U.N. Study Says Growing Number of Women Employed in Latin America

By Eric Green, Washington File

Study released for 2006 International Women's Day

A new study by the United Nations finds that an increasing number of women now hold jobs in Latin America's urban areas, rising from 39 percent of the total working population in 1990 to 44.7 percent in 2002.

The study was released by the U.N. International Labor Organization (ILO) to commemorate International Women's Day, which occurs each year on March 8. (See related article.)

The study attributes the boom in female participation in the labor market to better schooling, urban growth, declining fertility rates and new cultural patterns that favor the autonomy of women. A substantial increase in the number of female-headed households, which ranges from 19 percent to 31 percent of total households depending on the country in Latin America, also has played a role.

But the study, Women's Labor Force Participation Rates in Latin America, showed mixed results for women in access to quality jobs, unemployment compensation, remuneration and social protection. The study said domestic service represents 15.5 percent of the total female employment in Latin America.

Maria Elena Valenzuela, co-author of the study, said one of the reasons so many women are employed in domestic service in Latin America is that many women from medium- and high-income households have entered the labor market. In other words, many poor women "can only find paid employment by working for the better-off," she said.

At the 2004 Special Summit of the Americas, held in Monterrey, Mexico, President Bush and the 33 other democratically elected leaders of the region reiterated their commitment to promoting gender equality in the Western Hemisphere. In a declaration released following the summit, the leaders said that the "full and equal participation" of women in society is "fundamental for the reduction of poverty, the promotion of economic and social prosperity, and for people-centered sustainable development."

The full text of the Monterrey Declaration is available on the Free Trade Area of the Americas Web site. (See also related article.)

Unemployment Still High

The ILO study found that unemployment in Latin America is higher among women than for men. In 2004, some 9.4 million women from urban areas were unemployed - 6.8 million more than in 1990. Although unemployment negatively affected both sexes, the increase was far greater in the female labor force.

About half of the women employed in Latin America in 2003 were in the "informal" jobs sector, which usually means the jobs pay little and job security is poor, as opposed to the formal economy where there is better pay, job security and benefits. The ILO study said gender inequality is compounded by discrimination on ethnic grounds, meaning large numbers of women from indigenous groups and of African origin face disadvantages and various forms of exclusion from the labor market.

In Brazil, for example, 71 percent of black women work in the informal sector, a bigger proportion than black men (65 percent), white women (61 percent) and white men (48 percent). In Guatemala, only 10.6 percent of indigenous people with some form of employment worked in the formal economy compared to 31.8 percent of nonindigenous workers.

"Women have the worst jobs in the informal sector. They are engaged in low-productivity businesses operating at the survival level," according to the ILO's Valenzuela.

Income differences between men and women are particularly evident in the informal sector where women earn only slightly more than half the income of men. But even in the formal economy, the monthly income of women has reached only 75 percent that of men, the study says. Income differences between the sexes in Latin America are higher than in any other region of the world, the study said.

The study also confirms that women are still at a disadvantage in social protection. Most women in Latin America over age 65 have no retirement or other kind of pension because they have spent their entire adult life in unpaid domestic and household work.

Valenzuela concluded that "an entirely new approach is needed to meet the major challenge of generating quality jobs" for women, "one that identifies the kind of employment opportunities that can benefit women - mainly in the services sector where most of the female labor force is to be found."

The study is part of the ILO's special issue on women's labor force production. More information about the study is available on the ILO's Web site.

See Also:
Despite Major Gains, Women Bear Disproportionate Share of Poverty Burden
Commission on Status of Women: Gender Permeates International Migration
Source: U.S. Department of State

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