By Sharon Atieno
A combination of interventions is crucial in breaking down gender-based labour market segregation, which denies women opportunities, especially in male-dominated and high-value sectors. These include hands-on skills training, soft skills training, business and financial literacy training, and employment subsidies, among others.
Prof. Jose Galdo, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Economics, Carleton University, Canada said during the Growth and Economic Opportunities for Women (GrOW)-East Africa end-of-project workshop in Nairobi, Kenya. He was giving a presentation on the synthesis report of three GrOW-East Africa research projects, which focused on skills building and work readiness.
Supporting 15 projects to spur transformative change to advance gender equality in the world of work, GrOW-East Africa is an initiative funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in partnership with the Gates and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundations.
The five-year initiative’s main focus is gender segregation, unpaid care, and women’s collective agency in five Eastern African countries: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Ethiopia.
Prof. Galdo referenced three projects carried out by the Network of Ethiopian Women’s Associations (NEWA) in Ethiopia and the Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP) and Dalberg in Kenya.
In Ethiopia, NEWA was focusing on enhancing the employment prospects of young graduate women in high-value sectors. It investigated the impact of soft skills and job information centre services in improving the work readiness and employment prospects of young women in early career development across four cities. These include Addis Ababa, Mekelle, Awasa and Harar.
In Kenya, PEP focused on gender-sensitive training and employer incentives to improve women’s labour market outcomes. This involved working with more than 3,800 students across Kenya’s four technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions, including Kabete National Polytechnic, Nairobi Technical Training Institute, P.C Kinyanjui Technical Training Institute, and Kiambu Institute of Science and Technology.
Dalberg focused on advancing women’s participation in Kenya’s construction industry. It examined the effectiveness of an innovative initiative aimed at fostering entry and retainment of women in the construction sector in Kenya, developed by a local social enterprise, Buildher.
“We do not aim to provide a recipe for what works and does not work since results are context-dependent. One-size-does not fit all,” Prof. Galdo observed.
Among the interventions, he noted that entrepreneurship training is one way to tackle the participation of women in the labour market, based on World Bank estimates that in Eastern and Southern Africa, the majority of women are self-employed
Prof. Galdo also highlighted the need for market-driven demand for skills development to increase women’s participation in the labour market. “When we design an intervention, we have to look at market needs. The demand for those specific skills. It’s not about looking at the supply side,” he said.
“Interventions that focus on market-driven skills are more effective than interventions that focus on supply side.”
Additionally, just providing theoretical classes is not enough; this intervention has to be complemented with internships and a hands-on approach. If this is not possible, the other alternative is providing interactive learning models that consider workplace simulation and mentorship.
Emphasizing the importance of soft skills training, Prof. Galdo noted that skills like teamwork, communication, leadership, confidence-building, problem-solving, and time management matter for job entry and career progression, especially for high-value sectors of the economy.
“Complementing hard and soft skills help women to adapt and navigate inside and across male-dominated occupations and industries,” he said.
Besides, addressing women’s work readiness requires business and financial literacy, especially when training for high-growth sectors or independent work.
When coming up with interventions to train women on work readiness, Prof. Galdo observed that high levels of drop out and attrition is a challenge. Thus, the need for gender-sensitive curricula, flexible schedules like part-time and evening class options, and online learning options, particularly in hard-to-reach areas.
Additionally, women need to be nudged to participate in these programs. Providing small incentives such as transportation subsidies helps to minimize attrition rates. This helps to improve the participation of women.
He opined that after the training, providing job placement and information services are crucial. “There should be an efficient information system that provides women in search of employment with information on job postings that are available for them,” Prof. Galdo said.
Besides, there is a need for incorporating career counselling, job-matching services and networking with employers to improve the transition from skills formation to work. “These activities might have a change in terms of output and outcomes for women to join high-value sectors,” he noted.
