Abstract:
Women’s participation in the labour force is regarded as a sign of decreasing
discrimination and a slight increase in women empowerment, among other benefits.
Various studies have been conducted worldwide on identifying factors associated
with women’s participation in the labour force but not many studies have been
conducted on this topic in recent years in Namibia besides Mufune (2013). This
study performed an empirical investigation to identify determinants of women’s
participation in Namibia’s labour force through the adoption of a quantitative cross sectional research study using the 2018 NLFS and a multinomial logistic regression
technique. Results revealed that area location, region, age group, marital status,
literacy status and education level were significant determinants of employed
women’s participation in the labour force in Namibia, while area location, age group,
and literacy status were significant determinants of unemployed women’s
participation. Compared to the odds of economic inactiveness, women from Hardap
(OR=0.697, p<0.001, 95%CI: 0.667-0.729) and Kavango East (OR=0.921, p<0.001,
95%CI: 0.885-0.959) regions, relative to those from Zambezi region, had low odds
of employment. Women who were less than 20 years old (OR=0.106, p<0.001,
95%CI: 0.102-0.109), relative to those aged 60 years and above, had low odds of
employment. Married women (OR=0.711, p<0.001, 95%CI: 0.666-0.759), relative to
separated women, had low odds of employment. Moreover, women with no
education (OR=0.200, p<0.001, 95%CI: 0.186-0.216), those with primary education
(OR=0.254, p<0.001, 95%CI: 0.236-0.273), junior secondary education (OR=0.288,
p<0.001, 95%CI: 0.268-0.309), senior secondary education (OR=0.338, p<0.001,
95%CI: 0.315-0.363) and technical/vocational certificate/diploma (OR=0.262,
p<0.001, 95%CI: 0.240-0.286), relative to those with postgraduate
ii
certificate/diploma/degree, had low odds of employment. However, literate women
(OR=1.636, p<0.001, 95%CI: 1.594-1.679), relative to illiterate women, had high
odds of employment compared to the odds of economic inactiveness.
Furthermore, women who were from the Erongo (OR=1.132, p<0.001, 95%CI:
1.085-1.182), Kunene (OR=1.572, p<0.001, 95%CI: 1.499-1.648), Omaheke
(OR=1.456, p<0.001, 95%CI: 1.384-1.531), Oshana (OR=1.098, p<0.001, 95%CI:
1.054-1.143), Oshikoto (OR=1.136, p<0.001, 95%CI: 1.091-1.182) and
Otjozondjupa (OR=1.631, p<0.001, 95%CI: 1.562-1.703) regions, relative to those
from Zambezi region, had high odds of unemployment as compared to the odds of
economic inactiveness. Likewise women aged 20-29 years (OR=47.014, p<0.001,
95%CI: 44.570-49.593), 30-39 years (OR=66.831, p<0.001, 95%CI: 63.295-70.564),
40-49 years (OR=38.702, p<0.001, 95%CI: 36.648-40.871) and 50-59 years
(OR=11.415, p<0.001, 95%CI: 10.799-12.065), relative to those aged 60 years and
above, had high odds of unemployment. Women in consensual union (OR=2.124,
p<0.001, 95%CI: 1.931-2.337), relative to those who were separated, had high odds
of unemployment, while those residing in urban areas (OR=0.869, p<0.001, 95%CI:
0.853-0.885), relative to those from rural areas, had low odds of unemployment. It is
therefore recommended that the Namibian government as well as policy makers and
implementers reinforce policies and legislative frameworks in place to (further)
empower women and enhance their participation in the labour force and in return,
reap the benefits of economic and social development
