WUNRN
Social Watch Gender Equity Index
2012 by Country - Includes Arab State Individual Countries
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ILO - International Labour
Organization
ARAB WOMEN & THE WORLD OF WORK -
ILO
Exclusion
from access to employment and social protection, limited representation and the
inability to voice their needs are some of the challenges that Arab women face
in the world of work.
Despite gains in education in recent years, Arab women have the lowest in
labour market participation rates globally. Only one in four Arab women is in
the labour force (26 per cent) compared to a world average of 51 per cent. The
Arab female youth unemployment rate is the highest in the world (37 per cent
regionally, 48 per cent Middle East, and 34 per cent for North Africa and also
the GCC).
The ILO Office for the Arab States supports tripartite constituents and civil
society to elaborate social and economic policies and to through a gender
perspective. A number of technical cooperation projects are active through the
region aimed at:
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ILO TOOLS AVAILABLE FOR GENDER
EQUALITY IN WORK IN ARAB COUNTRIES
06
December 2012
Training materials on gender equality and international
labour standards have been developed in Arabic. The materials are being
utilized in workshops at the Arab regional, sub-regional (Gulf and Levant), and
country levels (West Bank and Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Kuwait).
In addition to tripartite constituents, participants in the workshops have
included national women’s machineries, human rights and women’s rights
organizations and media institutions.
The methodology developed to promote pay equity includes
national situation assessments, policy briefs, policy awareness workshops, and
the formation of a national committee on pay equity with research, training,
advocacy, and legislative change components. The ILO’s Gender Neutral Job
Evaluation Guide has also been translated into Arabic. To date Jordan is the
only country in the region where the methodology has been initiated. A
sub-regional project has been drafted, and search for funding is underway. There
has been interest from Egypt and West Bank to be included in the sub-regional
initiative.
The methodology developed includes situation assessments and
institutional mapping, policy briefs, policy awareness workshops, formation of
national advisory committee, training of labour inspectors, advice on MoL
hotline development, development of standard unified contract (in 12
languages), information guide for domestic workers (in 12 languages),
frequently asked questions sheets, documentary films (Maid in Lebanon I and
II), inputs in the legislative process for drafting of decrees and law specific
to domestic workers. The main country of engagement has been Lebanon, although
research has been undertaken and engagements have been under way in a number of
other countries of the region including Yemen and Syria. An Arab trade union
workshop has been held in which participants issued a declaration in support of
decent work for domestic workers.
The methodology developed includes expert group meetings,
regional overviews of social protection and statistics, country-level studies,
policy briefs, policy awareness workshops, training, and dissemination in
research networks. The methodology has been initiated at the regional level and
is at different stages of progress in different countries, with more engagement
to date in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and Syria.
The methodology developed includes situation assessments,
survey of institutional stakeholders, policy briefs, user-producer dialogues,
and training on gender-responsive labour statistics. To date the methodology
has been initiated only in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, although there was
been engagement in other countries such as Lebanon, and collaboration at the
regional level with ESCWA.
A series of ILO WED tools have been translated, pilot-tested
and adapted to the regional context. These tools (including the Get Ahead
Gender and Entrepreneurship Together and the Women Entrepreneurship Development
Capacity Building Guide) have been used in Iraq, Yemen, West Bank and Gaza
Strip, Lebanon, Egypt and Sudan successfully. UNDP Libya and Syria have also
utilized the materials via ILO regional trainers.
The methodology developed includes situation assessments and
institutional mapping, policy briefs, policy round tables, technical committee
meetings for training material development, training sessions for cooperative
support institutions and women cooperative leaders. A number of ILO materials
have been utilized including the Business Group Formation Guide, MATCOM and
value chain analysis for the training. To date the methodology has been used in
Yemen as well as in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The methodology developed includes situation assessments and
institutional mapping, policy briefs, policy round tables, technical committee
meetings for training material development, training sessions for
administrators and trainers of TVET institutions, campaign materials for
parents, students and employers (TV spots, poster, documentary and brochures),
and action briefs. Materials are available for Yemen and are under development
for the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The
ILO methodology has been translated, pilot-tested and adapted to the Arab
regional context. Extensive work has been undertaken in Yemen as well as in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip, where gender audits of the tripartite constituents
have formulated recommendations for improving their gender-responsiveness.
There has been interest expressed for the application of the methodology from
GCC countries as well as Jordan.