Gender inequalities in rural employment in Malawi …

1 I Malawi COUNTRY PROFILE Prepared by the Gender , Equity and rural employment Division of FAO 2011 Gender inequalities in rural employment in Malawi An Overview i The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

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3 Reproduction of material in this information product for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without written permission of the copyright holders. Applications for such permission should be addressed by e-mail to or to the Chief, Publishing Policy and Support Branch, Office of Knowledge Exchange, Research and Extension, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153 Rome, Italy. Photos: FAO/Jon Spaull FAO 2011 ii Malawi COUNTRY PROFILE Gender inequalities in rural employment in Malawi An Overview iii TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS.

4 Iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .. v LIST OF ACRONYMS .. vi EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .. viii PART I: COUNTRY OVERVIEW ..2 1. Demographic Context .. 2 Map 1: Population structure, Malawi (urban and rural areas) .. 3 Table 1: Total population and sex ratio of population, Malawi (1998 and 2008) .. 4 Graph 1: Population structure, Malawi (2008) .. 4 Graph 2: Population structure of urban areas (1998 and 2008) .. 5 Graph 3: Population structure of rural areas (1998 and 2008) .. 6 2. Political Context .. 7 Table 2: Representation of women in decision-making and political and judicial bodies.

5 7 Table 3: Gender disparities in public sector employment (2008) .. 7 3. Economic Context .. 8 PART II: INCOME, POVERTY AND inequalities IN rural 10 Table 4: Poverty and income inequalities in Malawi .. 10 Box 1: Gender inequalities hinder women s role as producers in Malawi .. 11 1. Assessing income, poverty and inequalities .. 12 Table 5: Characteristics of rural households by expenditure quintile .. 12 Table 6: RIGA classification of income sources .. 13 2. Demographic characteristics .. 13 Graph 4: Average age of household head by expenditure quintile.

6 14 Graph 5: Household members in working age by expenditure quintile .. 14 3. Education .. 14 Graph 6: Average years of education of the household head by expenditure quintile .. 15 4. Income sources .. 15 Graph 7: Participation in employment opportunities .. 15 Graph 8: Share of household income derived from different labour activities .. 17 PART III: Gender inequalities IN rural employment .. 18 Graph 9: employment rate in urban and rural areas .. 18 Graph 10: Age structure of the female and male working population ( rural and urban).

7 19 1. employment patterns of rural women and men .. 19 Graph 11: Main sector of employment for rural men and women .. 20 Graph 12: Main sector of employment for rural youth .. 20 Graph 13: employment status of rural men and women .. 21 Graph 14: employment status of rural youth .. 21 2. Gender inequalities in wage labour .. 21 iv Box 2: Gender , rural employment and decent work .. 22 Graph 15: Frequency and duration of rural waged labour (1st and 2nd job compared) .. 22 Graph 16: Frequency and duration of rural waged labour by sex (1st and 2nd job together).

8 23 Graph 17: Frequency and duration of rural waged labour by sex (1st job) .. 23 Graph 18: rural wage level by sex (1st and 2nd job together) .. 24 Graph 19: rural wage level by sex in agricultural and non-agricultural activities .. 25 Table 7: rural waged labour by occupation (1st and 2nd job) .. 25 Graph 20: rural male and female waged labour by occupation (1st job plus 2nd job) .. 26 3. Gender differences in productive and domestic time use .. 26 Graph 21: Time allocation of rural men and women to productive activities .. 27 Graph 22: Time allocation of rural youth to productive activities.

9 28 Graph 23: Time allocation of rural men and women to domestic activities .. 28 Graph 24: Time allocation of rural youth to domestic activities .. 29 Box 3: Overview of child labour in Malawi .. 30 Graph 25: Time use of rural children aged 5 to 14 .. 31 Graph 26: Distribution of time use of rural children aged 5 to 11 .. 31 Graph 27: Distribution of time use of rural children aged 12 to 32 Graph 28: Share of working children aged 5 to 14 living in households where a parent is absent .. 32 4. Illiteracy and Gender inequalities in education.

10 33 Table 8: Adult literacy rate by region and district (%) .. 33 Table 9: Adult literacy rate by age group in rural and urban areas (%) .. 34 Graph 29: Educational attainment level for rural and urban population aged 15 years and above (%) .. 35 Table 10: Highest educational attainment of population aged 15 years and above, by region (%) .. 35 Table 11: Highest educational attainment of population aged 15 years and above disaggregated by the sex of the household head (%) .. 36 Graph 30: Education level of rural workers (men and women).