Impact of Safe Domestic Water Source on Female Labor Force Participation Rates and Female Literacy Rates in India

Access to a clean domestic water supply can have a significant impact on the overall well-being of individuals, particularly women and girls. In many parts of India, women and girls are responsible for collecting water for their households at publicly accessible sources. The quality and cleanliness of water collected from these untreated sources can result in various illnesses such as diarrhea, cholera, and typhoid.The purpose of the present study is to determine if access to treated domestic water sources is associated with increased literacy rates and labor force participation rates for women in India. Using district-level data from India for the year 2013, results indicate that access to treated domestic water has a statistically significant and positive relationship on both female literacy rates and female labor force participation rates. Hence, when households have access to clean tap water, women can use their time to engage in more productive uses, such as schooling or working.
Keywords: Water, Domestic Source, Female, Literacy, Labor Force.