IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aif/journl/v24y2023i1p127-144.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A sectoral analysis of Trade openness and Women employment in selected East African Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Edna Muthoka

    (Masters student, School of Business, Economics and Tourism, Â Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya.)

  • James Maingi

    (Lecturer, Department of Applied Economics, School of Business, Economics and Tourism, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya.)

Abstract

Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya improved their trade openness by 26 and 8 points, respectively, between 1995 and 1998 as a percentage of these countries' gross domestic product. percent from 1998 to 2008. East African Community employment is dominated by agriculture, which motivated this study. Generally, this study pursued an analysis of openness of trade and women employment in selected EAC countries. The study examined the impact of openness of trade on both agriculture and service sector employment of women. In particular, the purpose of this study was to investigate how trade opening affects the employment of women in the agricultural sector in some EAC counties. and explore how trade opening affects the employment of women in the service sector in some counties of the EAC. The results show that trade opening had a negative impact on women's employment in the agricultural sector, but had a positive impact on the service sector. This implies trade openness has shifted female employment pattern from agriculture to services sector. The study was conducted using a longitudinal panel design. The study concludes that efforts should be made to retain female workers in agriculture by retraining them, while promoting their employment through trade facilitation services and support with marketing. Concerning agricultural sector, the study recommends retraining of female workers in the agricultural sector to improve their skills set as well as providing credit to enable them move from lower cadre employment in agriculture

Suggested Citation

  • Edna Muthoka & James Maingi, 2023. "A sectoral analysis of Trade openness and Women employment in selected East African Countries," International Journal of Science and Business, IJSAB International, vol. 24(1), pages 127-144.
    • Handle: RePEc:aif:journl:v:24:y:2023:i:1:p:127-144
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ijsab.com/wp-content/uploads/2120.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ijsab.com/volume-24-issue-1/5923
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Evelyn F. Wamboye & Abel F. Adekola & Bruno S. Sergi, 2015. "Sectoral Shifts and Women’s Employment: A Study of Thirty-Nine Least Developed Countries," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(4), pages 1045-1076, October.
    2. Nicholas Bloom & Mirko Draca & John Van Reenen, 2016. "Trade Induced Technical Change? The Impact of Chinese Imports on Innovation, IT and Productivity," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 83(1), pages 87-117.
    3. Hirata, Guilherme & Soares, Rodrigo R., 2016. "Competition and the Racial Wage Gap: Testing Becker's Model of Employer Discrimination," IZA Discussion Papers 9764, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Krisztina Kis-Katos & Janneke Pieters & Robert Sparrow, 2018. "Globalization and Social Change: Gender-Specific Effects of Trade Liberalization in Indonesia," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 66(4), pages 763-793, December.
    5. Evelyn F. Wamboye & Stephanie Seguino, 2015. "Gender Effects of Trade Openness in Sub-Saharan Africa," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(3), pages 82-113, July.
    6. Juhn, Chinhui & Ujhelyi, Gergely & Villegas-Sanchez, Carolina, 2014. "Men, women, and machines: How trade impacts gender inequality," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 179-193.
    7. Janneke Pieters, 2018. "Trade liberalization and gender inequality," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-11, October.
    8. Becker, Gary S., 1971. "The Economics of Discrimination," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 2, number 9780226041162, April.
    9. Standing, Guy, 1999. "Global Feminization Through Flexible Labor: A Theme Revisited," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 583-602, March.
    10. Fontana, Marzia & Wood, Adrian, 2000. "Modeling the Effects of Trade on Women, at Work and at Home," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(7), pages 1173-1190, July.
    11. Arusha Cooray & Nabamita Dutta & Sushanta Mallick, 2017. "Trade Openness and Labor Force Participation in Africa: The Role of Political Institutions," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(2), pages 319-350, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arora, Diksha & Braunstein, Elissa & Seguino, Stephanie, 2023. "A macro analysis of gender segregation and job quality in Latin America," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    2. Hafsa Qaiser & Hafeez ur Rehman & Noman Arshed, 2023. "Role of institutional quality on women's empowerment—A case of highly gender unequal Asian countries," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(1), pages 48-75, March.
    3. Wang, Feicheng & Kis-Katos, Krisztina & Zhou, Minghai, 2020. "Trade Liberalization and the Gender Employment Gap in China," IZA Discussion Papers 13626, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Robertson, Raymond & Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys & Savchenko, Yevgeniya, 2018. "Globalisation and the Gender Earnings Gap: Evidence from Sri Lanka and Cambodia 1992-2015," IZA Discussion Papers 11821, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Audi, Marc & Ali, Amjad, 2016. "Gender Gap and Trade Liberalization: An Analysis of some selected SAARC countries," MPRA Paper 83520, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Louise Johannesson & Hildegunn Kyvik Nordås, 2021. "Services Trade: The Great Gender Equaliser?," Foreign Trade Review, , vol. 56(3), pages 341-363, August.
    7. Erten, Bilge & Metzger, Martina, 2019. "The real exchange rate, structural change, and female labor force participation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 296-312.
    8. Johannesson, Louise & Kyvik Nordås, Hildegunn, 2020. "Gender and Labour Market Adjustment to Trade: The Case of India," Working Paper Series 1348, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    9. Firat Demir & Saleh S. Tabrizy, 2022. "Gendered effects of sanctions on manufacturing employment: Evidence from Iran," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 2040-2069, November.
    10. Chen, Yunsi & Hu, Dezhuang, 2023. "Why are exporters more gender-friendly? Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    11. Charles Munene Gachoki, 2022. "Trade Openness and Female Employment: An Empirical Sectoral Analysis from Kenya," International Journal of Science and Business, IJSAB International, vol. 16(1), pages 42-58.
    12. Greaney, Theresa M. & Tanaka, Ayumu, 2021. "Foreign Ownership, Exporting and Gender Wage Gaps: Evidence from Japanese Linked Employer-Employee Data," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    13. Oscar Molina Tejerina & Luis Castro Peñarrieta, 2020. "Unexplained Wage Gaps in the Tradable and Nontradable Sectors: Cross-Sectional Evidence by Gender in Bolivia," Investigación & Desarrollo, Universidad Privada Boliviana, vol. 20(1), pages 5-23.
    14. Boris Hirsch & Michael Oberfichtner & Claus Schnabel, 2014. "The levelling effect of product market competition on gender wage discrimination," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-14, December.
    15. Matthias Busse & Christian Spielmann, 2006. "Gender Inequality and Trade," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(3), pages 362-379, August.
    16. Connolly, Laura, 2022. "The effects of a trade shock on gender-specific labor market outcomes in Brazil," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    17. Antonio Martuscelli & Michael Gasiorek, 2019. "Regional Integration And Poverty: A Review Of The Transmission Channels And The Evidence," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 431-457, April.
    18. Lark, Olga & Videnord, Josefin, 2023. "Do Exporters Import Gender Inequality?," Working Papers 2023:6, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    19. Mary Hallward-Driemeier & Bob Rijkers & Andrew Waxman, 2017. "Do Employers' Responses to Crises Impact Men and Women Differently? Firm-level Evidence from Indonesia," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 1018-1056, November.
    20. Wolfgang Keller & Hale Utar, 2022. "Globalization, Gender, and the Family," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(6), pages 3381-3409.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aif:journl:v:24:y:2023:i:1:p:127-144. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Farjana Rahman (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.