Chapter 6 Gender , Time Use , and labor Income in Guinea : Micro and Macro Analyses

Gender disparities in labor markets have important economic implications in sub-Saharan Africa. At least three different aspects of poverty and income gen­ eration can be related to the decisions made by various household members in terms of their allocation of time and their prospects for labor income. First, traditional consumption-based poverty is directly related to the earnings of household members as well as to household size. Increasing the earnings of women, either by closing the gender gap in earnings with men or by facilitat­ ing the entry of women into labor markets, thus can be directly beneficial for household incomes and poverty reduction. Second, relative power within households (including whether the house­ hold head or the spouse makes key decisions, either separately or jointly) also depends on the earnings of various household members and can have long­ term effects on children. Typically, the less women are engaged in income­ generating activities, the less influence they have on household decision making and the less the household will invest in the human capital of children, which may reduce the likelihood that the children will be able to avoid poverty in the future as well as reduce prospects for income growth (Hoddinott and Haddad 1995).