Studies in Cameroon show that the labor market situation is also worrying than the poverty situation. They emphasize the persistence of gender inequalities in different sectors (formal and informal), which compromises the achievement of the third Millennium Development Goal. Considering the demonstrated effect of the functioning of labor markets on economic growth and income distribution, the issue of discrimination against women in the labor market appears to be both a social and an economic issue. This study attempts to estimate the extent of discrimination in the formal sector and that of occupational segregation in the informal sector.
We used data from the Survey of Employment and the Informal Sector led in 2005 by the National Institute of Statistics. This national operation has involved 8540 households and collected information on demographics, employment status and job characteristics. These data clearly identify the four segments of the labor market: public, private, formal, agricultural and informal non-agricultural.
Concerning the formal sector, the methodology was to estimate earnings equations for men and women through a selection model of Heckman and calculating indices of discrimination according to certain professional categories. In the informal sector, we have made a classification of occupations and calculate the indice of Duncan and Duncan and the indice of Gini to measure occupational segregation by gender.
The results show that the discrimination make women in the formal sector lose in average 7741 FCFA per month. Overall, it affects about 55% of them. The choice of the structure of men's income as vector discriminatory make the largest gap, that is to say 11508 CFA francs at mean for women and a collective deficit average of 0.09 compared to men's income. In the informal sector, women operate mostly in occupations that generate lower income. Here, segregation is more present in the nonagricultural sector, where approximately 46.7% of women have to change occupations to achieve the same distribution of occupations between the genders. The segregation is so strong in the practice of cash crops; however it remains low throughout the agricultural sector.
The study recommends the implementation of measures to promote equality between genders in the labor market, consider the gender approach in the composition of the government and in programs and projects; improve the capacity building of professionals on gender approach. Moreover, we must promote women's entrepreneurship and promote their access to micro credit and input.
References:
Araar Abdelkrim (2006), “Distributive Analysis Stata Package”, PEP & CIRPEE: Université de Laval
Duncan O.D. et Duncan B. (1955), “A Methodological Analysis of Segregation Indices”, American Sociological Review, 20, 210-217
Gunewardena Delmi (2006), “Exploring gender wage gaps in Sri Lanka: A quantile regression approach”. Rapport final, Réseau PEP.
Biography: Ingénieur des travaux statistiques, ancien élève de l'Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Statistiques et d'Economie Appliquée d'Abidjan.
Cadre au Ministère de l'Economie, de la planification et de l'aménagement du territoire.
Camerounais.