The hidden levers behind better jobs for women in Africa

For at least three decades, the issue around women’s jobs in Sub-Saharan Africa has not been about numbers. According to ILOSTAT, around 65% of working-age women in the region are actually economically active. The real challenge is understanding where and how they work, and what stands in the way of better jobs.

High labor force participation masks many challenges. Too many women remain stuck in low-productivity jobs, face occupational segregation, earn less than men for similar work, and run businesses that struggle to grow and survive shocks. Changing this requires more than just jobs and growth. It requires attention to the less visible constraints shaping women’s economic opportunities and choices, and it sits at the heart of the World Bank’s jobs agenda in the region—which actively promotes jobs as a pathway to income, hope, and dignity.

We were part of the teams from the World Bank Africa Gender Innovation Lab (GIL) and Center for Research on Women and Jobs (CRWJ) that co-organized a policy research workshop with the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) and the University of Ghana, bringing together researchers and policymakers to discuss new evidence on women and jobs in Africa.

During the workshop, we listened closely to a roundtable featuring decision-makers Margaret Ansei (Ghana Enterprises Agency), Theophilia Esther Larbie (Opportunity International Savings and Loans Ltd), and Mona Iddrisu (ACET).

What emerged from that conversation was a set of “hidden levers” that can amplify traditional policy instruments and meaningfully improve women’s economic outcomes. Here is what we took away.

Financial product design matters as much as access to capital.

An essential part of the jobs agenda in Sub-Saharan Africa consists in sustaining the growth of MSMEs. While female participation in entrepreneurial activities in the region is higher than in any other globally, women in Ghana—for instance—face tighter collateral constraints, lower asset ownership, and higher exposure to risk than their male counterparts. As a result, loan sizes tend to be smaller for them, and growth expectations more conservative. Requirements such as co-signing and formal property ownership further limit their ability to access adequate financing. In this context, financial products designed without accounting for gender differences in risk exposure, asset ownership, and household and care responsibilities are unlikely to deliver transformative results.

Interventions must target socialization, norms, and attitudes towards risk, alongside ability.

Women entrepreneurs are more likely to self-limit loan requests, prioritize savings over investment, and avoid high-risk opportunities. These patterns reflect socialization, norms, and fear of failure rather than lack of ability. Undoing them by expanding what women across Sub-Saharan Africa believe is possible can unlock transformative economic behavior that inputs alone cannot.

Networks enable learning, resilience, and growth.

Support networks for women are an important driver of learning, resilience, and growth. Networks help women share information, adopt new practices, navigate markets, persist through setbacks, and build confidence. As such, they must be framed not as a nice add-on, but as a central delivery mechanism for entrepreneurship support.

Constraints start early.

Barriers to women’s entry into male-dominated and higher-productivity sectors often emerge early in the life cycle. This matters especially as the region’s jobs agenda must focus on the 28.5 million young workers expected to enter the labor market each year, half of whom will be women.

Time and income constraints, along with care responsibilities, limit women’s ability to pursue further education and training, which are often prerequisites for accessing these sectors. At the same time, pathways that should facilitate entry, such as technical and vocational education and training (TVET) systems, are frequently underfunded and poorly aligned with labor market needs.

During the workshop, we discussed emerging approaches, including scholarships to offset opportunity costs, alternative TVET financing models, and efforts to link training institutions more closely with industry. Participants also reflected on how norms embedded in education systems continue to shape what women perceive as viable or appropriate career paths, a reminder that supply-side reforms alone will not be enough.

What stakeholders want from research

The final takeaway was about research itself. Stakeholders highlighted how much they want to be involved in the research process early on. They require evidence that is timely, policy-relevant, and grounded in political realities, lest it should just sit on the shelf. As researchers, we heard this as both a challenge and an invitation: to design work in genuine partnership with the people who will ultimately use it.

The bottom line

Improving women’s economic outcomes requires moving beyond single-instrument solutions. Job creation strategies that focus on financial instruments while ignoring gender norms and women’s agency, networks, and confidence are unlikely to close gender gaps.

Researchers and policymakers understand that these “hidden levers” do not replace traditional policy tools. They amplify them. For those of us working on the jobs agenda in Africa, that means designing interventions that treat these levers as core components rather than afterthoughts. This may be the key to expanding women’s access to productive, resilient, and dignified work across Africa.