EDUCATION, FAMILY FORMATION AND FEMALE LABOUR MARKET PARTICIPATION IN CAMEROON
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Date
2021-01-22
Authors
NEMBOT, Adeline MBOUNKA
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Yaoundé II
Abstract
The aim of this thesis is to investigate the effect of education on family formation and
the ensuing effects on female employment in Cameroon, using individual and household
records of the 2011 Cameroon Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). Specifically, the thesis
seeks: to examine the influence of education on the timing of first marriage, to assess the effect
of education on the timing of first birth, and to explore how transition into marriage and birth
modulate the effect of education on female full-time employment in Cameroon. To achieve these
objectives, we appeal to theoretical and empirical tools. Becker’s model of time allocation
provides the theoretical underpinnings on how with respect to education, a woman chooses
between forming a family, working or both. Empirically, use is made of the survival analysis,
the two-stage residual inclusion (2SRI) approach, the Heckman two-step correction for
selection bias, the simple and ordered Probit models, and the control function modeling
strategy. Results reveal that education delays women’s age at first marriage. Education also
induces women to postpone their age at first birth; and these delays increase monotonically
with level of education. Yet, only wives with post-primary education postponed their age at
first birth compared to their counterparts with no education. In addition, while delaying age
at first marriage and age at first birth by a year encourages women to reduce their likelihood
of participating in full-time employment, education induces women to increase their
probability of participating in full-time work. Yet, transition into first marriage and first birth
reduces the marginal efficiency of education on women’s full-time employment, except if they
choose to postpone their age at first marriage and age at first birth by up to 11 and 12 years,
respectively. These findings have public policy implications. For instance, besides public
interventions that encourage the girl child to stay longer in school, policy interventions could
equality create an enabling environment that reconciles work and family formation. Such
interventions may include the popularization of daycare centers and universal paid maternity
leave.
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Keywords
education , age at first marriage , age at first birth , female employment , DHS survey , Cameroon