Most countries have made significant strides in achieving gender parity in socioeconomic development, including women’s representation in the workforce. Despite those strides, African countries face the same challenges that hamper global progress toward gender equality. Many women remain excluded from the world of work, creating a considerable gap in labor participation.
Even though approximately half of working-age women participate in the labor force, regional heterogeneities are more skewed than expected. Gender gaps in participation remain particularly high among North African countries—where men’s rates of participation are more than three times higher than women’s rates.
Ensuring fair access to socioeconomic opportunities requires overcoming the gender-based discrimination that women face. This study aims not only to investigate the drivers of female labor force participation but also to shed light on policies to address gaps in gender equality and the welfare of women in Africa. It seeks to answer four questions:
- What is the current state of female labor force participation in Africa, and how has it evolved in the last two decades?
- What public policies have countries in the region implemented to influence women’s workforce status?
- What are the key factors, and their relative influence, in driving women’s labor force participation in Africa?
- What policies are needed to stimulate the involvement of women in Africa’s workforce?
The study also conducts an in-depth exploration of the observed policies and strategies that have shaped the pattern of women’s work status over the last two decades in two countries—Kenya and Senegal. These two countries are quite unique in terms of their progress on economic transformation, recent growth experiences, and historical treatment of women in the labor market.
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