New evidence on women and jobs in Africa: A research workshop round-up

While levels of female labor force participation in Sub-Saharan Africa are high, women face many challenges in their income generating activities. The vast majority of working women in the region remain in vulnerable employment, concentrated in agricultural-related family employment and low-productivity micro-enterprises. Occupational segregation drives gender pay gaps, and despite being one of the regions with the most female entrepreneurs, women-led businesses have fewer employees, fewer sales, and lower productivity than their male-led peers.

Policy research is critical to filling knowledge gaps about the barriers women face in the labor market and the types of interventions that can help address these constraints. Here we highlight key takeaways from 18 research studies presented at the November 2025  Women and Jobs in Africa Workshop, organized by the World Bank’s Center for Research on Women and Jobs (CRWJ) and the Africa Gender Innovation Lab (GIL), the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), and the University of Ghana.  The workshop, held in Accra, Ghana, brought together researchers working across the continent to present cutting-edge evidence on pathways to advance labor market outcomes for women and address inefficiencies in talent allocation. Together, these studies contribute to a growing evidence base on how to unlock women’s economic potential and foster more inclusive growth. 

Kate Orkin, Associate Professor at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford, delivered the keynote which featured new research examining the relationship between aspirations and women’s economic investments. The keynote invited participants to rethink the mechanisms through which women make decisions about their futures, highlighting that aspirations extend beyond economic outcomes to include household dynamics, a theme that resonated across many of the papers presented. Here we offer a round-up of the work presented with links to the researchers, draft papers and presentations

Education and training programs can deliver impacts for women under the right conditions 

·       In Nigeria, the expansion of public universities reduced the gender gap in vulnerable employment, but effects were weaker in regions with more restrictive social norms around women’s work and mobility. (Nnandozie)

·       A technical and vocational education and training (TVET) program in Kenya generated larger labor market gains for women than for men, but only among participants who showed a higher degree of confidence over their lives. While the training broadly improved willingness, expectations, and preparedness for better jobs, significant labor market effects emerged only for this high-agency group. (Tabe-Ojong) (Presentation)

·       Agricultural extension programs paired with personal initiative training for female farmers increased household income by 37% in Mozambique, while agricultural extension alone had no impact on income. The combined intervention led to substantial changes in agricultural and agro-business practices and promoted the creation of new small side-businesses, which resulted in substantially higher levels of earnings and consumption. (Scharweit) (Presentation)

Diversifying income sources and strengthening safety nets boost women’s resilience to shocks

·       Cash-plus programs in Burkina Faso and Mali strengthened women’s resilience primarily through increased asset investment rather than large gains in economic participation. While impacts on women’s labor market engagement were modest, the programs led to greater investment in livestock, especially goats, enhancing food security and providing a flexible insurance mechanism during shocks. (Attah Damoah) (Presentation)

·       Women’s off-farm employment has a positive and significant effect on household nutrition in Malawi. This type of employment shifts food sources from own production to market purchases, reinforcing income as the primary driver of improved food consumption. (Mutsami) (Paper)

·       Bundling financial innovations and agricultural technologies strengthens resilience among smallholder women farmers in Nigeria. Combining drought-tolerant maize seeds with credit and risk insurance boosts their capacity to withstand shocks across diverse agro-ecological zones. (Olarewaju)

·       In rural Tanzania, droughts affect crop yields and incomes of women farmers more than their male peers. These losses are compounded by lower access to resources such as irrigation, agricultural extension, and credit. However, households where women participate in diversified income-generating activities or have access to social protection are less likely to fall into food insecurity. (John) (Presentation)

Legal and labor reforms matter for women

·       Minimum wage legislation contributed to reducing the pay gap in Morocco, with well-enforced increases benefiting women in particular. However, these gains were accompanied by displacement effects: low-wage female workers were significantly more likely to transition from formal to informal employment when the minimum wage was binding. (Paul-Delvaux)

·       Lifting legal restrictions on women working in construction increased women’s employment in Benin’s industrial sector by 5 percentage points relative to men. These effects were not stronger in regions with higher concentrations of industry. (Bassongui) (Presentation)

Connectivity and digital innovation can expand markets, jobs, and networks for women

·       Expanded 2G coverage positively impacted women’s employment in African countries and beyond. Results suggest that basic mobile infrastructure improves educational outcomes, including higher secondary schooling attainment and facilitates the creation of formal jobs in tradable sectors. (Bernardi) (Presentation)

·       An online networking intervention delivered substantial business gains for women entrepreneurs in Ghana in terms of improvement in profits, innovation, and business practices. But these effects were short-lived, highlighting the need for strategies that promote sustained engagement to preserve benefits. (Lambon-Quayefio)

·       In Sub-Saharan Africa, the adoption of AI is significantly changing the composition of the workforce, reducing the proportion of less skilled workers. However, AI also creates complementary roles, increases productivity, and boosts female employment through the creation of new job opportunities. (Ewolo) (Presentation)

·       Virtual business discussion groups for microentrepreneurs in Liberia significantly influenced women’s business practices and strategies. Participants adopted more innovative business practices, were more likely to make use of digital technologies, and shifted away from seeking advice from friends and family to building professional relationships with peer business owners. (Agarwal) (Presentation)

·       Digital trade adoption facilitates better export opportunities for women-led SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa. Digital visibility reduces search and matching frictions and facilitates market access, reducing the gender gap in exports by women and men-led businesses. (Fambeu) (Presentation)

Transforming restrictive social norms is key

·       Providing information on gendered matching and hiring patterns in a Nigerian online job platform influences women’s application decisions. When women learn that, on average, they apply to fewer and lower-level positions than men, and interest in applying to senior level positions increases, especially among highly qualified women in male-dominated fields. (Archibong)

·       In Ethiopia, early marriage increases unpaid domestic work, reduces time spent on paid work, and affects educational attainment. Education declines by about 2 years and the probability of finishing primary school falls by 29%. (Abebe) (Presentation)

·       In South Africa’s Bachelor of Education Childhood Studies program, the curricula reinforce gendered social norms. Gender inequality is embedded into the pedagogy, where representation of gender roles in school textbooks and university curricula re-enforces gender norms and segregation, and African epistemologies remain marginalized in the curricula. (Lepere) (Presentation)

·       Gender wage gaps remain stubbornly high in Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. From 2010 to 2022, gaps remain and women's economic empowerment has been largely uneven. There is a continued need to address occupational segregation as the key driver of gender wage gaps. (Mahuyu) (Presentation)

Taken together, the research presented at the workshop highlights both progress and challenges in improving women’s labor market outcomes across Africa. While the evidence points to promising interventions — from education and skills development to digital connectivity and legal reform — it also highlights the importance of understanding the broader constraints shaping women’s economic choices. A subsequent roundtable explored these issues further at the workshop, drawing on policymakers’ perspectives on what it takes to translate evidence into impact.

*This convening was made possible through the generous support of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad). 

** Some of the papers in this blog are not final, peer-reviewed publications at the time of writing this blog. Results may still be subject to change. The interpretations of the findings of the papers in this blog are those of the authors of the blog.