Women, employment, and possiblities for empowerment: A comparative analysis of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia

Women's share of the labor force has increased significantly in most regions of the developing world, including the Middle East and North Africa where women's participation levels have traditionally fallen behind those of other areas. But while the growth of female wage earners has been well documented, the impact of employment on the quality of women's lives is less clear. Some scholars argue that women's inclusion in the formal economy contributes to their exploitation by relegating women to low-wage work that reinforce traditional divisions of labor. Others view the workplace as an environment wherein women can cultivate the skills and confidence necessary to exert more control over their life's direction.; Drawing upon past research for theoretical and empirical guidance, the present study analyzes survey data gathered from major cities in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia in order to understand whether formal employment is a constraining or empowering force for women as it pertains to their ability to make choices and influence change. To this end, the data analyses examine the degree to which employment status is associated with several dimensions of empowerment, specifically women's involvement in household decision-making, participation in social activities, and attitudes toward gender equality.; Results of multivariate analyses indicate that employment status often demonstrates a positive association with empowerment, but that this relationship is inconsistent and less influential than educational status. Within the household, employed married women are more likely to be participate in financial decision-making than other married women in two out of three samples, but employment status shows no relationship to fertility decisions. Outside the household, employed women are more likely to show higher levels of civic engagement than women outside the labor force in one of the samples analyzed, and in two cases, they are more likely to support sex equality in professional and educational life. These significant relationships are limited to the Moroccan and Algerian analyses despite expectations that the Tunisian context would be more encouraging of women's empowerment. This anomaly highlights the need for more sensitive measures of empowerment in future studies and for more in-depth investigations of women's employment experiences.