Women employed but not empowered

Getting a steady job is often seen as a pathway to empowerment for women. But does having a job also empower women on the political arena? A field study from Ethiopia suggests otherwise.

In a large-scale field experiment, a team of researchers from CMI, the Frisch Centre, the Policy Studies Institute in Ethiopia (PSI) and Wageningen University partnered with 27 factories to randomly assign jobs to women who had applied for a job. The jobs secured the women higher income and more stable employment. But being part of the workforce had no positive effects on political participation. On the contrary, the researchers behind the study found that employment may actually be politically disempowering.

-We have found that having a job reduced these women’s belief in their own ability to engage with and understand politics (internal political efficacy) and to influence political processes and outcomes (external political efficacy). Compared to the women without a job offer, the women offered a job were participating less in local community meetings, for example, says Lovise Aalen, research professor at CMI.

Time constraints and poor working conditions
The study builds on the widely held expectation that when women enter the workforce, there’s a positive change in gender attitudes. Not only do they get more power to make decisions within the household, but they also benefit from an expanded network outside the family. So what explains that being formally employed decreased the chances of the women being politically active?

One of the main findings is that women’s employment significantly – and naturally - reduces the time they have available to other activities. The time constraint negatively affects their engagement in the local community both in terms of political and social participation.

However, a different factor also stands out. During qualitative interviews, the female workers described brutal work conditions: verbal abuse from supervisors, tight surveillance, few breaks, repetitive tasks, and meager chance of advancement. The women were open about how working in these factories felt disempowering.

Quality over quantity
As having a job has been seen as paramount to lifting people out of poverty, efforts to stimulate job creation, and particularly for women, have been prioritised by both international donors, policymakers and governments. The Ethiopian authorities, for example, have encouraged foreign investments through offering beneficial schemes, and have put vast sums into a growing industrial sector.

Yet, this field experiment clearly shows that mere job creation is no guarantee of success. The lesson learnt by anyone aiming to boost social and economic development is that the quality of the job is crucial. Instead of empowering women, the job scheme in Ethiopia undermined the women’s belief that their voice matters and discouraged them from political engagement