Obuk Charles :
The Female Labour Force Participation (FLFP) rate for women aged 15–64 in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has stagnated over the past two decades, lowering from about 68.9% in 2000 to about 62.9% in 2020 before slightly recovering to 66.4% in 2024 according to data from the World Development Indicators (World Bank, 2024). This stagnation is particularly paradoxical given that the region is experiencing one of the world’s fastest rates of urbanization, with an annual urban population growth rate averaging 3.92% between 2000 and 2024, higher than the world’s average of 2.04% over the same period (World Bank, 2024). Fueled by rapid rural-urban migration, the urban population share has surged from 31.5% in 2000 to nearly 45% in 2024 (World Bank, 2024).
The observed trend raises an empirical question of why the high rate of urbanization in SSA has not trigged the expected increase in FLFP. Urbanization is expected to enhance female FLFP by facilitating structural transformation from agriculture to non-agricultural sectors, expanding access to wage employment, improving access to education and labour market information, and easing domestic constraints through better infrastructure and service provision. While urbanization may create new economic opportunities for women, it may also bring new obstacles. For instance, rapid but unplanned urbanization may increase informality, poor service delivery, and unemployment or underemployment, all of which may disproportionately affect women. This study explores the relationship between urbanization and FLFP in SSA which could be positive if urbanization has created new labour market opportunities for women or negative if women face obstacles to access new labour market opportunities.
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2026-06-17 21:13:55