Éducation et choix professionnels des femmes mariées : le cas du Cameroun

This paper seeks to explore how married women make career choices with respect to their education level. We use survey data from Cameroon and the Heckit two-step approach to address potential sample selection bias in occupational choices. The results show that although married women are more likely to engage in the job market compared to unmarried women, the sector of work matters. In this regard, unlike unmarried women, education gives a narrower range of occupational choices to married women. Hence, while education increases the probability of choosing only trade and unskilled work among married women, it increases the probability of choosing office, trade, services, and unskilled work among unmarried women. These results suggest that compared to unmarried women, educated married women are inclined to choose from a smaller range of professional activities offering them greater flexibility in balancing home management and their jobs?an observation that is more attributable to need than opportunity.