Gender social protection and women's labor supply: impact on economic growth and the labor market

Abstract

When social policies are gender-blind, gender-based inequalities initially observed in the labor market are transmitted to the social protection system and are even amplified there. The objective of this research is to analyze the impact of a gender-oriented social protection policy based on the supply of women's labor on the labor market and economic growth. To achieve this objective, we used a Computable General Equilibrium Model (CGE) with the 2019 Senegal Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) as an accounting basis. Given the specificity of the problem, the SAM was subject to an in-depth segmentation of the labor factor according to gender and socio-professional category in order to highlight the heterogeneities of the labor market. Referring to social policies that result in a greater presence of female labor in the labor market, we simulated a marginal increase of 10% in the supply of female labor. The results showed a generalized increase in labor demand. Indeed, the increase in the supply of female labor led to a significant decrease in wage rates, which implies a greater attractiveness of the workforce in the labor market. There is also an expansion of sectors of activity that have seen their added value increase, consequently favoring an improvement in economic growth.

Classification JEL : H55, J16, J40, F43, O41.

Paper type: Empirical Research