GENEVA – According to Global Employment Trends for Women Brief – 2007, the number of women participating in labour markets – either in work or looking actively for work – is at its highest point. In 2006, the ILO estimated that 1.2 billion of the 2.9 billion workers in the world were women.
However, the ILO said more women than ever before are unemployed (81.8 million), stuck in low productivity jobs in agriculture and services or receiving less money for doing the same jobs as men. In addition, the share of working-age women who work or are seeking work had actually stopped growing or declined in some regions, partially due to more young women in education rather than work.
“Despite some progress, far too many women are still stuck in the lowest paying jobs, often in the informal economy with insufficient legal protection, little or no social protection, and a high degree of insecurity,” said ILO Director-General Juan Somavia. “Promoting decent work as a fundamental instrument in the global quest for gender equality will go a long way in raising incomes and opportunities for women and lifting families out of poverty.”
The report adds that women must be given the chance to work themselves and their families out of poverty through creation of decent employment opportunities that help them secure productive and remunerative work in conditions of freedom, security and human dignity. Otherwise, the process of feminization of poverty will continue and be passed on to the next generation.
The report shows that today more women out of the total number of women at work are in wage and salaried employment (47.9 per cent) than 10 years ago (42.9 per cent). However, the study also noted that the poorer the region, the more likely it is that women work as unpaid contributing family members or low-income own-account workers, in a higher proportion than men.
In the last Global Employment Trends for Women – 2004, it was estimated that women made up at least 60 per cent of the world’s working poor – people who work but don’t earn enough to lift themselves and their families above the US$1 per person, per day line. According to the current ILO study “there is no reason to believe that this situation has changed considerably”.
Closing but persisting gaps
According to this year’s Global Employment Trends for Women, gender gaps are closing but at slow pace, and the other findings of the report are only partly encouraging:
- In 2006, women were still more likely to be unemployed than men. Whereas the female unemployment rate was 6.6 per cent, unemployment among men was at 6.1 per cent.
- Merely half of working-age women over the age of 15 actually work, whereas more than seven in ten men do.
- There is evidence that wage gaps persist. A review of data available for six occupation groups shows that in most economies, women still earn 90 per cent or less of what their male co-workers earn.
- Access to education and education levels are still far from equal in most regions. In addition, 60 per cent of school drop-outs are girls: they often have to leave school to help in households or to work.
The report concludes that “creating adequate decent and productive work for women is possible, as shown by some of the progress detailed in the report. But policy-makers not only need to place employment at the centre of social and economic policies, they also have to recognize that the challenges faced by women in the world of work require intervention tailored to specific needs.”
International Women’s Day 2007: “Breaking boundaries and driving change”
GENEVA – The ILO marked International Women’s Day this year with a range of events designed to celebrate working women who have been “breaking boundaries and driving change”. These included a special public event at ILO headquarters in Geneva featuring Ms. Anousheh Ansari, an entrepreneur and first woman private space explorer.
The ILO also issued a new publication composed of articles from World of Work magazine 1999-2006 entitled Gender equality around the world. The book provides a decade-long overview of challenges and good practices in gender equality in the world of work covering such issues as workplace discrimination, women jobseekers in Estonia, an innovative life-cycle approach to gender equality in Tanzania, self-employed women in India, progressive policies on paternity leave in Norway, female domestic workers in the Philippines, women who cover wars or find themselves fighting for their lives in armed conflicts, women in sports and many more.
For more information on the report and International Women’s Day 2007, please go to www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/event/women/2007/index.htm. To obtain a copy of the book Gender equality around the world, please visit www.ilo.org/publ. See “Media Shelf” in this issue for prices.
Women. Men. Different. Equal
GENEVA – The ILO Library and the Gender Bureau have developed a new resource guide on gender equality in the world of work.
This guide provides easy access to key ILO publications, statistics which show the extent of sex discrimination in the workplace, and good practices for promoting gender equality. It is an information-rich collection of guidelines, tools, research and data made available via links to ILO and other publications, statistics, ILO labour standards, and other resources around the world.
Researchers and decision-makers will have access to references and the full text of publications on all aspects of gender equality including: equal employment opportunities, the gender wage gap, family friendly workplace policies, gender and globalization, gender-based violence, gender and migration, trafficking in women and girls and more.
The resource is available in English, French and Spanish:
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/support/lib/resource/subject/gender.htm
http://www.ilo.org/public/french/support/lib/resource/subject/gender.htm
http://www.ilo.org/public/spanish/support/lib/resource/subject/gender.htm