GLOBAL TEST
Access to labour markets and to decent and productive employment is crucial in the process of creating greater equality between men and women, says the report. The study observed that the most successful region in terms of economic growth over the last decade, East Asia, is also the region with the highest employment-to-population ratio for women (65.2 per cent), low unemployment rates for both women and men and relatively small gender gaps in sectoral as well as status distribution.
Overall, the report found that policies to enhance women’s chances to participate equally in labour markets are starting to pay off, but the slow pace of change means that disparities are still significant. Most regions have still a long way to go in full economic integration of women and realizing their unused potential for economic development.
Broadening access for women to employment in an enlarged scope of industries and occupations will be important to enhancing opportunities for them in the labour market, says the report. Society’s ability to accept new economic roles for women and the economy’s ability to create decent jobs to accommodate them are the key prerequisites to improving labour market outcomes for women, as well as for economic development on the whole.
“Access to labour markets and to decent employment is crucial to achieving gender equality”, says Evy Messell, Director of the ILO’s Bureau for Gender Equality, which will host a discussion by women who have made a mark in the world of finance and eminent trade unionists on International Women’s Day, focusing on the value of investment in women’s development. “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.”