come as no surprise. Whether urban areas break the "cake ofcustom" of belief that women belong in the household is not directly testable withthese data. However,, the observation that urbanization is an equally powerfulvariable for all three ethnic communities, with quite different cultural values,suggests that urbanization is a liberating force in terms of women’s economic roles.
The ethnic differentials within categories of Size of Place of Residence are reallyquite modest, and it would be difficult to support a hypothesis of differential culturalvalues on women’s roles on the basis of these figures.
Marital Family StatusThe last independent variable, Marital/Family Status, also has a strong effect,
although patterns vary considerably with controls for other variables and acrossethnic communities. Being single is by far the most important life-cycle status indetermining whether a woman works in the modern sector. The effect is reduced withthe other controls (probably owing to joint association of young age with highereducation), but it still remains significant. The modest distinction between marriedwithout children and married with children virtually disappears with the introductionof the other variables. Perhaps the expectation that children will follow soon aftermarriage inhibits the employment of young married women. In contrast, theintroduction of control variables raises the strength of being formerly married onmodern sector employment.
48 Charles Hirschman and Akbar Aghajanian
The widest ethnic gap appears among single women. Chinese unmarried womenare twenty percentage points more likely to work in the modem sector than theirMalay and Indian counterparts (net of other variables). If there is a strong culturaldifference in ethnic norms, it may be on the propriety of single women working inthe modem sector.
ConclusionsHow do the Malaysian data fit with the theoretical ideas expressed earlier, about
the relationship between socioeconomic development and women’s labour forceparticipation? In general, one might conclude that the structural trends in Malaysiansociety during the 1960s seem to reflect the pattern of socioeconomic developmentimplicit in the U-shaped curve of labour force participation. On the whole, therewere gradual increases in women’s labour force participation rates, which resultedfrom a combination of declines in agricultural employment and sizeable growth innon-agricultural employment, especially among younger women. Since the pattern isconsistent with the growth and direction of change in the Malaysian economy overthe same period (Table 1), the modernization or industrialization hypothesis appearsto fit.
But looking at the process in more detail, particularly ethnic variations, otherpatterns appear. Malay employment in agriculture, among middle-aged women,appears to have increased during the 1957-70 intcrcensal period. We suspect thatthis is because of an underestimate of unpaid family workers in agriculture in the1957 Census, but cannot definitely rule out other explanations. The trends inChinese female labour force activity seem to fit most closely the developmentalmodel. As the most urbanized ethnic community in Peninsular Malaysia, Chinesewomen may be the most likely group to respond to changing socioeconomicopportunities. The most dramatic change during the 1960s was the decline of labourforce activities of Indian women, entirely in agricultural employment. As theplantation sector divested itself of a substantial share of its work force, agriculturalemployment rates of rural Indian women were cut by almost half. Since this occurredat all age groups, it is unlikely that natural attrition of workers can account for thisdownward trend. No developmental explanation is relevant here, but rather onemust turn to the changing structure of plantation agriculture. An inquiry into thefactors behind these changes is beyond the scope of this paper. But it should be notedthat slow overall changes may mask rather amazing changes among sub-groups ofthe population.
The cross-sectional analysis of social background characteristics and type ofemployment in 1970 strengthens the interpretation of the trend analysis. Ruralresidence, low education, and married status are the characteristics associated withemployment in agriculture, in both the traditional and modern sectors. The oppositecharacteristics, those linked to economic development, such as higher education,urban residence, and delayed marriage, are associated with employment in themodern non-agricultural sector. These findings clearly suggest that the winds ofsocial change are evident and women are responding to the emerging employmentopportunities. We are unable to sort out the relative influence of greater opportuni-ties, increased career orientations, and growing social acceptance of women working,but we think that all are probably intertwined in the process of social change.
Women’s Labour Force Participation in Malaysia 49
For each ethnic community, the general pattern of relationships held, thoughthere were differences in absolute level of employment. Within levels of education,residence, and marital/family status, the differences between Malay and Indianemployment in the modern sector were minimal. But Chinese women did have higherproportions in the modem sector, especially for those with a secondary educationand among single women.
The interpretation of the different ethnic levels of labour force activity, whilesocioeconomic factors are held constant, is problematic. It is tempting to interpretall net ethnic differences as due to culture orientations. For instance, one mightconclude that Malay culture or Indian culture inhibits the role of young singlewomen outside the household, relative to the modern cultural values of the Chinesecommunity. While we cannot ignore the possibility of this interpretation, we alsonote that differential opportunities for employment may still be an important factorin accounting for ethnic differences, even if educational and urban-rural variationsare held constant. Moreover, our longitudinal analysis suggests that there arecommon trends across ethnic groups. To the extent that cultural values still affectwomen’s economic roles, they may be declining in importance as the similarsocioeconomic conditions affect all women.
