This paper examines the labour market incorporation of African-born immigrant women in South Africa using data from the 2011 Census. It investigates women’s labour force participation, employment prospects, and access to formal employment, assessing how human capital and household factors explain labour market decisions. Results underscore significant challenges to immigrant incorporation in South Africa. Not only are immigrants less likely to participate in the labour force than black South African women, but for those who participate, employment levels are lower. Although immigrants have an employment edge over South Africans once individual and household factors are held constant, immigrants are over-represented in informal jobs. Returns to human capital are also lower among foreign- than South-African–born women. Together, these results suggest a segmented pattern of incorporation for immigrant women in South Africa. Results by national origin emphasize the importance of egalitarianism and co-ethnic community characteristics in structuring women’s labour force participation.

本文使用 2011 年人口普查的数据研究了南非出生的非洲移民妇女的劳动力市场融入情况。它调查妇女的劳动力参与、就业前景和获得正规就业的机会，评估人力资本和家庭因素如何解释劳动力市场决策。结果强调了移民在南非融入社会的重大挑战。与南非黑人女性相比，移民不仅不太可能参与劳动力市场，而且对于那些参与劳动力市场的人来说，就业水平也较低。尽管一旦个人和家庭因素保持不变，移民就比南非人具有就业优势，但移民在非正式工作中的比例过高。外国出生的妇女的人力资本回报也低于南非出生的妇女。一起，这些结果表明，南非移民妇女的融入模式是分段的。按民族划分的结果强调了平等主义和同族社区特征在构建妇女劳动力参与中的重要性。