The Impact of Extending Paid Maternity and Paternity Leave on Female Employment: A Comparative Policy Analysis in Sub-Saharan Africa

Causal studies on the impact of paid maternity leave on female employment outcomes in Africa are limited and no causal studies exist on the impact of adding paid paternity leave to paid maternity leave. This study built a novel longitudinal dataset of paid leave policies in all African countries merged with harmonized individual survey data on women’s employment outcomes in 18 sub-Saharan African countries from 1998 to 2019. It used TWFE models to measure the impacts of extending paid maternity and paternity leave on the extent and nature of women’s paid work, demonstrating how analyses can examine the impact of complementary policies across countries. It found that women in countries where both maternity and paternity leave were extended were 5 per cent more likely to be employed in paid work for each additional week of maternity leave. In contrast, in countries that only extended maternity leave, the effects were mixed.