Short Abstract

How do digitalization, green transitions and persistent informality reshape work for women and youth in Central Africa? This panel brings multiple disciplinary and country perspectives into dialogue to identify unequal pathways and inclusive policy responses.

Long Abstract

Central Africa's youthful population is framed as a demographic dividend, while digitalization and the green transition are presented as pathways to employment and inclusive growth. Yet these promises are refracted through gendered labour markets, persistent informality, care responsibilities, weak social protection, infrastructure and uneven access to land, finance, technology and skills. This panel examines how women and young people negotiate these intersecting transformations and asks who gains, who bears the risks and which forms of work remain invisible within dominant future-of-work narratives. Drawing inspiration from ECAS 2027's theme, African Prisms, it treats Central Africa not as a uniform labour region but as a spectrum of cross-border experiences. The panel welcomes interdisciplinary contributions on Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Chad, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Congo. Papers may address digital platforms and artificial intelligence; informal, agricultural and care economies; green jobs and extractive transitions; education and skills; migration and mobility; entrepreneurship; labour regulation; or social protection. Particular attention will be given to comparisons that connect technological and ecological change to gender, generation, class, location and disability. By bringing labour studies, development economics, sociology, geography, gender studies, political economy and policy research into conversation, the panel seeks to move beyond celebratory accounts of innovation and crisis-centred portrayals of youth. It will identify the institutional conditions under which economic transitions can produce dignified, secure and valued work, while developing a Central African contribution to debates about labour justice, inclusive transformation and the plurality of African futures.

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