Burkina Faso is a landlocked West African country, bordered by Mali, the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Niger, Togo and Benin. Despite some improvements made in women’s rights in the past, the gender wage gap in Burkina Faso remains a significant issue. A 2024 report by the World Bank group has found that an 82% gap in wage earnings exists between men and women. This significant disparity is attributed to the fact that most women are not paid at all for their work – 91% of female wage workers are unpaid, in comparison to 66% of male workers. Most of this work occurs in the agricultural sector, with more than 70% of the population being in rural areas.
The Current Issue
Some of the driving factors of the gender wage gap in Burkina Faso are the widespread notions that women belong in the home, or that their role in the workforce should not interfere or supersede their responsibilities in the home. “Occupational segregation” is common, with men in higher-level positions in higher-skilled work.
Women are expected to take care of the household, so economic ventures outside of caregiving are difficult. The World Bank Group says, “We find that gender differences in labor force participation are primarily driven by differences in returns to worker characteristics, such as the number of young children in the household, and notably not due to characteristics such as differential educational attainment.”
The lack of women or advocacy for women in politics means that it is difficult to address these issues. Currently, only 13 of the 71 members of the Burkinabe parliament (18.3%) are women.
Past Progress
It would be remiss to speak on gender equality or economic reform in Burkina Faso without mentioning Thomas Sankara. Sankara, leader of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987, was a revolutionary, Marxist and Pan-Africanist, and an outspoken, uncompromising feminist.
He himself spoke on the inherent wage disparity in domestic duties being unpaid, saying “We are fighting for the equality of men and women, not of a mechanical, mathematical equality, but by making women equal to men before the law and especially before wage labor.”
Sankara passed many initiatives to help Burkinabe women. He encouraged both girls and boys to finish school, and required schools to let pregnant students return to finish their education. He also hired more women in government positions. Traditional gender roles such as caregiving drives economic gender inequality, so giving women opportunities outside of household/caregiving obligations allows them to participate more freely in the workforce.
Current Progress
Burkina Faso has approved initiatives in order to help women and children including the Child-Sensitive Social Protection Programme (CSSSP), and the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene program (WASH). The 2024 Gender-Responsive and Age-Sensitive Social Protection (GRASSP) report recorded the impacts of this initiative.
The CSSSP provides a cash transfer of FCFA 16,000 (30 USD) per month to every household within the 11 municipalities it was implemented in. The report tracked the impact of the CSSSP, as well as the combined impact of the cash transfer and the WASH program, which provides water, sanitation, hygiene and nutrition services.
This economic stability that this financial crutch offers allows women more freedom in their economic ventures. The GRASSP report noted that the hours of economic activity of girls in beneficiary households increased 9.9%. It also wrote that, “Women in the treatment group reported having gained some control over their savings and earnings, compared to their counterparts in the comparison group.” Additionally, the report indicated that improved quality of life encourages peace in the home stating that “[Beneficiaries] acknowledged that poverty was the cause of arguments, and that receiving the cash transfers ameliorated this stress since they had less difficulty paying for their basic needs.”
Continuing and expanding these programs would see an overall boost in Burkinabe economic stability. Food security and happier family dynamics make fulfilling household and caregiving duties easier for women. This opens up time and opportunity for economic activity.
Conclusion
In truth, the circumstances of these women come as a result of an overlap of patriarchal ideals and general economic inequality. Addressing the root problems means dismantling the traditional gender roles that assign and restrict women to caregiving, and to eliminate wage disparity to provide equal opportunity for women to generate independent income or own capital.
Teaching men to take on some of the time and mental burden of managing a household not only encourages respect and shared responsibility between spouses, but also frees up time for women to pursue independent economic ventures. But as of now, the CSSSP program is addressing the financial stress and household stress separately, improving the quality of life of women who struggle with them.
– Sandhya Mathew
Sandhya is based in Los Angeles, CA, USA and focuses on Good News and Politics for The Borgen Project.
Photo: Pixabay
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