The effect of women’s employment on marriage formation: the case of rural women in Sebeta Hawas District, Central Ethiopia

Aynalem Megersa, Addis Ababa University
Eshetu Gurmu, Addis Ababa University
Workneh Negatu, Addis Ababa University

Like many other developing countries, there has been an increase in the Ethiopian rural women’s engagement in income earning activities. This emerging phenomenon is attributed to rural women’s increased job opportunity due to the expansion of non-traditional export industries and development of micro and small scale enterprises in the country, among others. The paper examines the effect of women’s employment on marriage formation. It studies how women’s employment shape their transition to first marriage using a retrospective longitudinal data collected from 1066 women residing in 861 randomly selected rural households in the central Ethiopia and employing an event history analysis. A qualitative data was also used to substantiate the quantitative findings. The results suggest that wage employment delays young female’s marriage entry. Self-employment, on the contrary, encourages marriage formation. In this regard, socio-cultural issues play key role in shaping the effect of women’s employment on their likelihood of marriage formation.