Divorced, separated and widowed female workers in rural Mozambique

Main author: Sender, John
Other authors: Oya, Carlos
Format: Monographs and Working Papers           
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id eprints-137
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
description Compared to other rural women, a high proportion of female wageworkers in rural Mozambique are divorced, separated or widowed. The paper explores the factors underlying this difference and establishes a significant relationship between labor market participation and female divorce or widowhood. The association is likely to work in both directions. Moreover, contrastive exploration suggests that divorced/separated women differ from non-divorced women in many other important respects: They tend to get access to better jobs; also, divorced and separated mothers are remarkably good at investing in their daughters’ education compared to other mothers and to male respondents. The paper concludes by stressing the limits of regression techniques in teasing out causation and the interactions between variables, and by suggesting that policies to increase female access to decently remunerated wage employment could make a substantial difference to the welfare of very poor rural women in Africa and their children.
format Monographs and Working Papers
author Sender, John
author_facet Sender, John
Oya, Carlos
authorStr Sender, John
author_letter Sender, John
author2 Oya, Carlos
author2Str Oya, Carlos
title Divorced, separated and widowed female workers in rural Mozambique
publisher SOAS University of London: Department of Development Studies
publishDate 2007
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/137/