The impact of modernization on women's employment in Ghana, 1960-1970

8b THE IMPACT OF MODERNIZATION ON WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT IN GHANA, 1960-70 by William F. Steel and Claudia D. Campbell Serieå: Studies in Employment and Rural Development No. 44 Division: Employment and Rural Development Department: Development Economics Development Policy Staff International Bank for Reconstruction and Development This paper was prepared for the internal use of the World Bank, and may not be quoted, referred to without permission of the authors or the Bankå The views expressed represent those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Bank. THE DIPACT OF MODERNIZATION ON WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT IN GHANA, 1960-70 One of the surest ways.of increasing the national income is . . . to create new sources of employment for women outside the home. (Lewis 1954) Introduction Assessment of the impact of modernization on women in Ghana requires attention not only to the magnitude of female employment expansion, but also to the context in which women seek employment and to specific types of employment they obtain. This paper begins with a general analysis of the relationship between economic development and women's economic par- ticipation, looking specifically at the determinants of female labor force participation. Cultural as well as economic influences on the extent to which women must depend on men for market income or are expected to be income-earners are seen as important in determining the responsive,es.s of women to development policies and their ability to gain from develop- ment. The rising labor force participation of women in Ghana over 1960-70 is noted and placed in the context of the generally independent status of women in Ghana. Statistical analysis indicates that women's supply * of labor is responsive to decreases in the unemployment rate and to rises in family income provided by men. The observed increase in female par- ticipation is seen, however, more as a shift in supply in order to com- pensate for stagnant real income per capita than as a response to industrialization-induced increases in demand and wages for women. .2 Analysis of women's employment by occupation and sector does not in- dicate substantial diversification of opportunities for,%women as a. result of modernization. Growth is primarily in traditionally female activities, and is predominantly outside the modern sector (even'though women accounted for 74% of the total employment increase). 'Within the modern sector, women's choice of job is shown to be responsive to relative wages, as well as to government expansion and traditional roles. Industrialization policies, however, greatly favored male-dominated large-scale industries; the increase in female manufacturing employment is found to be almost entirely in small-scale activities. The paper concludes with some policy suggestions to improve the ability of women to benefit from and contribute to development in Ghana. Education is a particularly important policy area that is outside the scope of this paper. Data are not sufficient.to undertake an analysis of the effects of development on women's total incomes, or even on wages outside the private modern sector. The Importance of Female EmDloyment and Income Growth in Economic Development Improved female income-earning opportunities combined with increased female education may play a critical role in sustaining per capita income growth by increasing labor force productivity while lowering population a growth. Opportunities for education and wage employment raise the oppor- tunity cost of a woman's time, thereby increasing the cost of children and producing strong negative effects on family size (Cain and Weininger 1973, Dixon 1975, Schultz 1972). Although the income effect of increased family 3- earnings would tend to increase demand for children, it is offset when working for additional wages by females conflicts with child rearing. Rising female wage employment thus can reduce fertility (Ketkar 1975) while increasing family income. Female education and employment may bring benefits in addition to the fertility-income effect. Better education can improve family health, education, and nutrition (Adeniyi-Jones 1969, Dunlop 1974, Leibowitz 1974a,b). Women may use their earnings to raise nutritional intake levels of their families. Female access to education and employment reduces her reliance on males for market goods and enables her to support herself and her children, if necessary. An overall income gain resulting from expanded employment and income may not directly benefit a society's women if they are relegated to the lowest-paying jobs and are barrea from equal access 1o education. In economies where women rely primarily on their own earnings and cannot count on supplemental male income for support, the relative real income of women and children may decline under growth oriented toward male market opportunities and educational advancement. Inflationary expansion policies may even reduce women's real income. As a result, the general * level of nutrition, health, and education (especially of females) may fail to improve or even decline. Failure to expand female education with economic growth may raise population growth rates (Ketkar 1975).0 Determinants of Labor Force Participation Microeconomic analysis of labor force participation traditionally focuses on the individual's choice between income and leisure. This -4 dichotomy overlooks two important influences on a woman's decision: 'home production, and socio-cultural attitudes regarding the sta,us of women. An individual in a market economy can obtain final goods and ser- vices in three ways: (1) self-production for own consumption; (2) ex- change of factor services or surplus self-produced goods for the cash with which to buy desired goods and services (or direct barter); and (3) ruceipt of goods and services (or cash) without engaging' in any directly productive activity. Self-production usually takes place in the home, and is considered by most societies to be primarily the province of women and children (especially housekeeping, cooking, and child care). Market exchange generally involves work outside the home, and is the role assigned to males in most societies. Infants, invalids, and the aged are common recipients of goods and services without engaging in pro- ductive activity, and women without independent income sources customarily receive money or goods from their husbands without an explicit exchange of goods and services.2 A social welfare system may support the poor without requiring them to engage in productive activity, and the idle rich may similarly be viewed as receiving income (from their assets) without being directly productive themselves. The labor-leisure choice properly applies only to individuals who obtain final goods and services exclusively through market exchange-- in most societies, men. Women must generally include'home production, as well as labor in the market and leisuie time, in deciding how to allo- cate time so as to maximize satisfaction. For women to enter the labor market, the income received must be sufficient to generate more satisfac- tion than is given up through reduced leisure and/or home production. 5 Comparison of the economic benefits of market versus home production may not be sufficient to predict women's labor force participation de- cision. Cultural norms favoring large families (or opposing birth con- trol) inhibit the ability of women in child-bearing ages to work in the market. The culture may place a high value on women remaining in the home and not venturing into the market, so that the psychological cost to the individual (reflecting the high social cost) of labor force participation may exceed the net economic gain. Societies that expect women to depend on their husbands for goods and services produced outside the home may be said to assign women a high "dependency status." Furthermore, a high dependency status for women may lead to outright discrimination in edu- cation, employment, occupation, and/or wages, so that.women's earnings from market employment may not reflect the value of their production or the productivity they could achieve with equal education opportunities. The restraining effect of high dependency status on women's labor force participation may be expected to increase as male earnings (and unearned family income) increase. A women whose "place is in the home" must satisfy her needs for outside goods and services through her hus- band's income. If he does not earn enough to meet minimal household needs, she may find market employment necessary in spite of social norms. In this case, a rise in family income would tend to decrease the woman's supply of market labor. Increased male earnings would sub- stitute for female earnings,4 and women's labor force behavior might be more responsive to overall income growth than to policies directly affecting women's relative wages or education. 6. In cultures where women have relatively low dependency status, they must rely on themselves to obtain marketed goods and services. In this case, women's labor force participation is likely to be much more respon- sive to the substitution effect of increased wages (relative to the value of home production and leisure), and relatively unresponsive to increased family income. Increased male wages would be expected to have little impact on women's participation, and might even complement it if used to buy labor-saving devices that free women from household responsibilities.5 Effect of Industrialization and Economic Development on Female EmDloyment The prevalence of a higher dependency status for women than men across cultures and levels of development is reflected in an almost universally lower labor force participation rate for women than for men (Turnham 1971: 24). The experience of the developed nations shows an increase in overall recorded female labor force participation with development, suggesting that women benefit directly from growth by sub- stituting market production for home production and leisure. On the other hand, a number of studies (Abbott 1910, Boserup 1970, Chaplin 1967, Durand 1975) indicate that industrial growth brings decreasing female market employment. The apparent contradiction arises partly because "development" is a much broader concept than "industrialization," implying changcs in both economic structure and attitudes, as well as improvements in living standards. The preceding analysis of determinants of labor force- participation can aid in explaining the different influences on woments employment decisions as industrialization and development pro- ceed. 7 Women will increase labor force participation with development to the extent that it results in: (a) reduced fertility; (b) social attitude change that reduces female dependency status; (c) greater in- crease in wages or income-earning opportunitites available to females than in the value of leisure and of home production; and (d) if female dependency status is lo%, use of increased family income to substitute for home prodiction activities. If female dependency status is high, increased male earnings would instead substitute for women's earnings, working against effects (a-c). No basis exists for thinking that either industrialization or development would tend to increase fertility or female dependency status; increased specialization, emphasis on indi- vidual achievement, economic diversification, and improved standards of health and educaiton are likely to reduce both fertility and dependency. We therefore focus on wage-earning opportunities and the level of depen- dency status to distinguish between effects of industrialization and of development. The impact of industrialization on women's relative wage-from market employment depends on the extent to which it expands employment in ac- tivities that already employ women and on the ability of women to take advantage of new opportunitites. Galbraith's (1973: 31) explanation of the negative effects of American industrialization on female employ- ment is also relevant to less developed countries: "industrialization eliminated the need for women in ... cottage employment ... [and] in combination with technological advance it greatly reduced their utility in agriuclture." Industrialization implies a shift out of agriculture, 8 a major activity of women in pre-industrial economies.6 The scale, or- ganization, and location of industrial production conflict not only with women's home production, but with the goods that they already produce for market exchange: ...when larger industries gradually drive the home industries out of business, women lose their jobs, because the type of product they were making (home spun cloth, hand made cigars, hand made matches, etc.) are replaced by products factory made by a labor force composed of many more men than women. (Boserup 1970: 111) A high dependency status of women relative to men tends to reinforce the negative impact of industrialization on female employment. If women are expected to spend a major share of their time taking care of the home, they will be unable to maintain the long, regular working hours required in large-scale industry. The custom that men are the primary income-earners fosters the presumption that high-wage modern sector jobs should be reserved for males. Under these circumstances, industrialization will not improve, and may worsen the employnent and income position of females. Expansion of the monp.y economy may, however, expand income-earning opportunities available to women. Even in a society with a high female dependency status, women may be .able to work part-time in trading and services (particularly food preparation), especially since those activities can be carried out in or near the home. Where female dependency status is low, women can respond to increasing employment opportunities in com- merce and public services, especially if education of women increases. Development and structural change in the economy as a whole may therefore widen women's opportunities to gain income directly by enough to offset employment losses from expansion of a male-dominated industrial sector. The policy implication of the foregoing analysis is that industrializa- tion, development, and labor policies may have relatively little impact on an important share of the labor force: women. Focus on male employ- ment and earnings may ignore costs of decreased female employment and earnings as a consequence of industrialization policies (especially those favoring high-wage large-scale employment). The less self-reliant women are expected to be (i.e. the higher their dependency status), the more marginal they are to the development process, and the less likely they are to respond to incentives and opportunities. Hence a society that wishes to ensure widespread, even distribution of the benefits of de- velopment must pay attention to the status of women and their ability to respodid to and gain from the types of opportunities that are expanded by industrialization and development policies. Trends in Labor Force Participation and Emoloyment in Ghana, 1960-70 Women apparently made major employment gains in Ghana from 1960 to 1970, a period in which Government policy was oriented toward import- substitution industrialization. The female labor force participation rate for ages 15 and over rose from 57% to 65% while the male rate fell from 89% to 87% (Table 1). Employment of'women (as recorded in the Census) grew at 5.6% per annum in nonagricultural activities and 4.3% overall, while employment of men grew at only 2.4% in nonagricultural activities and 1.0% overall (Table 2, columns 5-6). As a result, women's share of total employment grew from 39% to 45% (Table 2, cols. 3-4). 10 TABLE 1 GAP BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE AGE-SPECIFIC LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATES, 1960 AND 1970 (percentage) Age group Male rates Female rates Male-female gaD 1960 1970 1960 1970 1960 1970 (1) (2) (3) (4) (1) (6) 15-24 75.7 64.7 53.0 51.8 22.7 12.9 25-44 97.2 100.1a 57.2 71.5 40.0 28.6 45-64 94.7 97.7 67.9 77.0 26.8 20.7 65 and over 71.3 76.1 42.6 47.7 28.7 28.4 Total, all ages 89.0 87.1 56.7 64.5 32.3 22.6 aLabor force and population data come from different Census tables, leading to a discrepancy that results in labor force totals for urban males ages 25-54. See Steel, 1977b, Statistical Table C.2b and note a. Source: Steel, 1977b, Statistical Tables C.1 and C.2. Although these figures suggest that women responded to and benefited from development in Ghana during the 1960s, a closer examination of the facts raises some doubts. First, there was little overall change in real income per capita, which fell in the latter part of the decade after .rising slightly in the earlier part. Increased female labor supply cannot, therefore, be assumed to be a response to an increase in the level of income available from market activity. Second, the decrease in male labor force participation came only in the 15-24 age group, presumably as a consequence of the expansion of education. Female participation in this age group declined only slightly, from 53% to 52%, whereas the decline for males was substantial, from 76% to 65% (Table 1). This TABLE 2 FEMALE EMPLOYMENT BY SECTOR AND GROWTH OF MALE AND FEMALE EMPLOYMENT, 1960-70 actor Female workers Percentage of total Average annual Percentage of Percentage 1960 1970 in sector percentage growth nonagricultural "1modernsa 1960 1970 Females Males employment in 1970 in 1970 Females Males (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) Aining and quarrying 2,593 2,346 5.4 7.6 -1.0 -3.7 0.4 4.1 81.5 Aanufacturing 99,174 213,837 42.0 51.5 11.6 4.7 33.2 28.6 12.7 LAectricity, gas, water, 174 527 1.2 2.6 - 20.3 4.1 0.1 2.8 72.7 and sanitation Construction 2,631 2,628 3.0 3.6 -0.0 -1.8 0.4 10.1 68.0 Commerce 275,492 365,880 73.4 83.8 3.3 -2.9 56.9 10.0 8.7 rransport, storage,and 1,074 2,268 1.6 2.7 11.1 2.3 0.4 11.7 38.6 communication Services 31,674 56,025 21.2 19.6 7.7 9.5 8.7 37.6 4 .4 fotal nonagricultural 412,812 643,511- 42.1 47.8 5.6 2.4 100.0 100.0 25.9 employment Agriculture, forestry, 578,606 771,608 36.6 43.2 3.3 0.1 ---- ---- 2.7 hunting, and fishing Total, all sectors 991,418 1,415,119 38.7 45.2 4.3 1.0 ---- 12.3 aRecorded employment (from Labour Statistics). Note- Details may fail to add to totals because of rounding Source: Steel, 1977b, Statistical Tables A.1, A.2, A.3, and B.l. 12 difference suggests that women did not benefit as much as men from the expansion of education beyond age 15, and hence would not reap the future gains of increased employability and productivity. Third, the largest increase in the female participation rate was in the 25-44 age group, bringing the gap between male and female rates down from an exceptionally high 40% to 29% (Table 1). This change might be associated with de- creasing fertility in the laterchild-bearing years; data being generated from the 1970 Census may be useful in testing this hypothesis. Finally, 93.9% of the increase in female employment came in agri- culture, commerce, and manufacturing. These are the three sectors with the lowest shares of "modern" sector employment (as recorded in Labour Statistics): 3%, 9%, and 13%, respectively (Table 2, col. 9). Only 32.8% of the increase in male employment was in these three sectors. Commerce and manufacturing accounted for 90% of female nonagricultural employment in 1970, but only 39% of male nonagricultural employment (Table 2, cols. 7-8). Almost half of male nonagricultural employment (9% female) was in services and., transport, which were 47% and 39% "modern," respectively; an additional 17% of male workers were in construction, electricity, and mining, the three sectors with substantially more than half of employment in the "modern" sector, whereas less than 1% of fe- males were engaged in these activities. This evidence suggests that female employment remained largely outside the "modern," sector, and that women received little direct employment benefit from industrialization. In order to analyze these trends more thoroughly, some background is needed on attitudes toward female labor force participation and its determinants in Ghana. 13 Status of Women and Labor Force Participation in Ghana Many socio-legal patterns of Ghanaian culture suggest a low dependency status of women, especially in southern Ghana. The most important patterns are: (a) familial systems; (b) high divorce rates; (c) polygamy; (d) the role of women as providers of family market income;.and (e) legal status. The strong influence of Islam in the rural north, however, implies a much higher dependency status of women in these regions. Under both the matrilineal and patrilineal family systems prevalent in Ghana, transfer of wealth occurs primarily between blood relations rather than between husband and wife (North et al. 1975: 4-5). Financial independence of husband and wife is furthered by the strong obligations of children to their parents and blood relatives (Oppong 1974: 329). Partly because of the strength of blood family relationships, mar- riages tend to be rather unstable. Bleek's (1974: in North et al. 1975) study of matrilineage in Ghana found that 56% of marriages ended in divorce and that after divorce fathers often failed to meet minimal financial obligations toward their children's upkeep. Although actual practice of polygamy is on the wane, this tradition produces economic insecurity for women and their children Nyapen (1960: 69) quotes a trading woman as saying: "our men here don't stay with one woman, but with many women. If you don't try for yourself you will be hungry." Both polygamy and unstable marriages force women to be more economically and socially independent, to insure long run income for themselves and their chidlren. High migration and divorce rates mean that many women must of neces- sity rely on themselves for market-earned income. Dutta-Roy (1969) found 14 that about a third of both urban and rural households in the Eastern Region were headed by women, most supporting themselves. Even in a stable mona- gomous marriage, women in Ghana are expected to be co-providers of family income. Studies of university students by KumeXpor (1975) and Oppong (1975) found that both males and females felt that women have a responsi- bility to provide income for their families through employment outside the home. By law, Ghanaian women have the right to own and purchase property, enter into business contracts, borrow money from banks, and receive equal treatment in employment and education. Ghanaian law does not restrict female economic activity--even though illiteracy and social customs pre- vent full and equal application of the law in practice (North et al 1975: 4). Although .these traditions tend to establish a generally low dependency status for women in Ghana, the practice, df Islam (especially in northern regions) acts to raise female dependency status. Even though Moslems practice polygamy, marriage vows are considered binding, and material goods are to be equally distributed among wives. Islamic principles strongly discourage divorce, and husbands are expected to set up a trust fund that goes to the wife in the event of a divorce (Smith 1958: 218). Thus, female economic security and access to market-purchased goods is generally assured. Finally, the practiceofpurdah, requiring women to cover their heads in public, and the generally protective attitude toward women reduce the likelihood that Moslem women will engage in market ac- tivity outside the home. 15 Empirical Application of the Dependency Status Model Vyas and Leith (1974) studied labor force participation of women in Ghana in 1960, using the following regression equation: FLFP= C + alD + a2UN + a3AME + a4AFE where FLFP = female labor force participation by geographical region, D dummy variable for the Northern Region, where economic activity, primarily in agriculture, was not at its peak as in other parts of the country at the time of data collection, UN = unemployment rate by geographical region, AME= = average male earnings by geographical region, and AFE = average female earnings by geographical region. The authors approximated earnings by constructing an "industrial compo- sition wage index by region" and by sex using average national monthly earnings by industry from Labour Statistics, 1960. The constant and the.-coefficient for AFE were subsequently dropped because they were insignificant in the initial equation and in subsequent runs that omitted one or the other of them, or AME. The authors con- cluded that the "most reasonable explanation of the relationships" was provided.by the following result, which showed a substantial increase in the AME t-statistic (in parentheses) over other variable combinations: FLYP = -45.85 D - 3.75 UN + 0.31 AME R= .973 (-10.43) (-4.83) (16.19) The negative-relationship between UN and FLFP was interpreted to mean that the discouraged worker effect outweighed the added worker effect in 8 the response of women to existing unemployment in the economy. The authors also concluded that the male wage acted as a substitute for 17 Census even though they reported themselves to be employed, while an ad- ditional 26.3% worked only part-time, making a total of 32.3% of the fe- male labor force not working full time (27.1% of the male labor force; Steel 1977b, Statistical Tables E.1 and E.3). Changes in the availability of part-time employment may have had a greater impact on female labor force participation than the relatively small absolute changes in the unemploy- ment rate. The Vyas and Leith study indicates that the income effect of in- creased family earnings (represented by average male earnings in the model) tends to raise female labor force parZicipation, given the low dependency status of women in Ghana. The fact that real income per capita was stag- nant over 1960-70, however, means that increasing income cannot provide a satisfactory explanation for the observed rise in participation. The mean real wage in the "modern" sector (recorded in Labor Statistics), which was 90% male in 1970 and accounted for 45% of male nonagricultural employment, fell at 1.5% per annum over 1962-71 while the real median and minimum wages fell even faster, at 2.9% and 4.4% per annum, respec- tively (Steel 1977a: 144). -Hence it is doubtful that the rise in fe- male participation can be explained by a rise in male wages. An alternative hypothesis may apply. In the face of declining real male wages and stagnant income per capita, the supply of female labor may have shifted out in an effort to prevent family purchasing power from falling or to maintain income growth. The fact that the real minimum wage fell almost three times as fast as the mean in the modern sector implies that lower-income families suffered relatively more from lack of economic growth. Hence, female labor force participation may have increased out of necessity, in order to maintain the standard of 18 living, rather than in respor,se to higher incdae and wages. This hypothesis suggests that the rise in participation may have represented a shift in the supply curve, rather than a response to a shift in demand. If so, the implication is that the real wage for women would fall, as illustrated in fig. l.b. This would also be the case if female labor supply in- creased because of a rise in other sources of family income. Fig. l.a represents an increase in female labor supply in response to a shift in demand and the consequent rise in female wages. An increase in labor supply and participation rates may occur with no change in the real wage if there are simultaneous shifts in both demand and 10 supply (fig. l.c). A change in attitudes favoring greater economic parti- cipation of women could produce both shifts: demand would shift as "'male" occu- pations are opened up to females; and supply would shift as social-psychological barriers against market employment fall. Accelerated economic growth or FIGUR 1: SOURCES OF INCREASED LABOR SUPPLY AND PARTICIPATION Wage 'Wage Wag¶ SD1 2 D Ds -- -1 -2 'd2 D 5 SS2 Labor laaor Labor Ll L2 sunnly L L2 supply Ll L supply l.a: Resaonse to demand shift 1.b: Sunrlr shift l.c: Demand and sur-lr both shift 19 increasing diversification of employment opportunities could also pro- duce the demand shift (as in fig. l.a). Economic need (in the absence of rising income per capita) could also produce the supply shift (as in fig. l.b). On the basis of evidence presented thus far, the ex- planation for rising female labor force participation represented by fig. l.c appears to be most generally applicable to Ghana in the 1960s: expansion of economic opportunitites available to women combined with increased efforts to earn the market income needed to maintain living standards, in the context of low and falling female dependency status. Response to wage differential (fig. l.a) is applicable primarily in the modern sector. For further evidence, we will examine trends in women's wages and employment patterns by occupation and sector. Emoloyment Growth and Composition by Occupation and Sector Aggregate data do not indicate that modernization in Ghana during the 1960s directly stimulated a situation of excess demand for labor that would put upward pressure on wages and thereby induce greater labor force participation. Total employment grew at 2.2% per annum, the same rate as the labor force and somewhat slower than the overall 2.7% rate of population growth, while modern sector employment grew more slowly at 2.0% (Table 3). Employment growth did, nevertheless, exceed the 1.8% average annual growth of total population age 15 and over, due to a 4.1% annual growth in female employment and to increasing female labor force participation. Demand shifts associated with modernization could explain this rapid female employment growth only if industrialization specifically 20 0 TABLE 3 AVERAGE ANNUAL EMPLOYMENT GROWTH RATES (percentage) Total Men Women (1) (2) (3) Labor force, total 15 and over 2.2 1.1 4.1 Employment Total 2.2 1.0 4.3 Modern 2.0 1.4 13.4 Nonagricultural employment Total 3.7 2.4 5.6 Modern 2.7 2.1 12.6 Share of employment increase Total 100.0 26.1 73.9 Nonagricultural 100.0 37.0 63.0 Modern, total 100.0 65.9 34.1 Modern, nonagricultural 100.0 75.7 24.3 Modern sector share of employment growth Total 11.3 28.6 5.2 Nonagricultural 20.2 41.2 7.8 Note: "Modern" denotes employment recorded in Labour Statistics (approximates all establishments with 10 or more employees). Source: Steel 1977b, Statistical Tables A.1, A.7, B.1, B.2, and B.5. required or stimulated activities that are primarily the province of women, or if it diversified the activities available to women. Earlier analysis showed, however, that the three sectors with the highest female shares of employment are precisely the sectors with the lowest shares of employment in the modern sector (Table 2). Furthermore, the only modern sector occupational group for which women outnumber men is nurses and midwives. 21 Evidence on the distribution of employment by occupation and sec- tor does not indicate any dramatic diversification of female employment patterns (Table 4). A slight decrease in the shares of agricultural and sales occupations--the two predominant activities for women--reduced their combined totals from 86.2% in 1960 to 30.2% in 1970 (as against 62.7% of male employment in 1970). Production workers accounted for most of the gain (from 10.6% to 15.4%'); production and sales, however, continued to dominate female nonagricultural occupations, with 90.2% in 1970 (92.4% in 1960). The same pattern is evident in the sectoral breakdown of employment: a slight decrease in the shares of the two largest sectors (agriculture and commerce), taken up primarily by an increase in manu- facturing. Manufacturing and commerce maintained their dominance of female nonagricultural employment at just over 90% (their combined share for men fell from 48.2% in 1960 to 38.6% in 1970). These two sectors accounted for 88.9% of the. increase in female nonagricultural employ- ment from 1960-70 and 48.4% of the total increase. Employment growth for women was for the most part concentrated in those occupations and sec- tors in which they were already well represented by 1960, although there were some signs of diversification in the increasing shares of women in professional and directly productive (especially manufacturing) activities, and in the high rates of growth of female employment in the heavily male- dominated utilities and transport sectors (Table 2). Within the modern sector, however, female employment became some- what more concentrated. The two largest sectors--services and agriculture-- both increased their shares, raising their combined total from 62.8% to TABLE 4 DISTRIBUTION OF FEMALE EMPLOYMENT BY OCCUPATION AND INDUSTRY: 1960 AND 1970 Occupation Total Nonagricultural Sector Total Nonagricultural Modern 1960 1970 1960 1970 1960 1970 1960 1970 1960 1970 (1) (2) (3) (4) \ (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) Professional, 1.2 2.0 2.9 4.4 Mining 0.3 0.2 0.6 0.4 3.1 1.2 technical Manufacturing 10.0 15.1 24.0 33.2 7.3 9.7 Administrative, 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.1 managerial Utilities 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.9 0.7 Clerical 0.3 0.9 2.1 Construction 0.3 0.2 0.6 0.4 8.7 3.0 Sales 28.0 25.7 67.1 56.4 Commerce 27.8 25.9 66.7 56.9 11-.0 11.0 Service 1.6 1.5 3.9 3.3 Transport 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 6.4 4.7 Production 10.6 15.4 25.3 33.8 Services 3.2 4.0 7.7 8.7 .48.4 52.5 Total non- 41.8 45.5 100.0 100.0 Total non- 41.6 45.5 100.0 100.0 85.6 82.8 agricultural agricultural Agriculture 58.2 54.5 --- --- Agriculture 58.4 54.--- 14.4 17.2 Total, all 100.0 100.0 --- --- Total, all 100.0 100.0 --- --- 100.0 100.0 occupations industries Note: Detai),s may fail to add to totals because of rounding. Source: Steel 1977b, Statistical Tables A.2, A.7, and B.3. 23 69.7% of recorded female employment (Table 4). Shares in the three smal- lest sectors--utilities, mining, and transport--all fell, in spite of the high growth of total female employment---in utilities and transport. Manu- facturing is the only relatively small sector whose share increases (7.3% to 9.7%). The occupational distribution of modern sector employment re- mains more heavily concentrated for women than men (Figure 2), with no women engaged in 14 of the 75 occupations listed for men in the 1970 Labour Statistics.11 The high rate of modern sector employment growth for women (13.4% per annum) compared to the low rate for men (1.4%) creates the impres- sion that women were the primary beneficiaries of industrialization. This growth was, however, from an extremely small base: only 1.7% of women employed in 1960 were in large-scale establishments (10 or more), constituting just 5.0% of recorded employment, whereas the 20.2% of male workers in large-scale activities constituted 95.0% of the modern sec- tor work force (calculated from Steel 1977b, Statistical*Table B.2). Thus, although women accounted for 73.9% of the total employment increase over 1960-70, they gained only 34.1% of the new modern jobs. The modern sector provided 28.6% of the additional employment of men, absorbing 41.2% of those who gained new nonagricultural jobs, but provided only 5.2% of zdditional female employment and absorbed just 7.8% of women who found new jobs outside agriculture. Employment generated in the modern sector apparently was biased in favor of men overall, but was increasingly available to women compared with the situation in 1960. The next section examines the 1:pansion of female employment in the modern sector in more detail. 24 FIGURE. 2 LORENZ CURVE FOR RECORDED EMPLOYMENT BY OCCUATION, MALES AND FEMALES, 1970 Percentage of employment 100 90 80 70 6o 50 4o - 30 - 20 - MALES 10- F FEMALES 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Percentage of Occupations Source: Labour Statistics, 1970: Table 6 25 Wage Structure and Employment,Growth Analysis of the composition and growth of wages may help to explain trends in female employment, at least in wage-paying activities. Wages in the modern, recorded-employment sector are maintained and strongly in- fluenced by the government's minimum wage legislation and civil service wage structure. Employment in this sector may, therefore, be assumed to respond to a set wage.12 A high wage relative to other sectors of the economy would stimulate an influx of workers, who would tend to move into those modern subsectors that have the highest relative wages (ad- justed for skill and education differentials). We will focus on determin- ants of the sectoral composition of female labor within the modern sec- tor, for lack of comparable wage data for other sectors. Three variables are discussed: (1) the inter-sectoral wage differential; (2) the male- female wage differential and (3) wage growth by sector. Wage data for women are given separately from men only for private enterprises covered by Labour Statistics; these figures .are taken to in- dicate relationships for recorded employment as a whole, public as well as private. Although the discussion focuses on the period 1960-70, the wages reported are averages for 1958-60 and 1968-70, for two reasons: (a) year-to-year fluctuations from trends that are apparent for dif- ferent industries make the results somewhat sensitive to the choice of end points, if individual years are used; and (b) observable employment responses to changes in wage level and composition are likely to in- volve considerable lags. 25 Wage Structure and Employment Growth Analysis of the compozition and growth of wages may help to explain trends in female employment, at least in wage-paying activities. Wages in the modern, recorded-employment sector are maintained and strongly in- fluenced by the government's minimum wage legislation and civil service wage structure. Employment in this sector may, therefore, be assumed to respond to a set wage.12 A high wage relative to other sectors of the economy would stimulate an influx of workers, who would tend to move into those modern subsectors that have the highest relative wages (ad- justed for skill and education differentials). We will focus on determin- ants of the sectoral composition of female labor within the modern sec- tor, for lack of comparable wage data for other sectors. Three variables are discussed: (1) the inter-sectoral wage differential; (2) the male- female wage differential and (3) wage growth by sector. Wage data for women are given separately from men only for private enterprises covered by Labour Statistics; these figures are taken to in- dicate relationships for recorded employment as a whole, public as well as private. Although the discussion focuses on the period 1960-70, the wages reported are averages for 1958-60 and 1968-70, for two reasons: (a) year-to-year fluctuations from trends that are apparent for dif- ferent industries make the results somewhat sensitive to the choice of end points, if individual years are used; and (b) observable employment responses to changes in wage level and composition are likely to in- volve considerable lags. 26 Sectoral employment growth of women is closely correlated with sectoral wage growth, except for services. The three sectors with the most rapid female wage growth--manufacturing, agriculture, and commerce-- I also have three of the four highest female employment growth rates (Table 5, cols. 8-9). The real wage for women (deflated by the GNP deflator) was stagnant or falling in construction, mining, and transport, and employ- ment of women also fell or rose relatively slowly in these sectors. The continued influx of women into services, and the positive growth of trans- port, in spite of falling real wages in these sectors may be explained by the roughly 3:1 ratio of wages in these sectors to other sectors (Table 5, cols. 3-4) and by the absence of male-female wage differen- tials in these sectors (cols. 5-6). The large share of women in ser- vices also reflects the importance of government as an employer. Com- merce is the only other sector with a male/female wage ratio less than 1.4:1, and has a similarly high wage differential relative to other sectors, both of which help explain its continued attraction for women seeking wage employment. Adjustments have not been made for differentials attributable to skill, education, or maternity benefits, for lack of data. Maternity benefits would tend to produce an across-the-board increase in the male-female wage ratio. The facts that the service sector has no such differential and that it continues to employ a disproportionate number of women, however, suggest that maternity benefits have little effect or are offset by positive aspects of employing women (lower absentee rates, lower turnover, higher productivity, etc.). Firms might also adjust TABLE 5 PRIVATE MODERN SECTOR WAGES AND FEMALE EMPLOYMENT GROWTH, 1958/60 TO 1968/70 Sectora Average female Ratio of high- Ratio of male Average annual growth b (ranked by female wage (0/month) est to lowest to female wages Wages Employment wage growth) 1958-60 1968-70 1958-60 1968-70 1958-60 1968-70 Male Female Female Total (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) Manufacturing 12.40 37.95 1.4 1.7 1.9 1.4. 11.8 20.6 21.4 . 11.9 Agriculture 8.58 23.40 1.0 1.1 2.1 1.5 9.3 17.3 18.0 -1.5 Commerce 26.19 65.20 3.1 3.0 1.2 1.2 15.2 14.9 13.3 1.1 Construction 10.32 21.99 1.2 1.0 2.2 1.4 3.9 11.3 -1.8 -1.9 Mining 15.74 32.27 1.8 1.5 1.4 1.4 10.9 10.5 -0.7 -1.3 Transport 31.36 59.43 3.7 2.7 0.9 1.1 11.7 9.0 7.2 0.4 Services 29.64 56.15 3.5 2.6 1.0 1.0 8.1 8.9 15.4 6.9 Total, all sectors 22.10 50.97 --- --- 1.1 1.0 10.9 13.1 13.4 2.0 aUtilities are omitted because recorded employment was entirely in the public sector by 1968. bGrowth of recorded employment, public and private Source: Ghana, Labour Statistics 1959, 1969, 1969, 1970; Steel (1977b), Statistical Tables B.1, B.5. 28 (when wage differentials by sex are not acceptable) by not employing women, but the high growth of female modern sector employment (13.4% per annum) relative to males (1.4%) implies that this effect has not been significant. The relatively low percentage of women in the modern sector and the Uigh growth in their numbers in the 1960s may be explained by the substan- tial male-female educational differences that have existed in Ghana and by the rapid expansion of education in the 1960s, which both made educa- tion available to more women and tended to close the gap. Educational differentials do not, however, adequately explain male-female industrial wage differentials. Peil (1972: 112) found that "although women are less likely than men to have gone beyond middle school, very few [female production workers] have not attended middle school." Seniority is a more likely explanation, given a relatively high proportion of female production workers under twenty-five (Peil 1972: 24) and the high turnover created by pregnancy, child care responsibilities, and in some cases marriage. Interestingly, inter-sectoral wage differentials for women greatly exceed those for men in commerce, services, and transport, storage and communications, whereas both men and women have similar ratios in the remaining sectors (Table 5, column 4).* The general predominance of women in tertiary economic activities may give them skills and experience that make them especially valuable or well-suited for high-wage occupa- tions in these sectors. That is, they may have received a relatively large amount of "informal" education relative to men in these activities (especially commerce). Although women also constitute a major share of *Figures for men are not shown. . 29 the general manufacturing labor force, men may have (or be presumed to, have)13 a relative advantage in the physical and technical skills that are more likely to be rewarded in the industrial sector. This would account for the relatively high male/female wage ratios in construction, manufacturing, and mining (Table 5, cols. 5-6); to the extent that women are engaged in these activities, they may tend to be in less skilled, .lower-wage jobs. Some evidence to this effect has been found by Peil (1972). The next section examines the implications of a male bias in industry in the context of .import-substitution policies promoting indus- trialization. Ivdustrialization, Small-Scale Employment, and Women's Traditional Roles Although the dependency status of women in Ghana is low, in that they are generally expected to be income earners, little evidence has been found that modernization has directly benefited women. Explana- tions for this seeming inconsistency lie in the realization that "low dependency" does not imply the absence of traditional roles assigned to males and females, and in the policies designed to achieve moderni- zation through infrastructural development and import substitution indus- trialization. Like many other less developed countries attempting to attract foreign investment for industrialization, Ghana provided incentives in the form of low interest rates, tax holidays based on the amount of investment, overvalued currency, and relatively low tariffs on capital goods (Steel 1977a: 31-34)'. These policies lowered the cost of capital 30 below its opportunity cost and promoted a high rate of net profit on i,'vestment. In combination with import licensing procedures favoring large establishments, they tended to promote capital-intensive, large- scale investments. For a number of reasons, this emphasis may tend to favor male over female employment in the modernizing sector, even in societies such as Ghana where female dependency status is low. Even though they are income earners, women in Ghana have primary responsibility for child care, food preparation, and housekeeping--whether they are petty traders or physicians. They may also be expected to raise vegetables for home consumption. Relatives and housemaids may ease the burden, but the responsibilitiesl4 tend to limit the ability of women to meet large .factorv requirements of regular hours on a shift basis, fulltime work the year around, and full attention to the job. Small- scale activities with flexible hours and work that can be done with small children present often are more compatible with the schedules imposed by these other obligations. The generally lower educational attainment of women relative to men in less developed countries tends to inhibit their employment, in large- scale industry, which often uses education as a job-screening device (Stiglitz 1975). As noted in the preceding section, however, this differential is probably becoming less important in Ghana. More important is the expectation both in the educational system and in the society as a whole that men are better suited for mathematical and mechanical activities. Thus, industrialization and mechanization tend to be asso- ciated with employment of men--even when the product replaces goods 31 TABLE 6 WOMEN'S SHARE OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR DIFFERENT TRADITIONAL ACTIVITIES (percentage) Activity Share of work Activity Share of work done by women done by women Food Processing 100 Food production 70 Brewing 90 Marketing 60 Water Supplies 90 Domestic food storage 50 Fuel Supplies 80 Animal husbandry 50 Source:' North et al 1975: 39. traditionally made by women (e.g., textiles). In agriculture as well, machinery and inputs for cash crops have generally been supplied to men, even though women historically have provided the majority of agricultural labor (North .et al 1975). The large shares of Ghanaian women employed in agriculture, com- merce, and manufacturing reflect their traditional responsibility for a majority of food production, marketing, and food processing activities (Table 6). The orientation of import substitution policies toward employ- ment of men is evident in the large disparities between women's traditional role-in these activities and their shares of employment in the modern sec- tor. Although women dominate commerce and manufacturing outside the modern sector with 90.8% and 58.0% of 1970 employment, respectively, they account for only 11.1% and 7.2% of commercial and manufacturing workers in large- scale establishments (Table 7, cols. 2-3). Similarly, women account for 44.0% of small-scale farm workers but only 13.6% of modern sector agricul- tural employees. Only in transport, storage, and communications do women TABLE 7 MODERN AND INTERMEDIATE/INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT AND WOMEN'S SHARE OF EMPLOYMENT BY SECTOR, 1970 (percentage) Sector Women's share of sectoral employment Share of sectoral employment Employment composition Total Modern Intermediate Intermediate/informal Modern Modern Intermediate workers and informala 1960 1970 (1970) and informal (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) Mining 7.6 1.9 32.5 39.8 18.5 81.5 6.3 0.2 Manufacturing 51.5 7.2 58.0 89.8 87.3 12.7 13.3 13.2 Utilities 2.6 1.9 4.5 0.0 27.3 72.7 3.7 0.2 Construction 3.6 2.4 6.2 30.3 32.0 68.0 12.6 0.9 Conmerce 83.8 11.1 90.8 90.8 91.3 8.7 9.6 14.6 Transport 2.7 5.6 0.9 54.0 61.4 38.6 8.2 1.9 Services 19.5 15.0 23.8 46.3 52.6 47.4 34.0 5.5 Total nonagricultural 47.8 9.2 61.3 71.9 74.1 25.9 87.7 36.5 Agriculture 43.2 13.6 44.0 96.3 97.3 2.7 12.3 63.5 Total, all sectors 45.2 9.7 50.3 87.0 87.3 12.7 100.0 100.0 aThe "intermediate/informal" sector is calculated as the residual of total workers (from the Census) minus "modern" sector workers (from Labour Statistics). Note; Figures for manufacturing, commerce, and services differ slightly from Steel (1977a) Table B.2 because repairs have been shifted from services to manufacturing, sanItation from services to utilities, business services from services to com- merce, and hotels and restaurants from commerce to services. Source: Steel 1977b, Statistical Tables A.1, 11.1, and B.2. 33 constitute a larger share in the modern sector, because traditional trans- portion (being a mechanical activity) has excluded women whereas the com- munications industry employs women as telephone operators. The three sectors that dominate women's employment, and in which women play a major role in Ghana, are also the three sectors most heavily dominated by small scale of production. Less than 13% of workers in manu- facturing, in commerce, and in agriculture are in large-scale establishments, whereas the modern sector accounts for more than 38% of workers in all other sectors (Table 7, cols. 4-6). This evidence supports the contention that women are more likely to be working in small-scale than large-scale, establishments, given their other responsibilities. Policies favoring large-scale, capital-intensive development are, therefore, more likely to expand employment of men than of women. It was suggested earlier that emphasis on large-scale industrializa- tion could actually reduce employment in manufacturing by competing with products traditionally produced by women. Large-scale manufacturing certainly has been favored, in that its employment grew at 11.9% per annum over:1960-70, almost six times as fast as total modern sector employment growth. But employment in small-scale manufacturing also grew at 7.1% per annum, about three times the rate for total non-modern employment, although slower than modern manufacturing (Steel 1977b, Statistical Table 3.1). Furthermore, employment of women in manufacturing grew at an average of 11.6% per annum (21.4% in the modern sector only), faster than the 4.7% annual increase in male employment in total manufacturing (11.4% in the modern sector only; Steel 1977b, Statistical Tables A.1 and B.5). 34 The next section examines women's employment in manufacturing (especially small-scale activities) in more detail. Female Employment Patterns in Manufacturing Although women make up over half of Ghana's manufacturing labor force, they are heavily concentrated in activities that reflect their traditional responsibilities for preparing food and beverages, making clothes, and manufacturing household utensils. Women account for more than 90% of employment in: processing oils and fats; baking; local food preparation; malt brewing; and pottery-making (Table 8, cols. 3-4). Women also are disproportionately represented in weariing apparel and wooden and cane wares. Wtih industrialization, however, theyhave lost their earlier dominance in chemical products (especially soap) and cement and mineral products. As a result of higher male employment growth than female, in- dustrialization has ended women's relative dominance in the aggregate textile/leather/wearing apparel and chemical products industries and diminished it in nonmetallic mineral products and beverages and tobacco (Table 8, cols. 1-4). Only in food industries has women's employment growth been sufficiently rapid to increase their dominance. On the other hand, female employment grew more rapidly in the male-dominated industry groups (wood products and furniture; paper, printing, and publishing; and metals, machinery, and equipment), with the exception of plastics and miscellaneous industries. At the detailed industry level, nevertheless, several industries become even more heavily dominated: dairy products, grain milling, tobacco products, and glass (percentage) ensi,s . Industry Average annual growth Female share Changea ode Men Women 1960 1970 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) -1 Food industries 7.3 24.3 75.3* 85.8* -11 Meat & fish preparation -1.7 163.0 2.2 32.2 ++ -12 Dairy products 4.8 -5.8 22.8 .7.7 -13 Fruit & vegetable processing 107.0 220.0 14.8 25.5 ++ -14, Processing of fats & oils 75.9 24.9 96.1** 90.8** - -15 Grain mill products 5.8 -6.4 24.5 8.0 - -16 Bakery products -0.2 -0.5 95.4** 95.3** 0 -17 Sugar and cocoa processing 374.9 433.2 16.4 18.5 + -18 Local food preparation, misc. n.a. n.a. 94.1** 98.5** + -2 Beverage and tobacco industries 62.4 21.2 74.4* 55.6* - -21 Distilling wines & spirits 3047 348.9 11.3 12.6 + -22 Brewing of malt 16.7 19.3 92.1** 92.7** 0 -23 Soft drinks & carbonated water 2.8 7.4 13.3 17.3 + -24 Tobacco products 6.3 -0.1 21.0 14.0 -3b Textiles, wearing apparel, leather 3.8 3.5 50.3* 49.6 0 -31 Textiles 8.8 17.6 10.4 14.6 + -32 Wearing apparel 1.4 2.9 61.7* 64.5* + -33b Leather products & footwear 5.2 55.1 1.2 5.1 + -4 Wood products and furniture -0.4 80.9 1.3 11.0 + -41 Sawmilling -0.5 2.9 0.9 1.2 0 -42 Wooden & cane wares 39.1 168.5 35.0 66.1* ++ -43 Cork & wood products n.e.c. 12.8 11.4 1.5 1.4 0 -44 Furniture & fixtures -1.2 19.3 0.7 2.1 + -5 Paper, printing & publishing 10.6 28.0 12.5 20.8 + -6 Chemical products 17.0 1.3 49.3* 28.9 -61/65 Chemicals & chemical products 41.0 8.2 77.7* 35.9 -66 Petroleum products n.a. n.a. n.a. 5.6 + -67 Rubber products 5.0 1.5 5.5 4.2 -68 Charcoal burning 8.1 16.3 21.1 32.3 + -7 Non-metallic mineral Droducts 31.0 4.1 92.9** 81.7* - -71 Pottery, structural clay products -4.8 4.0 93.1** 97.3** + -72 Glass products 3,915.0 680,0 33.3 8.0 -7V/74 Cement & mineral products n.e.c. 600.4 4.4 67.6* 4.7 - -8b Basic metals, metal products, machinery 8.5 29.0 0.7 1.4 0 & equipment -81 Basic metals 231.1 313.3 1.9 2.5 0 -82,89 Metal products -1.1 -0.3 0.8 0.9 0 -83, Non-electrical machinery 29.5 25.0 3.0 2.7 0 -84 b Electrical machinery 75.8 412.5 0.5 2.6 -85/86b Transport equipment 7.5 20.5 0.6 1.0 0 -9b Plastics & manufacturing n.e.c. -1.0 -7.4 13.3 4.2 - lotal, all manufacturing 4.7 11.6 42.0 51.5 Decline (-); change less than 1% (0); increase (+); or increase more than 9.5% for total (++) Also includes repairs. ~Greater than average for all manufacturing. **Greater than 90% Source: Steel 1977b, Statistical Tables A.4 and A.5. 36 products. Along with the chemical and cement industries, in which male dominance supplanted earlier female dominance, these industries all in- volved the establishment or expansion of lareg-scale firms, generally with relatively fixed capital-intensive technology through tax holidays and other incentives. No such explanation is apparent for the emergence of female dominance in wooden and cane wares, which is more likely asso- ciated with the growth of handicrafts for export or sale to tourists. The initial evidence indicates that female manufacturing employment is concentrated in several "traditional" industries, and that large-scale industrialization has primarily benefited other industries, though it'has been associated with an overall equalization of the distribution of men and women across industry groups. More direct and dramatic evidence that large-scale industrialization has brought little direct employment gain is provided in Table 9. Over half of the increase in female manufacturing employment between the 1960 and 1970 Censuses came in local food preparation, which is exclusively a small-scale activity and which could be considered to be largely a service activity (with restaurants) rather than manu- facturing. This increase may, nevertheless, be considered an indirect benefit of industrialization, since it is associated with the increase in meals taken outside the home that accompanies industrialization and urbanization. Of the six.indvgtries accounting for a total of 92.6% of the increase in female manufacturing employment,four are over 90% female- dominated while the other two are almost two-thirds female; small-scale enterprises account for 94% or more of employment in all of them. All of the nine industries that contributed at least 1% of additional female TABLE 9 37 A. MAOR DETAILED INDUSTRY SOURCES OF FEMALE MANUFACTURING EMPLOYMENT GROWTH, 1960-70 Total increase in f<male Small-scale Increase in small-scale manufacturing -Employment share of' female employmenta nufacturing Number Percen- Cumula- industry Number Percen- Cumu- ndustry tage "ive 1960 1970 tage lative (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) ocal food prepara- 60,725 53.0 53.0 100.0 100.0 60,725 53.0 53.0 tion** eaiing apparel* 13,715 12.0 64.9 99.2 96.3 13,406 11.7 64.7 rocessing of fats & 12,373 10.8 75.7 96.4 96.6 11,940 10.4 75.1 oils** rewing of malt** 12,132 10.6 86.3 94.1 93.9 11,404 9.9 85.0 ooden & cane wares* 3,976 3.5 89.8 100.0 100.0 3,976 3.5 88.5 ottery, structural clay 3,243 2.8 92.6 97.7 97.1 3,162 2.8 91.2 products** extiles 2,519 2.2 94.8 99.0 58.5 1,983 1.7 93.0 feat & fish preparation** 2,201 1.9 96.7 94.6 97.1 2,110 1.8 94.8 istilling of wine & 1,431 1.2 98.0 91.4 95.3 1,336 1.2 96.0 spirits otal, these industries 112,315 98.0 98.0 .,98.6 96.3 110,042b 96.0 96.0 ther industries 2,348 2.0 100.0 79.8 67.6 145b 0.1 96.1 b otal, all industries 114,663 100.0 100.0 89.8 87.3 110,187 96.1 96.1 Estimated as the total female increase (col.1) times the average of the small-scale shares in 960 and 1970 (cols. 4 and 5). Estimated on basis of individual industry totals, not by multiplying the female increase times he aggregate small-scale share. Female employment descreases in baking, milling, chemicals, anc ai y products have been subtracted to give a net,figure for 'other industries.' Female share of employment exceeds.average for all manufacturing in 1960 or 1970. .Female share of employment exceeds 90%. ource: Steel 1977b, Statistical Tables A.4, B.6, and B.7, and worksheets. 38 employment conform to traditional female occupations and involve rela- tively little capital in production: three involve food preparation, two are beverage-making, two relate to clothing, and the remaining two include manufacture of household utensils. These industries account for 98% of the total increase in female employment; they accounted for 74.2% of total female manufacturing employment in 1960 and 87.3% in 1970.15 Since all are predominantly small-scale in nature (96.3% on the average in 1970, as against 67.6% for all other industries), the estimated in- crease in small-scale employment of women in these industries accounts for 96% of the total expansion of female manufacturing employment. The concentration of female employment growth in predominantly small-scale industries means that no more than 4% of the net increase is attributable to employment in large-scale industries. The actual increase in large- scale female manufacturing employment recorded in Labour Statistics was 16 .2,574, only 2.2% of the total increase. Conclusions Modernization in.Ghana has provided a suitable context for the expansion of women's participation in market activities, but has had relatively little direct effect on employment of women. The rapid increase in female employment (compared to male employment) cannot adequately be explained by a substantial increase in demand for women's labor induced by industrialization policies, nor even by a general in- crease in demand. The modern sector accounted for only 5% of additional female employment over 1960-70*(compared to 29% of increased male employ- ment), aid recorded employment grew more slowly than aggregate employment. 39 Employment grew no faster than total labor supply, and the fact that 32% of the female labor force and 27% of the male labor force was not working full time in 1970 indicates excess supply of labor, not a high level of demand. Economic growth was barely able to keep up with population growth over the decade, although there were substantial structural changes and improvements in social welfare (Due 1973). The rapid increase in female employment may be explained principally as a supply shift. Labor force participation of women increased markedly in all age groups except the youngest (15-19). This shift may have been partly a response to the expansion of income-earning opportunities with increased monetization and urbanization of the economy, since the low dependency status of women in all but rural northern regions of Ghana means that they are expected to provide income for themselves or the household. Data are not adequate to determine the extent to which in- creased participation is a substitution response to higher market wages compared to the value of home production and leisure. Some evidence of responsiveness to relative wages exists in the exceptionally high 13% annual increase in women' s employment in the modern sector, where their real wages were rising, and in the sectoral allocation of women within the modern sector. Lack of growth of income per capita, however, implies that there could have been little grwoth of real wages outside the modern sector. Indeed, women's increased labor force participation may have represented an attempt to offset decreases or maintain growth in real family income. Even outside agriculture, 95% of working women earned their incomes in small-scale, "intermediate" or "informal" activities. 40 The effect of a shift in labor supply bn these sectors may have been simply to reduce earnings of those already employed--particularly in urban petty trade. Hence the net income gain of women may have been negligible, in spite of substantial employment gains. It is virtually certain that ag-, gregate incomes earned by women grew much less rapidly than female employ- ment, given the excess of their employment growth over aggregate income growth. The hypothesis that industrialization tends to replace female employ- ment is in one sense refuted but in general confirmed by this study. Em- ployment of women in manufacturing grew faster than employment of men in large-scale as well as in small-scale establishments. This increase was, however, almost exclusively in traditionally female activities--processing of food and beverages, clothing, and household utensils--and these industries remained almost exclusively small-scale in nature. In particular, over half of the total increase came in local food preparation, which may be considered as much a service as a manufacturing activity. Furthermore, female dominance of the .beverage and tobacco, textiles, chemical products, and nonmetallic mineral products industries was reduced or reversed over the 1960s. Industrialization policies favoring large-scale, capital- intensive enterprises therefore neglected those activities and forms of organizations that dominate women's employment, and promoted investments that tend to compete with products traditionally produced by women but that employ relatively few women. The primary implication of this analysis is that policies permitting the small-scale sector to expand are essential both to utilize the increased 41 willingness of Ghanaian women to work in income-earning activities and to enable them to receive their share of increases in aggregate income. The rise in women's labor force participation can properly be viewed as an important resource for development, not as a threat to the ability of men to contribute (the decline in male participation was solely among the school-age population). Bias toward capital-intensive, large-scale indus- trialization will inhibit utilization of this resource and will tend to worsen the male-female income distribution (as well as the overall income distribution), to the extent that women in Ghana rely on themselves for a major share of their income. No special assistance to the small-scale sector is implied, other than measures to ensure availability of both domestic and imported raw materials, although programs offering support to small businesses or cooperatives may be helpful. The primary need is to refuse subsidization and other benefits to large-scale industries that would replace goods now being supplied through labor-intensive, pre- dominantly female production. Increased access of women to education is essential if they are to be able to benefit from the increasing range of opportunities in the economy and to contribute to its growth. Formal education is the key to entering the modern sector, and the increase in the number of educated women may explain their rapid growth in modern sector employment in the 1960s. Continued expansion of female education is necessary if they are to be able to maintain this growth at a rate high enough to close the sub- stantial male-female gap that remains in modern sector employment, wages, and occupations. Vocational education that prepares women, as well as 42 men, for the changing structure of the economy is particularly important if women are to be able to adapt and participate in modernizatiovn of the economy and to overcome their concentration in a few traditionally female occupations and industries. Non-formal education and attitudes about ac- tivities appropriate for women may be at least as important as formal edu- cation in this process of adapting to a modernizing economy. Neglect of women in agricultural extension and animal husbandry work is a significant example of the failure to recognize women's role having a negative impact on the economy. The large share of women in agriculture implies that rural development is an important approach to raising the con- tribution of women to economic growth, as well as to avoiding a decrease in female incomes as urbanization progresses. Policies that tend to restrict women's ability to engage in small- scale income-earning activities may have far-reaching negative effects on socio-economic development. Where women's dependency status is low, as in Ghana, inability of women to maintain their real income is likely to adversely affect the health and nutrition of their children, as well as their education (both informal and formal). Further research on the relationship between women's earnings and the health, nutrition, and education of children would be useful in confirming this linkage. Research is also needed to test the hypothesis that the increasing labor force participation of women in the child-bearing ages has reduced fertility in Ghana, and that rising wages of women would enhance this effect. The relationship between education and employment of women is another important 43 topic that has not been dealt with directly in this paper. Finally, new data collection and analysis of the Household Budget Survey are needed in order to evaluate the income effects of increased female employment, the differences between incomes in small-scale and modern sectors and indus- tries, and the existence of wage differentials between men and women or between male-dominated and female-dominated occupations. 44 APPENDIX A OCCUPATIONAL COMPOSITION OF MODERN SECTOR EMPLOYMENT BY SEX, 1970 Occupational group Female percent- Occupational distri- (top ten male and female age of total bution (percentage) sub-groups in parentheses) emoloyment Men Women (1) (2) (3) Professiona, technical, and related 22.0 12.9 33.8 (Teachers) (21.7) (7.1) (18.1) (Nurses and midwives (69.6) ** (12.4) (Draughtsmen, science and engineering technicians) (2.1) (3.0) ** Administrative, executive, and managerial 4.1 3.8 1.5 Clerical 16.8 12.0 22.4 (Clerical workers, n.e.s.) (13.4) (9.1) (13.0) (Stenographers and typists) (43.9) ** (7.0) Sales 24.5 1.1 3.3 (Commercial travellers, agents, salesmen, shop assistants) (25.1) ** (3.2) Farmers, fishermen, hunters, loggers 15.7 6.0 10.3 (Farm workers and laborers, n.e.s.) (9.5) (3.6) (3.5) (Farmers and farm managers) (30.1) ** (6.8) Miners, quarrymen, and related. 1.7 3.1 0.5 (Miners, quarrymen, mineral treaters) (1.7) (3.1) ** Workers in transport and communications 6.1 7.0 4.2 (Drivers, road transport) (0.4) (3.3) (Telephone and telegraph operators) (44.9) ** (3.5) Craftsmen, production workers, laborers 3.0 42.6 12.1 (laborers, n.e.s., light & heavy work) (2.8) (24.8) (6.6) (Tool makers, machinists, plumbers, etc.) (1.4) (4.4) ** (Carpenters, joiners, etc.) (0.0) (3.6) Service, sport and recreation workers 10.1 11.5 11.9 (Fire fighters, policemen, guards) (2.6) (9.4) ** (Housekeepers, stewards, matrons) (46.7) ** (7.3) Total, all occupations 9.7 100.0 100.0 **Not among the top ten occupations. Source: Ghana, Labour Statistics 1970: Table 6. FOOTNOTES 1. Whether receipts from ownership of land or capital should be cate- groized in (2) or (3) is a question of economic philosophy that we will not attempt to resolve here. 2. Women who take care of the home and receive cash or goods from their husbands might be considered as engaging in a form of market exchange. We will, however, treat household work as self-production and receipts from spouses as unrecompensed transfers (unless the exchange is based on a contractual arrangement more explicit than the marriage "contract"). 3. The supply of female labor in a high-dependency society would very likely be backward-bending, with the income effect of a rise in fe- male wages more than offsetting the substitution effect resulting from the increased value of market work relative to home production and leisure. 4. Viewed another way, male earnings would complement female home production by providing the necessary tools, equipment, and ingredients. 5. The.model developed by T. Paul Schultz (1975) to estimate the labor supply functions of married women can be used to represent the impact of the dependency status of women (or any given target group) on their market labor force participation. The Schultz model is: L f - f(W`f9 Wm. NY) where Lf market labor force participation rate of females, Wf female wage rate, Wm = male wage rate and NY = nonearned income. For application of this model to the dependency status analysis, female wage rates represent a proxy for market income available through market employment, male wage rates reflect the level of market income available through home production, and nonearned income indicates the market goods available without undertaking income-earning activity. 6. Efforts to promote agriculture, particularly by colonial powers in their colonies, may further reduce women's role. Technical assistance, tools, and seeds are generally provided to male rather than female farmers, leading to male specialization in the fast-growing cash crop sector (Coombs 1974). Domestic food crop production becomes the province of females, and may stagnate under agricultural policies oriented toward cash crops, thus constricting female agricultural activity (Boserup 1970). 45 46 7. Actually, income per worker did rise slightly, since employment grew at 2.2% per annum while GNP grew at about the same rate as population, 2.7%. Although a larger share of the adult population (ages 15 and over) was employed (70.6% in 1970 as against 68.6% in 1960), the shift in the age structure of the population toward children meant that a smaller share of the*total population was employed. 8. The study does not distinguish whether women are discouraged more by rises in the female or the male unemployment rate.' In a society where female dependency status is high, women might be expected to withdraw from the labor market when men are having trouble finding jobs. Low female dependency, however, would mean that women respond primarily to the female unemployment rate. Evidence over time suggests that the latter holds in Ghana: the rise in female labor force participation over 1960-70 was associated with a decline in the female unemployment rate from 5.2% to 3.9%, even. though male unemployment rose from 6.5% to 7.6%. Although the decline in male labor force participation with this rise in unemployment suggests a discouraged worker effect, the fact that male participation rose in all age categories except for 15-19 and 20-24 implies that the expansion of education is a more likely explanation. Note: the definition of unemployment used in the Census is quite restictive. It requires no-activity for wage or profit, including work on one's own farm,fhr 30 days preceding the Census data, plus active search for employment. 9. Vyas and Leith did not include a variable for nonearned income, which is included in the Schultz model (see footnote 5). A more important limitation of their study is the use of a wage index based on Labour Statistics data, in the-absence of any other information. Females in Ghana tend to be employed in the small-scale sector in far greater propor- tions than men, and market-determined wages in small-scale activities tend to be lower than wages in the large-scale "modern" sector, which is affected by minimum wage laws (Steel 1977a: 59, 101). Wages based on data from the large-scale firms that report to the Central Bureau of Statistics overstate the actual wage generally available to women. The upward bias is less important for men because of their greater tendency to be employed in the modern sector or to earn equivalent wages. 10. The discussion is in static terms. In dynamic terms, a "shift" would be measured by the deviation from the rate of growth of working- age population. 11. Women in the modern sector are disproportionately represented in sales, professional and clerical occupational categories. Although they account for less than 10% of modern sector employment, women represent over 40% of the workers in the following detailed occupations, which are also among the top ten female occupational groups: nurses and midwives (70%); housekeepers, stewards, and matrons (47%); telephone and telegraph operators (45%); and stenographers and typists (44%). Men account for over 95% of modern sector employment in the categories: miners, quarrymen, and related; 47 craftsmen, production workers and laborers; and administrative, executive, and managerial. Detailed occupations in which more than 97% of workers are male, and which also are among the top ten male occupations, include: carpenters, joiners, etc. (100%); road transport drivers (100%); tool makers, machinists, plumbers, etc. (99%); miners, quarrymen, and mineral treaters (98%); Draughtsmen, science and engineering technicians (98%); and fire fighters, policemen, and guards (97%). In general, women tend to be concentrated in tertiary activities in which training is relatively important, men in secondary activities in which tools and machinery are important. See Appendix A for details. 12. In the intermediate and informal sectors, wages are more appropriately assumed to be market-determined and hence to respond to movements in demand and supply. 13. Differences may'be based on sex-stereotyping of abilities (e.g., verbal vs. quantitative or physical) or on the presumed "appropriateness" of certain types of activities for men or women. Such influences are difficult to measure even with excellent data on education (formal and informal), since they may affect the choice of subjects studied or informal occupations taken up in the first place. 14. Pregnancy is an additional factor, although employers in Ghana are required to provide maternity leave with no loss of job and, currently, with full pay (previously with half pay). 15. Baking, in which female employment declined by 881 from 1960 to 1970 (almost entirely in small-scale enterprises), is the only other major female activity, with 19.6% of total female manufacturing employment in 1960 and 8.7% in 1970 (calculated from Steel 1977b, Statistical TAbles A.4 and B.7). 16. The difference between the two figures means that expansion of female employment in some industries must have been more heavily small-scale than is. indicated by the industry-wide small-scale percentage. 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THE IMPACT OF MODERNIZATION ON WOMEN'S EMPLOYMEN IN GHANA, 1960-70* by William Steel and Claudia Campbell Contents '?age Introduction 1 The importance of female employment and income growth in economic development 2 Determinants of labor force participation 3 Effect of industrialization and economic development on female employment 6 Trends in labor force participation and employment in Ghaha 9 Status of women and labor force participation in Ghana 13 Empirical application of the dependency status model 15 Female labor supply response 16 Employment growth and composition by occupation and sector 19 Wage structure and employment growth 25 Industrialization, small-scale employment, and women's traditional roles 29 Female employment patterns in manufacturing 34 Conclusions and policy recommendations 37 Appendix A: Occupational composition of modern sector employment by sex 44 Footnotes 45 References 48 Tables 1. Gap between male and female age-specific labor force participation rates 10 2. Female employment by sector and growth of male and female employment 11 3. Average annual employment growth rates 20 4. Distribution of female employment by occupation and industry 22 5. Private modern sector wages and female employment growth 27 6. Women's share of responsibility for different traditional activities 31 7. Modern and intermediate/informaloemployment and women's share of employment by sector 32 8. Employment growth and female share in manufacturing industries 35 9. Major detailed industry sources of female manufacturing employment growth 38 *This paper was prepared for the internal use of the World Bank, and may not be quoted or referred to without permission of the authors or the Bank. The authors are solely responsible for the interpretation expressed herein and for any.errors.