Studies in Cameroon show that the labor market situation is also worrying than the poverty
situation. They emphasize the persistence of gender
inequalities in different sectors (formal and informal),
which compromises the achievement of the third Millennium Development Goal.
Considering the demonstrated effect of the functioning of labor markets on economic
growth and income distribution, the issue of discrimination against women in the labor
market appears to be both a social and an economic issue. This study attempts to
estimate the extent of discrimination in the formal sector and that of occupational
segregation in the informal sector.
We used data from the Survey of Employment and the Informal Sector led in 2005 by the
National Institute of Statistics. This national operation has involved 8540 households
and collected information on demographics, employment status and job
characteristics. These data clearly identify the four segments of the labor market: public,
private, formal, agricultural and informal non-agricultural.
Concerning the formal sector, the methodology was to estimate earnings equations for
men and women through a selection model of Heckman and calculating indices of
discrimination according to certain professional categories. In the informal sector, we have
made a classification of occupations and calculate the indice of Duncan and Duncan andthe indice of Gini to measure occupational segregation by gender.
The results show that the discrimination make women in the formal sector lose in average
4615 FCFA per month. Overall, it affects about 54% of them. The choice of the structure of
men's income as vector discriminatory make the largest gap, that is to say 9760 CFA francs at
mean per month for women and a collective deficit average of 0.066 compared to men’s
income. In the informal sector, women operate mostly in occupations that generate lower
income. Here, segregation is more present in the nonagricultural sector, where approximately
46.7% of women have to change occupations to achieve the same distribution of occupations
between the genders. The segregation is so strong in the practice of cash crops; however it
remains low throughout the agricultural sector.
The study recommends the implementation of measures to promote equality between genders
in the labor market, consider the gender approach in the composition of the government and
in programs and projects; improve the capacity building of professionals on gender approach.
Moreover, we must promote women's entrepreneurship and promote their access to micro
credit and other input.