Female Labour Force Participation and Economic Development: Does the ‘U’ Shaped Hypothesis Hold for West African Countries?
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Published:
May 16, 2023
Keywords:
Female, Labour Participation, ‘U’ Shaped Hypothesis, Economic Development, Claudin Goldin, West Africa, Gender ratio of labour participation, UTEST
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Abstract
Theories show that there is a relationship between female labour participation and economic development, such that as a country transits from informal economy to formal economy, female labour force participation (FLFP) changes. This change and re-organisation of economic activities and the production system have further affected the position of women in the economy. Among the theories for understanding the phenomenon is the ‘U’ shaped hypothesis by Claudin Goldin. This study sourced data from World Bank Data Bank and investigated the validity of ‘U’ shaped hypothesis in 4 selected West African countries based on their gender ratio labour participation ranking. Using fixed effect estimation technique and ‘UTEST’ technique as suggested by Lind and Mehlum (2010), the study discovered that there is no clear evidence of ‘U’ shape in selected West African countries. While there is an inverted ‘U’ shape relationship between FLFP and economic development in Nigeria and Togo, there is no evidence of ‘U’ shape in Ghana and Mauritania. However, analysis on country specific level reveals the peculiarity of each country. This study concludes that there is no ‘U’ shape relationship between female labour force participation and economic development in selected West African countries. It is recommended that governments in West African countries should increase women empowerment and provide family support/child care services for working women.
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Idowu, O. O. (2023). Female Labour Force Participation and Economic Development: Does the ‘U’ Shaped Hypothesis Hold for West African Countries?. African Journal of Stability & Development, 15(1&2), 114-134. https://doi.org/10.53982/ajsd.2023.1501_2.07-j
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References
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Yakubu, Y. A. (2010). Factors influencing female labour force participation in South Africa in 2008. The African Statistical Journal, 11, 85-104.
Adebiyi, O. O., & Onifade, T. A. (2014). Testing the relationship between female labour force participation and fertility in Nigeria. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences (MCSER) Publishing, 5(27), 1322-1327.
African Development Bank (2015). Empowering African women: Agenda for action. Africa Gender equality index 2015. Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire.
Altuzarra, A., Galvez-Galvez, C., & Gonzalez-Flores, A. (2019). Economic development and female labour force participation: The case of European Union Countries. Sustainability, 11, 1962, 1-18.
Belke, M., & Bolat, S. (2016). The panel data analysis of female labour participation and economic development relationship in developed and developing countries. In 11th MIBES Conference, Heraklion, Crete, Greece. 70-75.
Cakir, O. (2008). The relationship between economic development and female labour force participation within the framework of U-shaped hypothesis: Evidence from Turkey. http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/1334923
Chen, M. A. (2011). Women In Informal Sector: A Global Picture, the global movement. WIEGO.
Choudhry, M. T., & Elhorst, P. (2018). Female labour force participation and economic development. International Journal of Manpower, 39(7), 896-912, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-03-2017-004.
Engels, F. (1986). The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State, England: Penguin Books.
Ernst & Young (2011). Women of Africa, a powerful untapped economic force for the continent. http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/Womenof Africa/$FILE/ Women% 20of%20Africa%20final.pdf.
Fussell, M. E., & Zenteno, R. M. (1997). Spatial Differences in Wage and Non-Wage Female Labour Force Participation in Mexico, Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin–Madison http://ssc.wisc.edu/cde/cdewp/97-10.pdf
Gaddis, I., & Klassen, S. (2012). Economic development, structural change and women’s labour force participation: a re-examination of the feminisation ‘u’ hypothesis. University of Gottingen, Germany.
Goldin, C. (1994). The ‘U’ shaped Female Labour force Function in Economic Development and Economic History. NBER Working Paper Series (WP 4707), Cambridge, MA 02138.
Hartani, N. H., Bakar, N. A., & Haseeb, M. (2015). The nexus between female labour force participation and female total fertility rate in selected ASEAN countries: Panel cointegration approach. Modern Applied Science, 9(8).
International Labour Organisation Statistics (2013). Resolution Concerning Statistics of Work, Employment and Labour Underutilization, Adopted by the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians, Geneva. http://www.ilo.org/global/statistics-and- databases/ standardsand-guidelines/resolutions-adopted-by-international-conferences-of-labour- statisticians/WCMS_230304/lang--en/index.htm.
International Labour Organisation Statistics. (2013). Labour force participation rate. Geneva. http://www.ilo.org/ilostat-files/Documents/description_LFPR_EN.pdf.
Jaffri, A. A., Javed, R. Y., & Asjed, R. (2015). Impact of urbanisation on female labour force participation in Pakistan: an econometric analysis. Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences, 35(2), 691-701.
Kapsos, S., Silberman, A., & Bourmpoula, E. (2014). Why is female labour force participation declining so sharply in India? ILO Research Paper No 10. http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/...dgreports/...inst/documents/publication/wcm s250977.pdf.
Lahoti, R., & Swaminathan, H. (2013). Economic growth and female labour force participation in India, India Institute of Management Bangalore.
Lind, J. T., & Mehlum, H. (2007). The appropriate test for a ‘U’ shaped relationship, Department of Economics, University of Oslo. MPRA Paper no. 4823 http://mpra.ub.uni.muenchen.de/4823/.
Lind, J. T., & Mehlum, H. (2010). With or without ‘U’? – the appropriate test for a ‘U’- shaped relationship, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 72(1), 109-118.
Mcconnell, C. R., Brue, C. R., & Stanley, S. (2010). Contemporary Labour Economics, 9th Edition, McGraw Hill Irwin.
Morikawa, Y. (2015). The opportunities and challenges for female labour force participation in Morocco. Global Economy and Development (Working Paper 86). Brookings.
Olivetti, C. (2013). The female labour force and long run development: The American experience in comparative perspective. Boston University and NBER, 1-49.
Population Reference Bureau (2015). World Population Data Sheet - With a special focus on women’s empowerment. World Bank.
Psacharopoulos, G., & Tzannatos, Z. (1989). Female labour force participation: an international perspective. The World Bank Research Observer, 4(2),187- 201.http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/655261468767058052/Female-labour- force-participation-an-international-perspective.
Rau, W., & Robert, W. (1999). Industrialisation, female labour force participation, and the Modern Division of Labour by Sex. Industrial Relations, 38(4), 504-521.
Rau, W., & Wazienski, R. (2002). Industrialisation, female labour force participation and the modern division of labour by sex. Journal of Economy and Society, 38(4), 504 – 521 DOI: 10.1111/0019-8676.00141.
Robinson, J. (2005). Female labour force participation in the East and North Africa. Wharton Research Scholars Journal. Penn Libraries, University of Pennsylvania.
Solati, F. (2015). Female labour force participation in Middle East and North Africa. University of Manitoba, Canada.
Stuart, E., Samman, E., & Hunt, A. (2018). Informal is the new normal. Shaping Policy for Development, Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Working Paper 530. https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/resource-documents/11993.pdf
Tansel, A. (2002). Economic development and female labour force participation in Turkey: time series evidence and cross province estimates, Economic Research Center (ERC), Working Paper in Economics 01/05.
Tinguim, E. N. (2016). Female labour force participation and sectoral choices for females in Cameroonian labour market. International Journal of Innovation and Scientific Research, 21(1), 118-129.
Tsani, S., Paroussos, L., Fragiadakis, C., Charalambidis, I., & Capros, P. (2012). Female Labour Force Participation and Economic Development in Southern Mediterranean Countries: What Scenarios for 2030? Mediterranean Prospects, Thinking Ahead for the Mediterranean. Working Paper 7 – Human Capital, Social Protection, Inequality and Migration. http://www.medpro-foresight.eu.
Uberti, L. J., & Douarin, E. (2023). The feminization U, cultural norms and the plough. Journal of Population Economics, 36, 5-35, https://doi.org/10.100071/500148.022-00890-5
United Nations. (2015). World Population Prospects, key findings and advance tables, Department of Economics and Social Affairs, Population Divisions. https://esa.un.org>publication>files.
Verick, S. (2006). The impact of globalisation on the informal sector in Africa: Economic and social policy division, united nations economic commission for Africa (ECA) and institute for the study of labour (IZA), 1-26. http://conference.iza.org/conference_files/worldb2006/verick_s872.pdf
Verme, P. (2015). Economic development and female labour force participation in middle east and north Africa: a test of the ‘U’ shape hypothesis. IZA Journal of Labour and Development, 4(3), 1-21
World Bank and IFC. (2011). Women business and the law: Removing barriers to economic inclusion. The World Bank, Washington, DC.
World Development Indicators. (2011). Labour force, female (% of Total Labour Force). World Bank Development Bank Indicators website. http://data.worldbank.org/indicators/SL.TLF.TOTL.FE.ZS accessed by Earnst and Young 2011.
World Economic Forum. (2018). The future of jobs reports: insight report, Centre for the new Economy and Society. Geneva, Switzerland.
Yakubu, Y. A. (2010). Factors influencing female labour force participation in South Africa in 2008. The African Statistical Journal, 11, 85-104.