The Effect of Women’s Employment on Marriage Formation: The Case of Rural Women in Sebeta Hawas District, Central Ethiopia
Presenter's country
Ethiopia
Start Date
27-5-2016 10:20 AM
End Date
27-5-2016 11:25 AM
Location
Hall II
Submission type
Presentation
Abstract
Like many other developing countries, there has been an increase in the Ethiopian rural women’s engagement in income earning activities. This emerging phenomenon is attributed to rural women’s increased job opportunity due to the expansion of non-traditional export industries and development of micro and small scale enterprises in the country, among others. The paper examines the effect of women’s employment on marriage formation. It studies how women’s employment shape their transition to first marriage using a retrospective longitudinal data collected from 1066 women residing in 861 randomly selected rural households in the central Ethiopia and employing an event history analysis. A qualitative data was also used to substantiate the quantitative findings. The results suggest that wage employment delays young female’s marriage entry. Self-employment, on the contrary, encourages marriage formation. In this regard, socio-cultural issues play key role in shaping the effect of women’s employment on their likelihood of marriage formation.
The Effect of Women’s Employment on Marriage Formation: The Case of Rural Women in Sebeta Hawas District, Central Ethiopia
Hall II
Like many other developing countries, there has been an increase in the Ethiopian rural women’s engagement in income earning activities. This emerging phenomenon is attributed to rural women’s increased job opportunity due to the expansion of non-traditional export industries and development of micro and small scale enterprises in the country, among others. The paper examines the effect of women’s employment on marriage formation. It studies how women’s employment shape their transition to first marriage using a retrospective longitudinal data collected from 1066 women residing in 861 randomly selected rural households in the central Ethiopia and employing an event history analysis. A qualitative data was also used to substantiate the quantitative findings. The results suggest that wage employment delays young female’s marriage entry. Self-employment, on the contrary, encourages marriage formation. In this regard, socio-cultural issues play key role in shaping the effect of women’s employment on their likelihood of marriage formation.