Publications on Equality and discrimination

December 2019

  1. Publication

    Maternity income protection in Southern and Eastern Africa. From concept to practice

    02 December 2019

    This publication is part of a collaboration of the ILO with the Eastern and Central Africa Social Security Association (ECASSA) to encourage the move from employer liability systems to social insurance based systems and to provide universal and comprehensive coverage.

April 2018

  1. Publication

    Cooperatives meeting informal economy workers' child care needs - A Joint ILO and WIEGO Initiative

    25 April 2018

    Cooperatives set up and run by workers in the informal economy are among the solutions in meeting women workers’ care needs, while also helping protect their labour rights. This report complements the ILO's previous studies with cases from Brazil, India, and Guatemala on how informal economy workers’ organizations can mobilize through cooperatives to provide child care services to their members. The case studies highlight diverse forms of child care provision and outline the varied partnerships needed to implement and sustain child care services for informal economy workers.

March 2018

  1. Publication

    Summary report - Advancing cooperation among women workers in the informal economy: The SEWA way

    28 March 2018

    This is a summary of the report “Advancing cooperation among women workers in the informal economy: The SEWA way” which aims to provide an understanding of the challenges and opportunities for cooperatives and other SSE enterprises in empowering women workers in the informal economy with a specific focus on the experience of Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA).

March 2016

  1. Social Protection Policy Paper. Paper 16

    Social protection for domestic workers: Key policy trends and statistics

    10 March 2016

    This policy paper: (i) provides an overview of the global situation of social security provisions for domestic workers in 163 countries; (ii) analyses trends, policies and gaps in terms of legal and effective social security coverage for domestic workers; (iii) describes and analyses the configuration of social security schemes for domestic workers, such as their institutional organization, financing and administration; (iv) informs on challenges to extending coverage; and (v) provides a compilation and description of international practices of social security schemes for the domestic work sector, including comparative information.

November 2015

  1. Extension of Social Security - Working Paper - ESS 51

    Realising the Right to Social Security and the Right to Food. The contribution of national social protection floors towards food security and the realisation of the right to adequate food for all

    30 November 2015

    This paper identifies conceptual synergies and dissonances between food security and income security.

September 2015

  1. ESS Paper Series (SECSOC) - ESS 50

    Long-term care (LTC) protection for older persons: A review of coverage deficits in 46 countries

    24 September 2015

    Due to the global demographic ageing, all countries are challenged by growing longterm care (LTC) needs for older persons. However, these needs are largely ignored and range very low on the policy agendas of most countries. This paper has developed global estimates on LTC protection of persons aged 65 and over.

December 2014

  1. Social Protection Policy Paper. Paper 14

    Social protection for children: Key policy trends and statistics

    08 December 2014

    This policy paper: (i) provides a global overview of the organization of child and family benefits in 183 countries; (ii) presents the negative impacts of fiscal consolidation and adjustment measures in a number of higher income economies; (iii) analyses trends and recent policies, e.g. extension of child and family benefit coverage in a large number of low- and middle-income countries; (iv) presents the costs of basic universal child and orphan benefits in 57 low and lower middle income countries; and (v) calls for the expansion of social protection for children and families in pursuit of crisis recovery, inclusive development and social justice.

  2. Social Protection Policy Paper. Paper 13

    Addressing the Global Health Crisis: Universal Health Protection Policies

    08 December 2014

    This policy paper (i) examines the dimensions of the global health crisis based on severe deficits in health protection and limited access to needed health care; (ii) presents the extent of the health crisis at global, regional and national level as well as rural/urban divergences within countries and their root causes; (iii) suggests policy options to address the health protection crisis using the framework of national social protection floors by focusing on inclusive legislation and adequate financing as well as making quality services available and providing financial protection; (iv) concludes that progressing towards universal health protection is possible by developing a three step approach that yields highest rates of returns in terms of sustainability, economic growth and equity. The Annexes present global data on total health expenditure, health coverage and skilled health workers for 171 countries.

June 2014

  1. Publication

    Reaffirming and promoting rights during transition: development results 2012-2013

    30 June 2014

    By looking at a narrow set of indicators, such as the rate of privatization, trade openness, debt, inflation and foreign direct investment, most analysts had concluded that Arab countries were on the right track economically in the lead up to the Arab uprisings.

January 2011

  1. Publication

    HIV and AIDS related employment discrimination in China

    14 January 2011

    This report reviews the current state of HIV and AIDS workplace discrimination in China and summarizes a broad body of existing research as well as reviews new research conducted by the ILO and Maries Stopes International. The findings point to a trend of increasing discrimination against workers that contradicts both national policies and international standards. This body of work highlights numerous cases of employment discrimination in several key practices and puts forward a set of recommendations aimed at improving the situation.