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The
world of work
Women
continue to participate in labour markets on an unequal basis with men. In
2013, the male employment-to-population ratio stood at 72.2%, while the ratio
for females was 47.1 per cent.
Globally,
women are paid less than men. Women in most countries earn on average only 60
to 75% of mens wages. Contributing factors include the fact that women are
more likely to be wage workers and unpaid family workers; that women are more
likely to engage in low-productivity activities and to work in the informal
sector; and the view of women as economic dependents.
It
is calculated that women could increase their income globally by up to 76% if
the employment participation gap and the wage gap between women and men were
closed. This is calculated to have a global value of USD 17 trillion.
Women
bear disproportionate responsibility for unpaid care work. Women devote 1 to
3 hours more a day to housework than men; 2 to 10 times the amount of time a
day to care (for children, elderly, and the sick), and 1 to 4 hours less a
day to market activities.
Gender
inequalities in time use are still large and persistent in all countries.
When paid and unpaid work are combined, women in developing countries work
more than men, with less time for education, leisure, political participation
and self-care.
Women
are more likely than men to work in informal employment. In South Asia, over
80% of women in non-agricultural jobs are in informal employment, in
sub-Saharan Africa, 74%, and in Latin America and the Caribbean, 54%. In
rural areas, many women derive their livelihoods from small-scale farming,
almost always informal and often unpaid.
More
women than men work in vulnerable, low-paid, or undervalued jobs. As of 2013,
49.1% of the worlds working women were in vulnerable employment, often
unprotected by labour legislation, compared to 46.9% of men. Women were far
more likely than men to be in vulnerable employment in East Asia (50.3%
versus 42.3%), South-East Asia and the Pacific (63.1% versus 56%), South Asia
(80.9% versus 74.4%), North Africa (54.7% versus 30.2%), the Middle East
(33.2% versus 23.7%) and Sub-Saharan Africa (nearly 85.5% versus 70.5%).
Gender
differences in laws affect both developing and developed economies, and women
in all regions. Almost 90% of 143 economies studied have at least one legal
difference restricting womens economic opportunities. Of those, 79 economies
have laws that restrict the types of jobs that women can do. And husbands can
object to their wives working and prevent them from accepting jobs in 15
economies.
Womens
economic equality is good for business. Companies greatly benefit from
increasing leadership opportunities for women, which is shown to increase
organizational effectiveness. It is estimated that companies with three or
more women in senior management functions score higher in all dimensions of
organizational effectiveness.
Ethnicity
and gender interact to create especially large pay gaps for minority women.
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