On the occasion of International Women’s day the United Nations International Labor Organization has released a report showing new labour market trend with more women in workforce through out the world but at the same time it indicates a rise in female unemployment.
The report entitled “Global employment trends for women-March 2008” released by International Labour Organisation (ILO) puts the number of employed women at 1.2 billion in 2007; a growth of 200 million over last decade as compared to the male counterpart which stands at 1.8 billion. But the report also gave a staggering data in which unemployment in women reached to 81.6 million from 70.2 million during the same period.
The report throwing light on various conditions pertaining to women workforce said that though more women are working than ever before but they are also more likely to get low productivity, low –paid vulnerable jobs with no social protection or basic rights.
Juan Somavia, ILO Director said, “Women continue to enter the world’s workforce in great numbers. This progress must not obscure the glaring inequities that still exist in workplaces throughout the world.”
“The workplace and the world of work are at the centre of global solutions to address gender equality and the advancement of women in society. By promoting decent work for women, we are empowering societies and advancing the cause of economic and social development for all,” he added.
The report indicated a major fact that even if there is an improvement in the status of women in the workplace but the burden of vulnerability is still greater for women than men.
The other findings were the unemployment rate of women, which stood at 6.4 percent as compared to male rate at 5.7 worldwide also the report, showed that less than 70 women are economically active for every 100 men globally. Accordingly the female employment to population ratio was 49.1 percent in 2007 against men with 74.3 percent. The employment to population ratio is an indication of taking advantage of productive potential of the working age.
The service sector was the main employer of women with 46.3 percent in women as compared to 36.1 in agriculture while men shares 40.4 and 34.0 in services and agriculture respectively.
However the gender equality remains the major concern and the reports explore several ways to minimize or equalize this gap. According to the report wage or salaried work can be the major step towards realizing freedom and self determination in women. Also accessibility to labour markets and to decent and productive employment is vital for creating equality between men and women.
On the whole the report also underlined the role of society to accept new economic role for women and necessity to include them for the development of economy as a whole.
Evy Messell, Director of the ILO’s Bureau for Gender Equality emphasizing on the gender equality said, “Yet women have to overcome many discriminatory obstacles when seeking jobs. Societies cannot afford to ignore the potential of female labour in reducing poverty, and need to search for innovative ways of lowering economic, social and political barriers. Providing women an equal footing in the workplace is not just right, but smart.”
This report will help countries to accelerate its effort to make women participate in the development of economy through various policies to create decent and productive employment for women.
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