Exports and labor income by gender: a social accounting matrix analysis for Senegal

Higher incomes for women can have significant beneficial impacts for poverty reduction both in the short run by providing more resources to households and in the long run by increasing investments in the human capital of children. While substantial research has been done using microeconomic household survey data on gender disparities in labor incomes in developing countries, these studies may not necessarily provide insights on how broad structural shifts in an economy could affect differently opportunities for work and income generation for men and women. In this paper, we use a recent Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) for Senegal to assess how growth in various sectors of the economy, and especially in exports from tourism, could affect the incomes of women and men both directly and indirectly through multiplier effects. We find that a tourism export boom could lead to increase not only in the level of income of Senegalese women, but also in their share of total labor income in the economy.