Inequality, I’m writing your name… Two days before International Women’s Rights Day, the UN warned about women’s access to work and the gap in working conditions and pay, which is narrowing very slowly.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) has developed a new indicator which makes it possible to better detect unemployed people wishing to work. “It paints a much darker picture of the situation of women in the world of work than the more commonly used unemployment rate,” the UN agency said in a statement.
“The new data shows that women still have a much harder time finding a job than men,” says the ILO, adding that according to its new data, 15% of working-age women worldwide would like to work but don’t. do not have a job, compared to 10.5% of men.
“This gender gap has remained virtually unchanged for two decades,” insists the agency. The ILO found that the jobs gap was particularly severe in low-income countries, where almost a quarter of women could not find a job. For men, the corresponding rate was less than 17%.
Vulnerable jobs and pay gaps
Access to employment is not the only problem. The ILO has pointed out that women tend to be overrepresented in certain types of vulnerable employment. “This vulnerability, coupled with lower employment rates, weighs on women’s earnings,” the ILO said.
“Globally, for every dollar of labor income that men earn, women earn only 51 cents. The pay gap varies significantly from region to region. “This striking income disparity is due both to women’s lower level of employment, as well as their lower average wages when employed,” according to the ILO.