Gender participation in non-farm employment in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

S.C Onya,E.P Amah-Jerry,O.R Iheke

doi:10.4314/as.v19i3.1

Abstract

This study examined gender participation in non-farm employment in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. The study used primary data collected from 149 respondents selected through a multistage sampling technique. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and double hurdle model. The result of the descriptive statistics showed that female household heads were younger (38.3 years) than the male (44.4 years), the male had more years ofeducation, spent more time in work than the female; and also the male farm income were more than that of the female, while the female non-labour income were higher than that of the male. Also, the females were more involved in tree cropping and livestock-keeping than their male counterparts, while on the non-farm activities, the female were more into these practices than the male. The result of the double hurdle estimation showed that age, marital status, years spent in school, household size, number of dependent, farm size, non-labour income, and distance to the market significantly influenced the participation decision of both male and female headed households in non-farm employment; while age, marital status, years spent in school, household size, number of dependent, farm size, non-labour income, distance to the market, and distance to the urban centre significantly influenced the hours of work decision of male and female headed households in non-farm employment in the study area. The study recommends policy measures that will improve the skills and educational level of the farmers especially the female as it will go a long way in reducing the number of unskilled labours while increasing the number of skilled labour of the people in the study area. Key words: gender, participation decision, hours of work decision, non-farm employment

Highlights

Gender differential in labour, wage, land distribution and productivity are critical issues that have been central to the socio-economic life of countries in Africa
Gender specialization in both farm production and household activities dictate gender differences in both time constraints and the value of time. Qualifications such as formal education dictate differences between the demand for male labour and the demand for female labour. Both supply and demand could be subject to considerable gender discrimination in traditional societies in which most of these factors work against women
It covers an area of 6,421.2 km2 with a population of 2,176,947 (NPC, 2006) which accounts for 1.6% of total Nigeria population

Summary

Introduction

Wage, land distribution and productivity are critical issues that have been central to the socio-economic life of countries in Africa. In Nigeria, women constitute half or more of the country’s population, but they contribute lesser than men towards the value of recorded production both quantitatively in labour force participation and qualitatively in educational achievement and skilled manpower (Olukemi, 2009). Gender specialization in both farm production and household activities dictate gender differences in both time constraints and the value of time. Qualifications such as formal education dictate differences between the demand for male labour and the demand for female labour. Both supply and demand could be subject to considerable gender discrimination in traditional societies in which most of these factors work against women. Labour market opportunities are an important determinant of women’s bargaining power in household decision making, which has been shown to be positively correlated with household spending on goods that benefit children, (Costa and Bob, 2012)

Objectives

Methods

Results