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http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/documents/publication/wcms_212030.pdf - Type size larger for easier reading.

Asia-Pacific Labour Market Update

ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific | April 2013 　

Despite recent progress, women’s economic participation remains disproportionately low in many parts of the region. When women do find work, many end up in precarious and unstable jobs in agriculture and the informal sector, for example as street vendors and domestic workers. The uncertain economic environment only magnifies many of the employment challenges that women face and slows their progress in the workplace. In some countries, where young women have been able to find jobs in industries that make products for export such as garments, those jobs are particularly vulnerable in a volatile economic climate.

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Box 1: Releasing women’s potential
Realizing women’s full economic potential is essential for driving growth and achieving more inclusive and balanced development. However, throughout the Asia-Pacific region, women still face significant barriers (see Figure B1.1).
The gender gap in labour force participation is the highest in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, exceeding 45 percentage points. But in many countries in South-East Asia and the Pacific it also ranged from 25-40 percentage points. However, one positive development is that since 2005 the male-female gap has fallen in most economies, notably in Bangladesh (11.1 percentage points) and Cambodia (4.8 percentage points) where export-oriented garment industries have created new job opportunities. A concerning exception to this regional pattern is India where women’s participation decreased to 29 per cent, and the gender gap rose by 5.1 percentage points. A number of factors are behind this trend, including more young women attending school, declining employment opportunities for women and unequal access to the same occupations and industries as men.1	Figure B1.1: Male-female gap in labour force participation, 2005 and latest period (percentage points) Note: Ages 15+ except Cambodia and Malaysia (ages 15-64) and Sri Lanka (ages 10+). Source: National statistical offices; ILO: Key Indicators of the Labour Market (7th edition).
Improving women’s labour market prospects requires a fundamental change in social perceptions. Stronger anti-discrimination and anti-harassment legislation for workplaces is also needed. Other important measures include skills development, access to child care, maternity protection, access to safe transport, reducing earnings disparities between men and women and promoting growth that creates productive jobs.2
_________________________________ 1 S. Kapsos and A. Silberman: Understanding the recent decline in female labour force participation in India (New Delhi, ILO, forthcoming). 2 The gender pay gap throughout the region is considerable and as high as approximately 40 per cent in Nepal and Pakistan. Source: Authors’ estimates from ILO: Global Wage Database (2012).

Box 2: Women trapped in informality
A disproportionate number of women workers in the developing economies of Asia and the Pacific are found in agriculture, where productivity and earnings are low and informality is pervasive. The percentage of employed women in agriculture is 45.6 per cent, compared to only 38.5 per cent for men. In the South Asia sub-region, the gap is even greater, with the share of agricultural employment for women 24.1 percentage points higher than for men.1
Job-related informality is also prevalent for women working in the secondary and tertiary sectors. In six of eight countries with comparable data around 40-50 per cent of women with non-agricultural informal jobs were in the trade sector (see Figure B2.1). However, in India and Sri Lanka these women were primarily employed in manufacturing. In addition, with the exception of Pakistan, other service sectors (excluding trade and transportation) also accounted for a considerable share of women’s informal non-agricultural jobs, ranging from 30-47 per cent. One key service industry where informality is widespread among working women is the domestic household sector. Overall, 41 per cent of the world’s domestic workers are in Asia, equal to 17.5 million women and 4 million men.2 Despite their economic and social contributions, many lack legal protection and decent working conditions. The	Figure B2.1: Distribution of female informal employment in non-agriculture by economic sector (%) Note: Indonesia includes only Banten and Yogyakarta; Sri Lanka excludes the Northern Province; China covers six urban areas. Source: ILO: Statistical update on employment in the informal economy (Geneva, June 2012).
Philippines has taken a significant step towards tackling this issue by ratifying the ILO’s Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189). The convention provides an essential floor of rights – including decent hours, the right to collective action and to a minimum wage and legal protection from harm or abuse.
_________________________________ 1 ILO: Key Indicators of the Labour Market (7th edition), table R4. 2 ILO: Domestic workers across the world: Global and regional statistics and the extent of legal protection (Geneva, 2013).