Women face greater barriers to jobs across Africa – World Bank Economist

By Maame Efua Kwaduah

Lead Economist at the World Bank, Kathleen Beegle, has drawn attention to the challenges African countries face in providing decent work for people of all ages, noting that women are disproportionately affected.

According to her, countries throughout the region are struggling to provide decent work for young people and adults with the challenges being much larger for women.

Speaking in an interview with The New Finder at the Women and Jobs in Africa Policy Research Workshop in Accra, she noted that women are more likely to be in vulnerable work, earn less when employed by firms.

 She added that female farmers face lower productivity and limited access to good land and the resources needed to farm successfully.

She stressed that women bear the burden of childcare and other household responsibilities which further limits their opportunities.

She explained that the workshop brought together researchers from across the continent to present their studies on women’s work and vulnerable employment. The studies focused on a variety of women, including female entrepreneurs in the micro and small enterprise space, female farmers, and college graduates seeking formal sector employment.

 According to her, the circumstances of women vary widely depending on factors such as age, occupation, education, and location. Because of this, the solutions to these challenges are very diverse and depend on the specific context of each woman, with no single policy solution applicable to all.

Focusing on Ghana, Madam Beegle revealed that challenges cut across different sectors and industries. In agriculture, female farmers face low productivity and limited access to markets with the severity of challenges varying by region and farming system.

In urban areas she said women running microenterprises are less able to turn grants into profits because of financial pressures such as paying school fees and household expenses.

“We know that in Ghana college graduates who are women face hurdles  transitioning into formal sector employment compared to their male peers”, she noted.

According to her, Ghana’s challenges, while unique in certain aspects, are similar to those faced by neighboring countries.

 She emphasized that learning from research and interventions in other countries can help identify approaches that may work in Ghana both in specific contexts and more broadly across the country.