The information is contained in the gender assessment report in Mozambique: ‘leveraging the potential of women and girls’, launched last Thursday (30) in Maputo by the World Bank Group, in partnership with the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Action.
The study highlights that female participation in the labour force in Mozambique is high, but the quality of the jobs women access is low. Women are more likely to work in the informal sector and have less access to finance and productive inputs (land, technology), as well as being constrained by the unequal division of childcare and domestic labour.
Men are three times more likely to be self-employed, while women are more likely to be involved in ‘low quality’ jobs due to having fewer skills and discrimination in employment.
The document also states that the majority of women are engaged in agriculture (93 per cent in rural areas and 46 per cent in urban areas compared to 76 per cent and 24 per cent for men). Women have less secure property titles and less access to financial services and technical inputs.
The report points out that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) owned by women make around 16 per cent less profit than those owned by men. The study also says that during 2023, 5,265 cases of domestic violence were attended to, compared to 5,996 the previous year, which shows a decrease.
As such, the study recommends reducing teenage pregnancies and early unions as priority areas for intervention, as well as keeping girls in school, increasing economic opportunities for women and improving sexual reproductive health services.
Carta de Moçambique
