The Role of education and fertility in the participation and employment of African women in South Africa

Policy makers are well aware that creating jobs is an important priority if the health of our economy is to be preserved and improved. However, the first step towards a successful strategy of employment creation is an understanding of the labour market. The aim of this paper is to add, in a small way, to that understanding. Our focus is on African women, looking at the extent of the influence of education as well as fertility on their participation and employment. The paper begins with a review of labour supply theory, focusing on the basic model of labour force participation. This is followed by a review of South African literature on participation. The aim of this chapter is to show what work has been done in this area and what contribution this paper makes. The following chapter looks at the relationship between education, fertility, and employment. We find that education is negatively related to fertility but positively related to employment. We also find that fertility and employment are negatively related. This is followed by regression analysis. Our conclusion is that education plays a significant role in the participation and employment of African women. In addition, we find that fertility has an insignificant effect on participation of African women in the labour market. This is likely to be a result of the fact that African women are relatively poorer than the rest. Support of this view is shown by the finding of a significant effect of fertility on the participation of White women.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

School of Economics

Year dc:date.issued

2000

Author dc:creator

• Mlatsheni, Cecil

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Leibbrandt, Murray

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5736

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/5736