The impact of trade on female labor and girls’ education in South Africa: a CGE analysis

Lulit Mitik and Bernard Decaluwé

No 331785, Conference papers from Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project

Abstract: In many parts of the developing world, children are required to perform household chores as natural parts of their roles in the household. Household work is highly time-consuming and often interferes with schooling. Our objective in this paper is two-fold. First, we illustrate how trade liberalization affects women’s and men’s market work, household work and leisure differently. Second, this paper reveals how such economic policies can influence parents’ schooling, household work and leisure decisions for their children. We build a macroeconomic framework that integrates both market and non-market activities distinguishing male and female workers on the one hand, and adult and child non-market work and leisure on the other. Our dynamic computable general equilibrium model distinguishes between girls’ and boys’ household work, education and leisure time. Parents’ decision regarding child work and schooling is influenced by perceptions of the costs and benefits of each option. Following this approach, we analyze the gender sensitive impacts of trade liberalization in South Africa. We find that gender inequality is likely to rise between adults and between boys and girls. Given the decrease in female skill premium, parents reduce girls’ education time and increase their household work. In contrast, as male skill premium increases, parents increase boys’ education time and reduce their household work. Leisure time is reduced for children in most households. Furthermore, we observe a direct substitution effect of children for parents in “Colored” households as the significant increase in adult male and female market labor supply is made possible through the substitution of children for adults in household work activities. A certain substitution effect also takes place in the three other household categories though this effect is mainly driven by changes in male and female skill premium. The widening gender inequality between boys and girls sustains in the long run.

Keywords: International Relations/Trade; Labor and Human Capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 54
Date: 2008
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