Informality and Gender Gaps Going Hand in Hand

By Vivian Malta, Lisa L Kolovich, Angelica Martinez, Marina Mendes Tavares

May 23, 2019

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Format: Chicago

Vivian Malta, Lisa L Kolovich, Angelica Martinez, and Marina Mendes Tavares. Informality and Gender Gaps Going Hand in Hand, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2019) accessed November 8, 2024

Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary

In sub-Saharan Africa women work relatively more in the informal sector than men. Many factors could explain this difference, including women’s lower education levels, legal barriers, social norms and demographic characteristics. Cross-country comparisons indicate strong associations between gender gaps and higher female informality. This paper uses microdata from Senegal to assess the probability of a worker being informal, and our main findings are: (i) in urban areas, being a woman increases this probability by 8.5 percent; (ii) education is usually more relevant for women; (iii) having kids reduces men’s probability of being informal but increases women’s.

Subject: Education, Gender, Gender inequality, Informal employment, Labor, Women

Keywords: Account worker, Family worker, Gender Gaps, Gender inequality, Informal economy, Informal employment, Informal worker, Labor force, Paid worker, Senegal, Senegalese worker, Sub-Saharan Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa country, Women, Working man, Working woman, WP

Publication Details

Pages:

34
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2019/112
Stock No:

WPIEA2019112
ISBN:

9781498314718
ISSN:

1018-5941

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