2.4 Gender inequalities
In the labour market context, typical manifestations of gender inequalities are as follows: women's labour force participation is lower than men's, female workers are concentrated in low-productivity occupations in the agricultural and informal sectors; and female workers earn lower wages than male workers in similar occupations. The underlying causes include unequal access to productive resources, unequal opportunities for skill development, the double burden of family and economic responsibilities, limited representation in decision-making institutions, and discrimination in the labour market.
The available evidence shows that, even in 1996, women's labour force participation was universally lower than men's. Indeed, it appears that level of development is not an important determinant of women's labour force participation; on the other hand, socio-cultural context appears to be an important, perhaps the most important, determinant. The male-female differential in labour force participation, for example, was smallest in the transition economies and largest in South Asian and Pacific countries; the differential in the fast-growing economies of East and Southeast Asia and in the advanced industrialized countries was somewhere in between the two extremes; and, among the advanced industrialized countries, it was largest in Japan. The share of females in total labour force ranged from 26 to 42 per cent in South Asia, from 37 to 46 per cent in East and Southeast Asia, from 41 to 44 per cent in the advanced industrialized countries, and from 45 to 53 per cent in transition economies. At the same time, women predominate in those categories of the labour force which are not officially recorded in most countries, e.g. subsistence agriculture.
Women's share in total employment is generally lower than their share in total labour force in many countries because the unemployment rate tends to be higher for women than for men. Here, however, a pattern is discernible; development does seem to reduce the gap in unemployment rates between men and women. In 1996, this gap was large in low-income countries of South Asia; it was much smaller in East and Southeast Asian economies and practically did not exist in the advanced industrialized countries. The male-female differential in unemployment rates, therefore, seems to decline as per capita income rises. However, this pattern may not be valid with respect to underemployment. Evidence, though sketchy, strongly suggests that underemployment quite universally affects female workers much more than male workers. Even in the advanced industrialized countries, a sizeable number of workers are employed on a part-time basis and a large majority of them are females; 75 per cent of the part-time workers in Australia and 67 per cent in Japan are women. Although not all part-time work need be involuntary, it is fair to assume that the incidence of underemployment is positively related to the incidence of part-time employment. The available estimates of visible underemployment in the advanced industrialized countries support this view.
On average, the quality of employment tends to be significantly poorer for women than for men. In low-income economies, this is shown by the fact that the share of agricultural employment in total employment is much higher for women than for men. In South Asian countries, for example, the share of agriculture in total employment ranges from 35 per cent to 75 per cent for men but from 40 per cent to 90 per cent for women. In the context of advanced industrialized economies, on the other hand, women's employment tends to be concentrated in services (including trade) where women often constitute the majority of the workers. The picture in other countries of the region represents in-between situations. It appears that as a country develops and the share of agriculture in total employment dwindles, women workers are increasingly absorbed into low-quality jobs in the service sector.
Another aspect relating to quality of employment is that, within any given sector, average wages or earnings tend to be substantially lower for women than for men. The available evidence shows that women's average wage as a proportion of men's in a given sector ranges from 54 per cent to 90 per cent in different countries of the Asia-Pacific region. The causes for the wage gap are varied and complex, and include women's predominance in lower-paid positions, interruptions in women's labour force participation, lower valuation of typically female occupations and the fact that women work fewer hours on average, probably because of the gender division of family responsibilities. However, indications are also that women receive lower wages than men for work of equal value, despite legislation on equal remuneration in most countries in the region.
Though gender inequalities in employment and labour market currently exist in all countries, the long-term trends have been in a desirable direction; a general tendency for gender inequalities to decline is discernible from the available evidence, although considerable gender gaps still exist. The labour force participation rate for women increased in many countries, while that for men tended to remain stable; the dominant trend was one of feminization of labour force and employment. The male-female wage differential has also shown a long-term tendency to decline.
Another noticeable trend has been that of growing international mobility of women workers. Faced with limited employment opportunities in their own countries, a growing number of women workers from Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka have sought employment in other countries of Asia and the Pacific, the Middle East, Europe and North America. According to ILO estimates, 76 per cent of all migrant workers from the Philippines working in other Asian countries in 1997 were women. The corresponding figure for Indonesian migrant workers was 37 per cent. Such migration has at least helped provide alternative employment opportunities. However, indications are that working conditions of female migrant workers are often deplorable.
When these trends are viewed together with the cross-country patterns noted above, it does appear that economic growth has the effect of reducing gender inequalities. However, it must also be noted that, even in developed countries, gender inequalities do not disappear and socio-cultural factors obviously remain relevant. Economic growth reduces but does not eliminate gender inequalities. This is why elimination of gender inequalities must be a direct objective of economic and social policy.
For lack of evidence, it is difficult to assess the effects of economic reforms in the post-1995 period and of the ongoing Asian crisis. There is some evidence from transition economies such as China and Viet Nam to suggest that reform of state-owned enterprises carries a higher risk of retrenchment for women employees. A 1997 survey of 1,100 enterprises by China's Ministry of Labour revealed that women workers in state-owned and collective enterprises faced a higher risk of retrenchment than their male colleagues. In South Asian countries, women have a disproportionately high share of insecure job contracts and as such are more vulnerable in times of adverse economic conditions. At the same time, it is also true that the emergence of export-oriented industries (such as garments and electronics) in both transition economies and South Asian countries as a result of the economic reforms has created greater employment opportunities for women than for men.
The sketchy evidence available indicates mixed effects of the economic crisis on women's employment in East and Southeast Asian countries. In the Republic of Korea, the adverse effect has been stronger for women workers than for men. The labour force participation rate of both men and women declined, but the decline was sharper for women than for men. The decline in employment was also sharper for women (7 per cent) than for men (4.2 per cent). Moreover, informalization of employment was greater for women than for men; this can be seen from the fact that the decline in regular wage employment was much larger for women (20 per cent) than for men (7 per cent).
In the Philippines, on the other hand, male employment appears to have been more adversely affected than female employment. In absolute terms, female employment remained unchanged while male employment declined by 1.6 per cent. The unemployment rate has always been higher for females than for males and this pattern remained unchanged basically because the female labour force increased at a faster rate (3.4 per cent) than the male labour force (1.7 per cent); the rate of unemployment increased from 9.3 per cent to 12.2 per cent for males and from 12.3 per cent to 15.2 per cent for females.
In the cases of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, there is no evidence so far to indicate that women have been more affected by job losses than men. Construction and manufacturing are the most adversely affected sectors. The construction sector employs mostly male workers, although in many countries women are involved in construction work as unregistered and unpaid family workers. In manufacturing too, male workers dominate but females often outnumber males in export-oriented units. On the whole, it seems likely that job losses have affected males more than females. However, even if the absolute number of women laid off is lower than that of men, their percentage is considerable relative to their labour force participation rate. It should be kept in mind that statistics are often incomplete and may given an inaccurate picture of changes in women's employment. For example, many women in atypical work arrangements are ineligible for severance pay, which is used as the basis for calculating retrenchment figures. In addition, given that women are predominantly found in jobs characterized by low pay and skill levels and lack of security, they are more likely to lose their regular wage jobs, forcing them to switch to contract work or self-employment.
