Page 22 - Economic transformation

determines whether youth are discouraged (ie, unemployed, available for employment

but not seeking employment) – a trend that undermines economic transformation (see

Gambia UN CCA Regional focus paper).

Overall, the study revealed that women living in rural areas are most prone to

being discouraged (and hence dragging down economic transformation). In particular,

female youth living in rural areas are nearly twice as likely to be discouraged than their

male counterparts in the rural areas. A major reason for this, is that women in rural

areas have the highest correlation with low education levels (no formal education, some

primary education and completion of primary schooling).

Table 1: Comparison of the characteristics of rural and urban females
Measure Indicator Urban female Rural female
Education Education Some university No formal
Electricity in area Yes Yes
Local services Piped water services in area Yes Yes
Sewage service in area No No
Personal Cash income Just once or twice Many times.
economic Medical care Never Several times
conditions - How Water Never Always
often you go Cooking fuel Sometime Many times.
without: Food Never May times
Have you ever attended a public protest Would never Would never
Participation/civic Do you join others to raise issues Would join if had time Several times
engagement Would attend if had
Do you attend community meetings Attend often
time
Water supply
Central Most important problem (highest Unemployment and and food
government management of the
performance correlations) economy shortage/famin
e
Source: Rapidminer modelling results

Table 1 above attempts to illustrate the dire conditions of female youth in rural

areas by comparing their main characteristics with those of female youth living in urban

areas. While women living in rural and urban areas are likely to find themselves living in

an area with electricity and piped water services but no sewage services, there are

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