Maquiladoras and Market Mamas: Women's Work and Child Care in Guatemala City and Accra

Agnes R. Quisumbing, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Marie Ruel, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

This paper examines joint decisions of child care choice and labor force participation of women in Guatemala City and Greater Accra, Ghana. Participation in the labor market and use of formal daycare are joint decisions of mothers. There are differences between the results from the two cities. In Guatemala, greater travel time from home to the day care center reduces utilization of this type of care, but a larger supply of day care centers in the community does not affect use of formal care in Accra. The lack of importance of formal day care supply variables in Accra suggests that formal day care may not be the key to increasing mothers’ labor force participation rates in cities where the informal sector dominates. In more urbanized settings where the formal sector generates a higher proportion of jobs for women, formal day care is more important to mothers’ decision to work.