Abstract:
Female labor force participation is of great importance for the empowerment of women and the development of countries. However, in many sub-Saharan African countries, the FLFP is very low. This thesis contributes to the existing literature on the determinants of FLFP in Sub-Saharan Africa by exploring the relationship between ethnicity and FLFP. Using data from the Global Data Lab, a multilevel logistic regression model is performed on 321115 women, living in 289 ethnic groups across 28 countries. The indicator of FLFP is whether women are working are not, classifying the farm work as not employed. The results confirm findings of previous studies that found that personal and household factors, such as the number of children, educational attainment, and marital status, play an essential role in determining the FLFP. Controlling for these individual and household factors, the analysis showed that ethnicity has a role in the FLFP. The more traditional the ethnic groups, the less likely it is that the women are employed.
