Abstract:
This paper explores one of the key issues in current research on gender and development: the links between poverty and women's employment and underemployment. The nation‟s economic crisis has deeply affected the lives of thousands of Sri Lankans. Unemployment has pulled the rug out from under many families, particularly those living in low-income communities. Deepening poverty is inextricably linked with rising levels of homelessness and food insecurity/hunger. Poverty can be considered as a central socio and economic problem.
The women ratio is highly vital factor in concerning of current population statistics including women households, education level, and women workforce.
The purpose of the study is looking the women unemployment and makes proposals to uplift the women‟s contribution to the national economy.
Objectives: To identify male vs. female unemployment, what extent is a woman's household economic status, which programs are most suitable for women for livelihood.
Research question: What is the co-relation between poverty and women‟s unemployment?
Methodology: Survey method has been done for collecting primary data through structured questionnaires. FGDs and KII has done.
Findings: The first phase of the project involves screening overall studies have shown very different effects of poverty, for different types of poverty: from income inequalities, to social exclusion and unemployment. The final phase involves the analysis provides strong evidence for a co-relation between household economic status and women's current employment status. This is true for the entire sample and for the married and unmarried women. The interplay of economic factors (in terms of household needs and aspirations) and cultural factors (in terms of women's position in the family as unmarried daughters as opposed to wives or daughters-in-law) as determinants of women's employment is important both on the supply side of the labour market and women's ability to obtain employment in an imperfect and almost saturated labour market in the context of Sri Lanka.
