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International Labour Organization
Direct Link to ILO Document:
Global Employment Trends for Women 2007
ILO Study Warns on the Feminization of Working Poverty
Wednesday 7 March 2007 (ILO/07/06)
GENEVA (ILO News) - More women then ever before are in work,
but a persistent gap in status, job security, wages and education between women
and men is contributing to the "feminization of working poverty", according to a
new report by the International Labour Office (ILO) issued for International
Women's Day.
According to "Global Employment Trends for Women Brief
- 2007" (Note 1),
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 millions), stuck in
low productivity jobs in agriculture and services or receiving less money for
doing the same jobs as men. In addition, the ILO also said 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 also 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.
The
step from unpaid contributing family worker or low-paid own-account worker to
wage and salaried employment is a major step toward freedom and
self-determination for many women, the ILO said. However, in the poorest regions
of the world the share of female contributing family workers in total employment
is still much higher than men's, with women less likely to be wage and salaried
workers.
In sub-Saharan Africa as well as in South East Asia, four out
of 10 working women are classified as contributing family workers compared with
two out of 10 men. In South Asia, six out of 10 working women are classified as
contributing family workers, but again only two out of 10 working men have this
status. In the Middle East and North Africa, the proportions are three out of 10
women and one out of 10 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 ILO estimates, 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 rate was at 6.1 per cent.
Employment-to-population ratios - which indicate how much economies take
advantage of the productive potential of their working-age population - are much
lower for women than for men in the world as a whole: Merely half of working-age
women over the age of 15 actually work, whereas more than seven in 10 men do.
Gender imbalance in employment-to-population rates is most notable in
the Middle East and North Africa, where only slightly more than two out of every
10 working-age women work, compared to almost seven out of 10 men.
The
report notes that the gap between female and male employment-to-population
ratios decreased in all regions over the past decade, except in East Asia where
it widened and in sub-Saharan Africa where it remained unchanged.
The
report also cites evidence that wage gaps persist. Throughout most regions and
many occupations women earn less money for the same job. But there is also some
evidence that globalization can help close the wage gap for some occupations.
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. Even in "typically female" occupations such as nursing and teaching,
gender wage equality is lacking.
Last but not least, even though young
women are more likely to be able to read and write than 10 years ago, 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. Preventing girls from finishing even
basic education burdens their chances to determine their own future, underlines
the study.
The findings of this year's Global Employment Trends for
Women are only partly encouraging. Gender gaps are closing but at slow pace. 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".
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