How do restrictive reproductive laws impact women’s workforce participation? A comparative analysis between Canada and Sri Lanka

This study investigates how reproductive policy environments shape female labor force participation (FLFP) in two contrasting national contexts Canada and Sri Lanka. Through a comparative analysis, the study evaluates whether legal and institutional supports such as abortion access, contraception, and maternity protections influence women’s participation in formal labor markets. The study is based on panel data in 2013-2023 and takes a multi-methodology approach including descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, difference-in-difference (DiD) estimation approach, Principal components analysis (PCA), Random Forest model, and the ARIMA forecasting method. In Canada, provinces with broad reproductive and parental policy (e.g. full coverage of early abortion, subsidized birth control, and ample paid leave) have had steadily higher rates of FLFP, especially among women 25-34, and in big cities. Conversely, Sri Lankan districts with anti-abortion policy and poor access to birth control methods showed poor FLFP, even though there are high degrees of female literacy. The DiD model indicates that, globally, there was a decline in FLFP after 2018. However, progressive policy interventions in Canadian provinces helped mitigate this decline by 1.07per cent (p = 0.002). In contrast, Sri Lanka experienced no improvement during the same period, and in some cases, FLFP outcomes worsened. Findings made by PCA revealed that the fertility rates, maturity leave age, health spending, and access to digital finance help explained variance in FLFP in the two countries. Fertility and maternity protections were noted as the most influential according to Random Forest analysis. Correlations additionally depicted high negative relationships between fertility and FLFP (r = -0.92) and positive connections with health expenditure and electronic accommodation. These findings can be interpreted through the lens of NHE, which suggests that favorable reproductive policies reduce the opportunity cost of childbearing, thereby supporting increased economic participation by women. In Sri Lanka, legal restrictions, entrenched cultural norms, and the widespread dominance of informal employment collectively hinder women’s participation in the formal labor force. The research results indicate that legal change is needed but a full ecosystem of policies, such as telehealth and LARC subsidies and maternity insurance, will be necessary to establish gender equity in the labour market.