Determinants of female labour force participation in Botswana

Abstract

This paper examines the determinants of the female labor force participation in Botswana with a special attention on both formal and informal sectors. Although a progress has been made in terms of share of women in the labor force over the years, this is yet to be translated into quality and decent jobs for women as these latter are mostly employed in the informal sector. The methodology uses data from the Botswana Multi Topics Household Survey 2015/16 to run a multinomial logistic model with labor force as dependent variable, and age, marriage, geographical location and education level as explanatory variables. The results reveal the significance of these variables in determining the female labor participation in both formal and informal sectors in Botswana. However, the effect of the marital status is nuanced. Thus, the policy makers should focus on strengthening the education of young girls and ensuring the economic development of non-urban areas to create more job opportunities.