Electricity and ICT in West Africa: Implication for Female Employment

The importance of electricity and ICT access in achieving gender equality andsustainable development cannot be overemphasized. While ICTs tends to createopportunities for women by enabling their participation in social, political andeconomic processes, electricity access alleviates women’s time poverty andcreates opportunities for labour force participation. This study investigates thisassertion by examining the effects of female access to electricity and ICTdiffusion on female employment in sixteen (16) West African countries from1990 to 2020. It disaggregates female employment into three; agriculture,industry and service. The study sources data from World Bank Data Bank andconducts both static analysis (Pooled Effect) and dynamic analysis using PanelARDL procedures of Mean Group (MG), Pooled Mean Group (PMG) andDynamic Fixed Effect (DFE) having confirmed the stationarity of variables.Result from dynamic analysis shows that all variables are positive and they arelong run determinants of female employment in West Africa. Sectoral analysisreveals that female access to electricity discourages female employment inagriculture while it improves female employment in the service sector. On theother hand, ICT diffusion in West African countries impacts female employmentnegatively in the agriculture and industrial sectors but boosts female employmentin the service sector. While female education is a negative determinant of femaleemployment in the highlighted sectors of the economy in the long run, fertilityhas a strong and negative impact on female employment in the three sectors ofthe economy in the short run. It is suggested that governments in West Africancountries should expedite efforts in expanding female energy access throughcapacity building, partnership with local stakeholders and creating a conduciveenvironment for women entrepreneurs. This will ensure a smooth energytransition in the region. Also, the agriculture sector should be formalised toencourage female employment.