FEMALE PARTICIPATION IN THE FORMAL SECTOR AND DEVELOPMENT IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Journal of Third World Studies, Fall 2003 by Njoh, Ambe J, Rigos, Platon N

Table IV contains information for testing Hypothesis III. The table shows the t-test and related statistics resulting from the inclusion of the HDI as the dependent variable and the percentage of 'working women' in the industrial sector. Note that the mean HDI for countries in Category A (i.e., countries with a 'high' percentage of women participating in the industrial sector) is 466.79, with a standard deviation of 155.75.

The mean of 359.91, with a standard deviation of 65.48, for countries in Category B, is significantly lower. The F-prime statistic is 0.0002, which is significantly less than 0.001, suggests that the HDI variances for the two populations (countries in Category A and countries in Category B) differ statistically at the 0.001 level of statistical significance (LOSS).

Alternatively, the following hypothesis is retained: H^sub 1^: ^sub [mu]1^ ^sub [mu]1^. The central hypothesis of the study reported here has therefore been validated. Thus, as hypothesized, the higher the percentage of women in the formal sector, particularly in the service and industrial sectors, the higher the human development index (HDI). Despite the statistical significance of this relationship, we do not infer causation. In other words, we do not claim that increasing the level of female participation in the formal labor sector causes development. Rather, we contend that a positive relationship exists between the variables.

DISCUSSION

A number of factors rooted in Africa's 'triple heritage' characterized by African indigenous tradition, Islamic and Western/Christian doctrine, culture and ideology plausibly account for the gender-based inequities prevalent in the formal sector of sub-Saharan African economies. However, it is important to note that the African traditional economic system was noted for its inclusive orientation. Within the context of this system, women and men worked side-by-side on the farm. The injection of Islam and later European colonialism into the continent was accompanied by the introduction of new roles for women and men and a redefinition of the relationship between the sexes. The concomitant gender-based division of labor relegated women to less economically productive roles at home and in the informal sector, while assigning to men, more economically rewarding roles in the formal sector. As a result, a woman's worth has come to be measured in terms of the extent to which she is able to procure and process food as well as bear children. In contrast, social expectations for African men typically emphasize extra-domestic and formal economic activities. Furthermore, an African man's worth has come to be measured in terms of his income-earning ability and possessions. Thus, the fact that women dominate the agriculture sector in these countries. In Uganda, for instance, Wakoko and Lobao noted that women provide 60 percent of the labor in agriculture and account for 80 percent of labor in food production.31

The main finding of the study reported in this article is that female participation in the formal labor sector is positively associated with development, measured in terms of the human development index (HDI). In the rest of this article, we will attempt to make some sense out of this finding. Again, we must state categorically, that 'association' does not connote 'causation.' Causation cannot and should never be derived solely from statistical analysis. Rather, as Kendall and Stuart32 suggested more than four decades ago, the notion of causation must come from outside statistics, ultimately from some theory or other.