scholarly journals Financial Inclusion and Labour Market Participation of Women in Selected Countries in Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-31
Author(s):  
Folorunsho M. Ajide
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Financial Inclusion ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Female Labour Force Participation ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Female Labour ◽  
Economic Participation ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Research purpose: This study investigates the impact of financial inclusion on female labour force participation in Africa. It also complements the existing studies by evaluating how advancement in information and communication technology (ICT) and Trade openness (TO) modulate the relationship between financial inclusion and female economic participation in selected African countries. Design/methodology/approach: The study focuses on twelve African countries while the empirical evidence is based on Fixed Effects, Random Effects and Generalised Least Square estimators (GLS). Data over the period of 2005-2016 are sourced from the World Bank Development database and IMF international Financial Statistics. Findings: The results show that financial inclusion has a non-monotonic relationship with female labour force participation. The study establishes that if the level of financial inclusion can be increased to the range of 33-57 per cent, it would improve the level of women participation in economic activities. The results further show that ICT moderates the nexus between financial inclusion and female economic participation at a threshold level of 38.17 per cent. These findings persist when the TO is used as the moderating factor at a threshold value of 80.90 per cent. The results are robust enough to suggest an alternative proxy for female labour force participation and alternative estimation techniques. Originality/value/practical implications: Ending gender inequality has become one of the priorities in the global development policies in which most African nations domesticate the same for their national planning. There are voices at every corner in Africa demanding the possibility of achieving gender equality in employment, among others. This article is one of the few articles that evaluate whether financial inclusion can be used to accelerate female economic participation in Africa.

Does female labour force participation contribute to better financial inclusion? Evidence from cross-country analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Senthil Arasu Balasubramanian ◽  
Thenmozhi Kuppusamy
Keyword(s):  
Financial Services ◽  
Credit Card ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Financial Inclusion ◽  
Female Labour Force Participation ◽  
Female Labour ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of female labour force participation (FLFP) in the access and usage of formal financial services by women.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses cross-country data from 107 countries. The study uses multivariate regression (OLS) to explain the impact of FLFP on the financial inclusion variables. The study also accounted for different groups of country-level control variables. Instrumental variables regression is also used in the study to consider for endogeneity issues.FindingsThe results show that FLFP has significant influence on all of the financial inclusion variables used in the study. The role of financial literacy is prominent in determining women's access to sophisticated financial services such as debit card and credit card. Improving financial infrastructure of an economy facilitates greater access to formal account by womenPractical implicationsFrom policymakers’ perspective, women should be motivated to enter labour market for better financial inclusion.Social implicationsMore opportunities for women to enter formal employment encourages female participation in labour market and benefits women and the economy.Originality/valueThis paper is the first of its kind to study the influence of FLFP on indicators of financial inclusion of women. The study extended the scope of access to financial services by considering access to bank account, debit card and credit card. The study also analysed use of financial services through digital platforms by women.

scholarly journals Migration and intergenerational stability in female employment: The impact of differences between sending and receiving countries

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorian Tsolak ◽  
Marvin Bürmann ◽  
Martin Kroh
Keyword(s):  
Labour Force ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Female Employment ◽  
Female Labour Force Participation ◽  
Participation Rates ◽  
Female Labour ◽  
Employment Stability ◽  
Female Immigrants ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Contextual Differences

Objective: This article studies the intergenerational stability of employment in families of immigrants cross-nationally by investigating to what extent contextual differences between sending and receiving countries affect the transmission of labour force participation from mothers to daughters. Background: It is often argued that a low level of labour force participation among female immigrants reflects gender norms inherited from the sending country, or, alternatively, that it is indicative of obstacles to social mobility in the receiving country. We seek to add to the existing research on this topic by providing evidence of differences between sending and receiving countries that systematically affect the labour market behaviour of female immigrants. Method: We use individual-level data from the European Social Survey (ESS) for 35 receiving countries for a 14-year period (2004-2018) in combination with contextual data for 172 sending countries from 1960 to 2018. First, we provide an overview of employment rates and intergenerational employment stability for different combinations of sending and receiving contexts with respect to the labour force participation rates of female immigrants. Second, we corroborate our descriptive findings with multilevel models. Results: Our paper shows that there are changes in the levels of intergenerational employment stability among immigrants depending on the differences in the female labour force participation rates between the sending and the receiving countries. We find that when women migrate from countries with low female labour force participation rates to countries with high female labour force participation rates, their probability of participating in the labour force increases. However, we also find that the levels of intergenerational employment stability in this group are high. Conclusion: Intergenerational employment stability seems to be responsive to contextual differences between sending and receiving countries. We observe the highest levels of intergenerational stability in employment between mothers and daughters in families who migrated from countries with low female labour force participation rates to countries with high female labour force participation rates.

scholarly journals The Impact of Financial Access on Female Labour Force Participation: Evidence from Panel Estimation

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-271
Author(s):  
Khai Ying Eng ◽  
Chee-Hong Law ◽  
Yiing Jia Loke
Keyword(s):  
Labour Force ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Women Empowerment ◽  
Female Labour Force Participation ◽  
Labour Force Participation Rate ◽  
Financial Access ◽  
Female Labour ◽  
Bank Branches ◽  
Automated Teller Machines ◽  
The Impact

This paper examines the relationship between financial access and economic empowerment among females, i.e., female labour force participation by testing a panel data of 51 countries ranging from 2004 to 2016. The number of bank branches and automated teller machines, both in thousand square feet and a hundred thousand adults, are applied as financial access indicators. The estimation method employed is the dynamic panel system generalized method of moment estimators. The control variables in the equation are the life expectancy, gross domestic product per capita, and female education enrolment. The results showed that bank branches have more noticeable impacts than automated teller machines in affecting the female labour force participation rate, implying that bank branches' services have a more substantial influence on women empowerment than automated teller machines. Furthermore, financial access indicators show a negative association with female labour force participation, probably due to female discrimination in financial access or the income effect caused by better financial access. Another possible reason is that the development policies could have bypassed women, as indicated by previous studies. To overcome this situation, governments could improve their financial service to ensure that financial access benefits women empowerment, including exploring the microfinance and special loans for female borrowers.

Does Vocational Training Promote Female Labour Force Participation? An Analysis for India

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-173
Author(s):  
Indrajit Bairagya ◽  
Tulika Bhattacharya ◽  
Pragati Tiwari
Keyword(s):  
Vocational Training ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Probit Model ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Female Labour Force Participation ◽  
Jel Codes ◽  
Female Labour ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

The objective of the article is to assess the impact of formal and informal vocational training on female labour force participation in India, based on the Periodic Labour Force Survey data for 2017–2018, employing a trivariate probit model. Results show that participation both in formal and informal vocational training has a positive and statistically significant impact on female labour force participation across all specifications of the regression models, thus showing the robustness of the relationship. Most importantly, the provision of vocational training helps break the traditional U-shaped relationship between female labour force participation and educational levels. However, the fact that the percentage of formal vocational training holders is much lower than that of informal vocational training holders and that it varies among males and females, points to the need for special policy attention on the promotion of female participation in formal vocational training on a large scale. JEL Codes: J21, J24, J71

The Role of Female Education in Economic Growth of Pakistan: A Time Series Analysis from 1990-2016

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-93
Author(s):  
Syeda Anam Hassan ◽  
Nazish Rafaz
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Fertility Rate ◽  
Female Education ◽  
Female Labour Force Participation ◽  
Labour Force Participation Rate ◽  
Female Labour ◽  
The Impact

Education is an essential factor of economic growth and a fundamental right of every person. No country can attain sustainable economic growth without substantial investment in education. Education improves technical capabilities of exploring new ideas and innovations. It improves the quality of life and leads to collective benefits to individuals and societies. In this study, we investigate the impact of female education on the economic growth of Pakistan by adopting the methodology of the simple Ordinary Least Squares regression with time spanning from 1990 to 2016. OLS regression results show that 1% increase in female education, female labour force participation, education expenditure and fertility rate causes 96% increase in GDP of Pakistan. Female education has a significant and positive impact on economic growth. Female education has a positive relationship with female labour force participation rate. The female labour force is dramatically increasing the economic growth. The policy recommendation is that government should allocate more of its budget on education and make efforts for improvement of the quality of education at different levels. The fertility rate has a negative relationship with female education and economic growth. Female education can reduce fertility rate and play a magnificent role in economic growth of Pakistan.

Can globalisation promote female labour force participation?

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-322
Author(s):  
Harpal Sangha ◽  
Robert Riegler
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Female Labour Force Participation ◽  
Labour Force Participation Rate ◽  
Economic Dimension ◽  
Female Labour ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Economic Globalisation

Purpose This study aims to analyse whether globalisation, i.e. informational and economic globalisation, promoted or impeded female labour force participation (FLFP) in South Asia. Design/methodology/approach The KOF Globalisation Index is used alongside a fixed effect panel data Discroll–Kraay estimator to control for unobserved factors and achieve robust standard errors. The sample covers all South Asian countries for the period 1999–2015. Findings Globalisation does not advocate the “feminisation of employment”; in fact, the impact is negative. This is driven by the economic dimension of globalisation, particularly for younger women. However, this impact is mitigated by informational globalisation that affects FLFP positively, especially for women aged 35 years and older. Practical implications Without support of the right governmental policies, there is a danger of globalisation creating new obstacles for women to enter the labour market. Originality/value This paper adds to the existing literature by using the more comprehensive KOF globalisation measure to identify the overall effect of globalisation on FLFP in South Asia, being the first study to analyse the impact of informational alongside economic globalisation, and investigating whether globalisation affects the labour force participation rate of various female age cohorts differently.

scholarly journals Female labour force participation and economic development

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (7) ◽  
pp. 896-912 ◽  
Author(s):  
Misbah Tanveer Choudhry ◽  
Paul Elhorst
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Demographic Transition ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
Female Labour Force Participation ◽  
Participation Rates ◽  
Female Labour ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical model, which is aggregated across individuals to analyse the labour force participation rate, and empirical results to provide evidence of a U-shaped relationship between women’s labour force participation and economic development. Design/methodology/approach The U-shaped relationship is investigated by employing a panel data approach of 40 countries around the world over the period 1960–2005. It is investigated whether the labour force behaviour of women in different age groups can be lumped together by considering ten different age groups. Findings The paper finds evidence in favour of the U-shaped relationship. For every age group and explanatory variable in the model, a particular point is found where the regime of falling participation rates changes into a regime of rising participation rates. Research limitations/implications To evaluate this relationship, microeconomic analysis with primary data can also provide significant insights. Social implications Every country can narrow the gap between the labour participation rates of men and women in the long term. Fertility decline, shifts of employment to services, part-time work, increased opportunities in education, and the capital-to-labour ratio as a measure for economic development are the key determinants. Originality/value In addition to the U-shaped relationship, considerable research has been carried out on demographic transition. This paper brings these two strands of literature together, by econometrically investigating the impact of demographic transition on female labour force participation given its U-shaped relation with economic development, i.e., turning points for different explanatory variables are calculated and their implications for economic growth are discussed.

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