Women with low educational qualifications are highly disadvantaged in the labour market, a study has revealed.
A study by five Ghanaian researchers also provides concrete evidence which shows that a minimum of secondary school completion is required in facilitating favourable labour market outcomes for women.
The study, titled “Early labour market transitions of women in low-income African countries,” was undertaken by Dr. Louis Boakye-Yiadom, Dr. Nkechi S. Owoo, Dr. Monica Lambon-Quayefio, Dr. Enestina K. Dankyi, and Mr. Kwame Adjei-Mantey, all of the University of Ghana.
Among others, the study found that early pregnancy, childbirth and/ or marriage greatly influences females’ school-to-work transition, showing that teenage girls who get pregnant or get married while in school mostly drop out of school, and start work at an early age since they do not return to school after birth.
Although they start work at an early age, such women do not benefit from good incomes and often do not rise in their chosen trades because of their low educational background.
At a research project dissemination seminar at the University of Ghana, Legon in Accra, the researchers noted the findings indicated that early labour market experiences of teenagers, tend to have adverse effect on their transition and future participation in the labour market.
Among other recommendations, the researchers suggested that “schooling and completion should be encouraged through a vigorous campaign.”
They said existing social intervention policies and programmes that aim at promoting girl-child education and preventing early marriages, should be enhanced for the benefit of teenage girls.
In addition, they called for the strengthening of the policy that allows girls to resume school after child birth.
Dr. Lambon-Quayefio explained in a presentation that although such a policy existed, it should be promoted and implemented effectively to create a congenial schooling environment for teenage mothers.
She said although efforts should be made to curtail teenage pregnancies and early marriages, the school environment should be made more receptive and supportive for teenage mothers who return to school.
That, she said could involve the provision of childcare facilities attached to the schools to enable the mothers to leave their babies there and concentrate on their academic work.
The three-year study, which was undertaken in five other African countries, was based on assumption that the way in which young women transit from school to work greatly affects the quality of their economic lives.
In sub-Saharan Africa, fewer women work in established salaried jobs than in other regions, and they are commonly paid less, and they are often less likely to succeed in business than men.
This project studied factors that affect labour market outcomes for women in East and West Africa, and addressed the questions of; what influences how women choose their first jobs, what affects the age at which women leave full-time education, and how do early labour market and early fertility experiences affect women’s employment later in life?
Researchers in Kenya, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda, in collaboration with researchers from the United Kingdom, compared the experiences of young women and men with different socio-economic characteristics.
The analysis drew on available census, survey, and panel data to provide a full picture of how girls progress economically over the years. A qualitative analysis of young women and men in their later years of education or early years of work complemented the quantitative analysis.
This research, supported under the Growth and Economic Opportunities for Women (GrOW) programme, a five-year multi-funder partnership of the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and IDRC, aimed at generating new knowledge that sheds light on specific limitations on women’s economic empowerment from an early age.
By Nii Adotey/adrdaily.com
