Table 5-1

Economic activity by sex, 1995
Africa


Country or area                Adult (15+) economic  Women's share
                               activity rate (%)     of the adult
                                                     labour force (%)
                                 w          m


Algeria                         24          76          24
Angola                          73          90          46
Benin                           75          83          49
Botswana                        65          83          46
Burkina Faso                    77          90          47
Burundi                         83          93          49
Cameroon                        48          86          37
Cape Verde                      44          88          39
Central African Republic        69          87          47
Chad                            67          88          44
Comoros                         63          87          42
Congo                           58          83          43
Côte d'Ivoire                   44          88          32
Dem. Rep. of the Congo          62          85          43
Djibouti                       ...         ...         ...
Egypt                           33          79          29
Equatorial Guinea               45          88          35
Eritrea                         75          87          47
Ethiopia                        58          86          40
Gabon                           63          84          44
Gambia                          69          90          44
Ghana                           81          82          50
Guinea                          78          87          47
Guinea-Bissau                   57          91          40
Kenya                           74          89          46
Lesotho                         47          85          37
Liberia                         54          84          39
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya          23          78          21
Madagascar                      69          89          44
Malawi                          79          87          49
Mali                            72          90          46
Mauritania                      64          87          44
Mauritius                       36          80          31
Morocco                         40          79          34
Mozambique                      83          91          49
Namibia                         54          81          41
Niger                           70          93          44
Nigeria                         48          87          36
Reunion                         47          68          42
Rwanda                          83          94          48
Sao Tome and Principe           37 a        77 a        34 a
Senegal                         61          86          42
Seychelles                      57 b        79 b        42 b
Sierra Leone                    44          84          35
Somalia                         63          87          43
South Africa                    46          79          37
Sudan                           33          86          28
Swaziland                       41          80          37
Togo                            53          87          39
Tunisia                         35          79          30
Uganda                          81          91          48
United Rep. of Tanzania         83          89          49
Western Sahara                 ...         ...         ...
Zambia                          66          86          45
Zimbabwe                        67          86          45

Sources:
Prepared by the Statistics Division of the United Nations Secretariat from the International Labour Office, Economically Active Population, 1950-2010, fourth edition, STAT Working Papers Nos. 1996-1, 1996-2, 1996-3, 1996-4 and 1996-5 (Geneva, 1996) and Year Book of Labour Statistics (Geneva, various years up to 1996), and national statistics reports.

a   Data refer to 1991.
b   Data refer to 1989.

Technical notes:
Indicators concerning the total economically active population aged 15 years and over have been compiled mainly from estimates and projections prepared by the International Labour Office.
Concepts and issues concerning statistics on women economically active are discussed in the special section "Counting economically active women" in The World's Women, 1970-1995: Trends and Statistics (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.90.XVII.3). As explained there, the standard concept of economically active population is defined to comprise all employed and unemployed persons, including those seeking work for the first time. It covers employers operating unincorporated enterprises, persons working on their own account, employees, unpaid family workers, members of producers cooperatives and members of the armed forces. In the internationally-recommended definition, production of primary products such as foodstuffs for own consumption and certain other non-monetary activities are considered economic activity and persons engaged in such production are to be considered economically active. In principle, any such work need only be for as little as one hour a week for a person to be considered economically active.
Specific elements of the standard concepts may, however, differ substantially from country to country and many of these differences may affect the measurement of women's participation in economic activity, such as the choice of time-reference period and the determination of minimum hours of work and unpaid family work, including production for own consumption. Moreover, the economic activity of women is often substantially understated because stereotypes held by census and survey interviewers and respondents lead to errors in the reporting and recording of the economic activity and because, in many countries, women account for the major portion of persons engaged in those economic activities that are the most difficult to measure.

Statistical symbols and conventions used in the tables