Admasu, Y., Crivello, G., and Porter, C. (2021), “Young women’s transitions from education to the labour market in Ethiopia: A gendered life-course perspective,” WIDER Working Paper, 96.
The study looked at variables affecting Ethiopia’s unpaid domestic work and transitions from education to the labour market. The paper examined the time spent in various activities (all forms of work) per day to better understand the gender differences in labour market participation (“economic work”) in favour of men and the total amount of time that women spend working across all endeavours that could be categorised as paid or unpaid work. It used a mixed-methods, iterative approach that combined qualitative and quantitative analysis. The study’s findings imply that both men and women perform significant amounts of unpaid work for their households starting at a young age that is often highly gendered, and that women’s work is not counted in the current system of national accounts definition of labour. But compared to men, women still do less paid work. Young women’s access to decent employment in rural areas is still very limited, and those who do find it often complain of unfavourable working conditions, low pay, or jobs that are unrelated to their education or training.
The findings of the paper suggest that young women in Ethiopia are still less likely at the age of 22 to be in paid employment than young men at the same age. The cause of this suggests that there are many reasons, like being pulled away from school by the need to earn money or to provide unpaid work or caregiving for the household. Admasu et al. argued that the country context plays a determining role in the prospects for young people’s ability to attain a good quality education and enter the labour market. In order to access these possibilities, women-headed households and youth need access to more productive agricultural inputs and training in modern farming methods. Admasu et al. found in their research that in unpaid family farming, young women are less likely than young men to work in agriculture, which has the potential for future employment possibilities as the agricultural sector grows.
According to the finding, marriage was one of the key factors driving the gap at the age of 22, as 34 percent of women are married compared with only 7 percent of men, and married women tend to spend more time on housework and caring for family members, leaving less time for “economic work.” The authors conclude that in Ethiopia, marriage at a younger age continues to be a major factor in women leaving the labour force, and young women’s employment opportunities are still limited in comparison to those for young men.