Women still face pay and job discrimination in the global workplace - UN

Women still face pay and job discrimination in the global workplace - UN

5 March 2004 – Women are entering the global labour force in record numbers 
but they still face higher unemployment rates and lower wages, and success in 
crashing through the “glass ceiling” to top managerial jobs remains "slow, 
uneven and sometimes discouraging," the United Nations labour agency reported 
today. 

Women represent 60 per cent of the world's 550 million working poor, 
according to a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) 
prepared for International Women's Day, marked on 8 March. A separate updated 
analysis deals with trends in the efforts of women to break through the 
symbolic glass-ceiling barrier. 

“These two reports provide a stark picture of the status of women in the 
world of work today," Juan Somavia, Director-General of the Geneva-based ILO, 
said. "Women must have an equal chance of reaching the top of the jobs 
ladder.” 

Mr. Somavia warned that unless progress is made in taking women out of 
poverty by creating “productive and decent employment,” the Millennium 
Development Goals (MDGs) of halving poverty by 2015 will remain out of reach 
in most parts of the world. 

Last year, some 1.1 billion of the world's 2.8 billion workers, or 40 per 
cent, were women, representing an increase of nearly 200 million in the past 
10 years, according to Global Employment Trends for Women 2004. But the 
explosive growth has not been accompanied by true economic empowerment for 
women, the report says. Nor has it led to equal pay for work of equal value 
or balanced benefits. 

"In short, true equality in the world of work is still out of reach," the ILO 
states. 

While the gap in numbers has been closing in all regions since 1993, the rate 
has varied widely. In the transition economies and East Asia, the number of 
women working for pay per 100 men is 91 and 83 respectively, but in other 
regions such as the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, only 40 women 
per 100 men are economically active. 

Of the world's 550 million working poor, those unable to lift themselves and 
their families above the $1 per day threshold, 330 million, or 60 per cent, 
are women, the report says. Adding the 77.8 million women who are unemployed 
means that at least 400 million decent jobs would be needed to provide poor 
women with a way out of poverty. 

As for job quality, the overall employment situation for women has not 
evolved significantly since 2001, according to Breaking through the glass 
ceiling: Women in management - Update 2004, which shows that women's share of 
managerial positions in some 60 countries ranges between 20 and 40 per cent. 


SOURCE: United Nations