Women workers in Ghana, Kenya, Zambia : A comparative analysis of women's employment in the modern wage sector

This study is undertaken against the background of growing unemployment and scarcity of skills facing African countries. With increases investment in educational opportunities for women that has occurred since independence in most African countries, the problem of women's employment takes on added significance. Having invested in girls' education, it is desirous that such investments yield that maximum returns, given the resource constraints in developing economies. Thus, it is necessary to study the question of employment of women to ensure 1) that women do not add to the dimensions of the unemployment problem, and 2) that they contribute to the nation's efforts to reduce specific manpower shortages. Given the foregoing, the central concern of the study is with the role that education and training can play in enabling women to obtain more employment opportunities. Specifically, how to do we broaden women's employment opportunities through education, training and career guidance so that they achieve a greater share in modern sector wage employment ? In answering this question, the study traces the growth of women's employment in the wage sector, analyses the situation of women in employment by industry and occupation, examines the factors determining women's participation in the modern wage sector, assesses the prospects for increasing the absolute and relative numbers of women in employment and broadening the range of occupations in which they might be employed and identifies employment opportunities that could be exploited and developed to .