Gender, Employment, and
Migration
Joyce P. Jacobsen
Wesleyan University
9 December 2005
Rabat, Morocco
Topics
Statistical comparisons
 Extensions to standard analysis
 Research wish list

Statistical comparisons



How do Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia fare
relative to other countries (MENA and other
regions) on a variety of standard genderdisaggregated measures?
What other measures can we calculate?
What other gender-disaggregated data would
we like to see these countries collect?
Standard labor market
benchmarks of gender equality
labor force participation rates
 employment and unemployment rates
 hours worked
 earnings rates
 occupational and industrial distribution
and segregation indexes

Female/male LFP rates and
ratios
Female
rate
Male
rate
Female/
male ratio
Morocco
43.6%
82.4%
0.53
Tunisia
39.5%
82.6%
0.48
Algeria
31.2%
79.4%
0.39
Unemployment rates and ratios
Overall rate
Female/male
rate ratio
Algeria
29.8%
0.88
Morocco
17.7%
1.00
Tunisia
15.4%
0.94
Occupational segregation
indexes
Algeria 55, Morocco 18, Tunisia 11
 Compare to range of 23 to 45 for
industrialized countries
 Big move out of agriculture, into services,
in all three countries for both women and
men

Standard social development
benchmarks for gender equality
maternal mortality rates
 fertility rates
 infant and child mortality rates
 life expectancy (standard and healthadjusted)
 illiteracy rates
 schooling rates

Maternal mortality rates have
dropped, but still high
Tunisia 120, Algeria 140, Morocco 220
 compare to Spain 5, U.S. 14, France 17

Fertility rates have dropped
sharply
1980
2004
Algeria
6.7
2.5
Morocco
5.4
2.8
Tunisia
5.2
2.0
Infant mortality rates have
dropped, but still high
Tunisia 24 , Morocco 38, Algeria 42
 compare to France 4.5, Spain 4.5, U.S. 7

Infant mortality rates have a
gender gap
Males
Females
Morocco (1992)
68.6
57.4
Tunisia (1988)
56.3
54.7
France (2001)
5.4
4.1
Under-five mortality rates have
a gender gap
Males
Females
Tunisia
27
21
Morocco
40
38
Algeria
45
36
Life expectancy rising, gender
gap widening
Female
1982
Male
1982
Female
2003
Male
2003
Tunisia
64
61
74
70
Algeria
60
58
72
69
Morocco
60
56
73
69
But healthy life expectancy
calculation narrows gender gap
Female
Male
Gap
Tunisia
63.6
61.3
2.3
Algeria
61.6
59.7
1.9
Morocco
60.9
59.5
1.4
Illiteracy rates have dropped but
still high, and show gender gap
Female
Male
Tunisia
36.9
16.9
Algeria
40.4
22.0
Morocco
61.7
36.7
Female/male school enrollment
ratios have narrowed
Primary
Secondary
Tertiary
Tunisia
0.96
1.05
0.97
Algeria
0.92
1.08
0.70
Morocco
0.87
0.80
0.80
Also:
Ratio of military expenditure to combined
public expenditure on education and
health, 1986:
Algeria 23%, Morocco 86%, Tunisia 82%
Compare to
LAC 29%, Sub-Saharan Africa 70%,
South Asia 164%, MENA 166%
low-income countries in general: 116%

And:
Armed forces as a percentage of
teachers, 1986:
Algeria 71%, Morocco 102%, Tunisia 55%
Compare to
LAC 42%, South Asia 47%,
Sub-Saharan Africa 90%, MENA 183%
low-income countries in general: 60%

Indexes of Development
HDI
 GDI (gender-disaggregated HDI)
 GEM (gender empowerment measure)
 FEM (female endangerment measure)

Indices
HDI rank
GDI rank GEM rank
(out of 177) (out of 144) (out of 94)
Algeria
107
88
74
Morocco
126
102
72
Tunisia
91
76
78
FEM rank
(out of 17 MENA countries)
proposed by the Economic Research
Forum for the Arab Countries, Iran, and
Turkey (ERF)
 FEM equally weights female illiteracy,
fertility, and maternal mortality rates
 Tunisia 6th, Algeria 9th, Morocco 13th
 compare to GEM rank:
Tunisia 1st, Morocco 4th, Algeria 9th

Punch lines:


Investment in health and education pays off, as
measured in development indexes directly, and
indirectly through higher formal labor market
participation for women
Increased education, decreased infant, child,
and maternal mortality, decreased fertility,
increased adult health all link to increased
women’s labor force participation
Closing the remaining
education gender gap is doable
Closing the remaining gender gap in
primary education would be low-cost
 In Morocco, < 0.4% of GNP
 In Tunisia, < 0.2% of GNP
 In Algeria, probably between these two
figures based on enrollment numbers

What about migration?
All three countries are labor exporters:
net migration ratios (per 1000 population)
Algeria -.37 (ranked 153 of 225 countries)
Tunisia -.54 (rank 160)
Morocco -.92 (rank 169)
 Morocco and Tunisia generate large
remittance streams

What about migration? (contd.)

Brain drain substantial: most migrants to OECD
from Morocco (65%) and Tunisia (64%) have
tertiary education; migration rates for tertiary
educated are over six times as high as for
secondary educated
But: On all these points, gender dimension is not
clear
Worldwide, migrants are 49% female
Caveats and additions to WB
MENA Report
The paradox of occupational gender
segregation
 Taking gender seriously means also
thinking about how ways in which men
and boys may be disadvantaged
 How to handle demilitarization?
 Transnational migrant flows a mixed deal

Research wish list
time use data
 regular, ongoing household surveys
 an ongoing panel survey
 better migration data
 all statistics gender-disaggregated
 include (even oversample) minority
groups and gender-disaggregate
 disaggregate by location as well

Exemplary commitments to
gender-disaggregated data
Statistics Sweden
 Statistics Canada
 Philippines National Statistical
Coordination Board

General Data Sources
ILO for labor force/employment statistics
 IOM for migration statistics
 UNDP for development statistics
 World Bank for development statistics
 WHO for health statistics

4 Specific Sources
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World Bank: MENA Development Report, 2004
E. Mine Cinar (ed.) The Economics of Women
and Work in the Middle East and North Africa,
2001
FEMISE report on Maghreb textile sector,
October 2005
Sorensen paper on Moroccan remittances,
June 2004
General Sources
Jacobsen, The Economics of Gender, 2nd
edition, 1998 (3rd ed. forthcoming)
 Jacobsen, “What About Us? Men’s Issues
in Development,” report for the World
Bank’s LAC Gender team, May 2002
(can get from my webpage:
http://jjacobsen.web.wesleyan.edu)
or email me at jjacobsen@wesleyan.edu
