Author:

Keywords:

Social Sciences, Development Studies, Discrete choice experiment, employment preferences, rural off-farm employment, horticultural exports, Senegal, DISCRETE-CHOICE EXPERIMENT, AGRICULTURAL LABOR, PRIVATE STANDARDS, PREFERENCES, POVERTY, CHAINS, DEMAND, MODEL, 1604 Human Geography, 1605 Policy and Administration, 4404 Development studies, 4407 Policy and administration, 4408 Political science

Abstract:

© 2016 Overseas Development Institute. The rapid transformation of the agri-food sector in developing countries has created rural off-farm employment opportunities, especially for women. There is growing concern about worker welfare and employment conditions in agri-food and export sectors, but empirical evidence on this issue is scant. We analyse contractual preferences of female workers in the horticultural export sector in Senegal. We use a discrete choice experiment to assess women's preferences for a labour contract and employ a latent class model to capture preference heterogeneity. We find that women have a high willingness to accept a labour contract in the horticultural export industry, and that differences in preferences for contract attributes can be explained by women's empowerment status.