Data from the Survey on Employment, Remuneration and Working Hours (EERH) published by the ANSD for the year 2024 confirms a persistent reality in the modern sector outside public administration: men still represent 74.2% of permanent employees. This apparent imbalance, however, masks significant changes in certain segments of the formal economy.

Healthcare, financial services, and scientific activities are experiencing a growing feminization. Women hold 47.6%, 45%, and 43.3% of permanent positions respectively. These figures, well above the global average, reflect a quiet restructuring of the professional landscape, driven by high value-added sectors that are undergoing rapid transformation and are often more open to diversity.

This targeted dynamic is part of a broader context of skills redefinition. The expansion of services, the digitalization of procedures, and the increased need for expertise are strengthening demand in professions traditionally more accessible to female graduates. The result is a gradual rebalancing in the most resilient sectors of the economy, without, however, tipping the entire market.

This contrast between overall male dominance and the sectoral breakthrough of women calls for a rethinking of indicators. Analyzing national averages is no longer sufficient to grasp the complexity of the transformations underway. The feminization of salaried employment does not follow a uniform logic, but rather centers of change linked to the nature of skills, organizational culture, and companies' recruitment policies.

Future challenges will focus on the ability to extend this progress to other areas, particularly industry and construction, which are still largely male-dominated. But these sectoral signals open the way to more targeted policies, based on professional realities rather than on blanket approaches that are often ineffective.