Title: Professional status of women in female-concentrated industries in the City of Yaoundé - Cameroon

Authors: Angeline Raymonde Ngo Essounga

Addresses: Centre National de l'Education in Yaounde, The University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon

Abstract: This paper analyses the professional status of women within female concentrated industries. Based on a mixed study where quantitative and qualitative data were collected from two industries located in Yaoundé, the paper affirms that even within industries where women constitute the majority of employees, they are marginalised. Three aspects of the professional status of women within these companies reveal this marginalisation. Firstly, women occupy a number of professions that is lower than the number of professions where men are present. Secondly, women are recruited in less skilled jobs. Thirdly, women are less represented in management positions. This marginalisation of women within a female bastion is socially constructed within the company by considering gender as a criterion during recruitment and by having a policy that favour men entrance within traditional female sectors.

Keywords: Cameroon; female-concentrated industries; marginalisation of women; gender in recruitment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGSDS.2017.085597

International Journal of Gender Studies in Developing Societies, 2017 Vol.2 No.1, pp.19 - 32

Received: 25 Apr 2016
Accepted: 24 Oct 2016
Published online: 01 Aug 2017 *

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