Labour market feminization and economic development in sub-Saharan Africa

• Date: 09 September 2024
• Pages: 1832-1848
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-03-2023-0140
• Published date: 09 September 2024
• Subject Matter: Economics,Labour economics
• Author: Oluwabunmi O. Adejumo,Joshua F. Obisanya,Folashade O. Akinyemi

Labour market feminization

and economic development

in sub-Saharan Africa

Oluwabunmi O. Adejumo, Joshua F. Obisanya and

Folashade O. Akinyemi

Institute for Entrepreneurship and Development Studies,

Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Abstract

Purpose –Women’s direct or subtle exclusion from the labour market is still evident, necessitating more

rigorous inquiries into the subject matter. The study aims to assess the moderating factors that can boost the

inclusion of women participation in the labour market by complementing and actualising the doctrine of the

feminist U-shaped hypothesis.

Design/methodology/approach –This study is situated within the feminist U-shaped hypothesis and

employs the generalised method of moments (GMM) on 38 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Findings –This study validates the U-shaped labour hypothesis and expands on the moderating effects of

the U-shaped curve in 38 SSA countries.

Originality/value –The study contributes to the influences of human capital development and technological

access that can significantly improve the workings of the feminist U- hypothesis in SSA countries.

Keywords Female, Equality, Employment, Development, Per capita income

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction

Among the several issues that shape the participation of women in the labour market,

developing issues of interest include (1) the rate of women’s participation in the labour

market, (2) the context of the actual drivers of female labour participation, (3) the relevance of

the U-shape hypothesis for developing economies in recent times and (4) prospects for

attaining equality and sustainability within the labour market systems in developing

economies.

Global and regional statistics on Africa indicate that the participation rate of men remains

a lot higher than that of female, which leaves a substantial aspect of the equality-employment

relation unresolved (Anyanwu and Augustine, 2013;Efobi et al., 2018;Asongu et al., 2019).

For instance, the statistics from the International Labour Organisation, as documented in the

World Development Indicator (WDI) (2018) database, revealed that globally there had been a

decline in the participation of females in the labour force from 50.9% in 1990 to 50.2% in 2005

and further to 47.9% in 2018. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation (FLFP) rate in

sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has remained below average at 46% since the mid-1990s, from

46.6% in 2000 to 46.2% in 2021. A more worrisome trajectory is the gender gap (GEQTY) in

the labour market participation rate in SSA. With a male labour participation rate of 74% in

2021 [1], a GEQTY of about 28% still exists in the labour market in SSA [2].

Studies have attested to the importance of female participation in the labour market. This

ranges from the macroeconomic effects on growth and development to the microeconomic

impacts of augmenting family income and increasing living standards (Anyanwu and

Augustine, 2013;Verick, 2018;Nchake and Koatsa, 2017). Also, FLFP steers policies in the

direction of the attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 5,

which expressly states in one of the sub-objectives for gender development “to adopt and

IJM

45,9

1832

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

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Received 15 March 2023

Revised 25 August 2023

29 February 2024

21 June 2024

Accepted 12 August 2024

InternationalJournal of Manpower

Vol. 45 No. 9, 2024

pp. 1832-1848

© Emerald Publishing Limited

0143-7720

DOI 10.1108/IJM-03-2023-0140

strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality

and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels.” However, the dwindling

participation of women in the labour market is an indication of direct or subtle exclusion (Tan

and Subramaniam, 2013); thus, more rigorous enquiries into the subject matter are

increasingly required. This is because the challenge of sustaining families and even nations

in terms of complete welfare, which includes social, emotional, economic and integrative

dimensions, has inclusion or exclusion degrees to which the labour market can match.

One of the classic theories that delves into women and labour market patterns is the

U-shaped hypothesis. Basically, the feminisation U-hypothesis proposes a relationship

between the participation of women in the labour market and economic growth. It

hypothesises a decline in FLFP in the industrial era and a rise in FLFP in the post-industrial

era. Also, the expected U-shape relationship between FLFP and economic growth is largely

contingent on an improvement in per capita income (PCI) and structural transformations that

occur within an economy. Scholarly works on a definite U-shaped relationship between FLFP

and economic growth remain evidently unresolved. While some studies validate the

relationship (Clark et al., 2003;Lechman and Okonowicz, 2013;Rami, 2020), other studies

refute the hypothesis (Gaddis and Klasen, 2014;Verick, 2018;Idowu and Owoeye, 2019),

especially in developing economies. The growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP) per

capita in SSA, which grew from $733 to stand at $1,645 in 2021, makes it imperative to know

whether the claims of the U-hypothesis are valid. Thus, in addition to validating the

U-shaped hypothesis in SSA, some factors that can aid the expected structural

transformations within the U-shaped hypothesis include skills, education, technological

development and innovations in the validation model. Therefore, as a deviation from

previous studies, this paper delves into the moderating effects of these factors on PCI to

influence FLFP.

2. Literature review

2.1 Gender thoughts and development

Some gender theories relate dimensions of gender to developmental outcomes. For instance,

the gender schema theory emphasises the role of culture in shaping gender outcomes in the

course of development (Starr and Zurbriggen, 2017). The cultural position is reinforced by

the feminist standpoint theory that highlights the domination of men and the alienation of

women from their productive lives. One feminist stance further projects the blindness of

women as entrepreneurs. Instead, it promotes entrepreneurship as male-gendered and shows

women entrepreneurs to be inferior and underperforming [3]. Meanwhile, the increasing

performance of women in labour spaces culminates in economic development, turnover of

cultural biases, the creation of legacies and institutional designs that promote inclusive

growth (Alexander and Welzel, 2007). Some of the factors that advance inclusion for women

in the labour market include financial inclusiveness (Cabeza-Garc

ıa et al., 2019), investment

in enterprise development (Kabeer, 2021) and enacting inclusive policies through

institutional frameworks and participatory governance (Alexander and Welzel, 2007).

Therefore, to engender a better representation of women in the labour market, the gender

U-shaped hypothesis advances an argument on resource distribution and utilisation. This is

further discussed in the subsequent section.

2.2 An overview of the U-shaped hypothesis

The U-shaped hypothesis suggests a relationship exists between the macroeconomic gains of

women in the world of work (Sinha, 1965). According to Gaddis and Klasen (2014), the

feminisation U-hypothesis posits a trade-off between economic growth and gender equality

International

Journal of

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