%0 Journal Article
%T Determinants of women's non-family work in Ghana and Zimbabwe
%A Pillai
%A Vijayan K.
%A Benefo
%A Kofi D.
%J Canadian Studies in Population
%D 2003
%I Canadian Population Society
%X English One objective of this paper is to evaluate the determinants of female non-familywork in Africa. Selected labor force participation theories are tested usingdemographic and health survey data. The traditional kinship-oriented familyorganization in Africa, along with high fertility, have long been seen as factors thatconstrain women's participation in the labor force, particularly in seeking formalsector employment. We use demographic and health survey data from two Africancountries, Ghana and Zimbabwe. Education emerges as the most importantdeterminant of non-family work. Even if female education levels increase, singlewomen may not gain easy entry into the informal economy managed by kinship basedsocial networks. A large proportion of these educated women may not findjobs if the formal economy does not expand. Results from Ghana and Zimbabweare compared. French Un des objectifs de cet article consiste ¨¤ ¨¦valuer les d¨¦terminants du travail f¨¦mininhors famille en Afrique. Les th¨¦ories au sujet de la population active s¨¦lectionn¨¦esont ¨¦prouv¨¦es au moyen de donn¨¦es d¨¦mographiques et de sondages sur la sant¨¦.La structure familiale traditionnelle fond¨¦e sur la parent¨¦ en Afrique, alli¨¦e ¨¤ untaux de fertilit¨¦ ¨¦lev¨¦, a toujours ¨¦t¨¦ consid¨¦r¨¦e comme un facteur limitant laparticipation des femmes ¨¤ la population active, surtout en ce qui concerne larecherche d¡¯emplois sur le march¨¦ officiel. Nous avons utilis¨¦ les donn¨¦esd¨¦mographiques et de sondages sur la sant¨¦ de deux pays africains, ¨¤ savoir leGhana et le Zimbabwe. L¡¯¨¦ducation ressort comme ¨¦tant le d¨¦terminant de loin leplus important relativement ¨¤ un travail hors famille. M¨ºme si les niveauxd¡¯¨¦ducation des femmes s¡¯am¨¦liorent, les femmes c¨¦libataires n¡¯ont pas facilementacc¨¨s au march¨¦ informel g¨¦r¨¦ par des r¨¦seaux sociaux fond¨¦s sur la parent¨¦. Unegrande proportion de ces femmes ¨¦duqu¨¦es ne trouvera pas de travail si le march¨¦officiel ne s¡¯¨¦largit pas. Une comparaison des r¨¦sultats du Ghana et du Zimbabwey est donn¨¦e.
%K female non-family work
%K Africa
%K Ghana
%K Zimbabwe
%K female labour force participation
%U http://www.canpopsoc.ca/CanPopSoc/assets/File/publications/journal/CSPv30n2p389.pdf