International Labour Organization’s Post

Besides unpaid work, what does vulnerable employment look like?⬇️ ⏰Shorter hours – While part-time work represents a family-friendly working arrangement, for many workers, it is involuntary. Women, especially mothers, in paid jobs are more likely to work fewer hours than men, but usually not by choice and due to care responsibilities. Across the globe, women constitute 45% of underutilized labour, which takes into consideration time-related underemployment and the potential labour force. 👨🌾👩🌾Contributing family workers – Women are more than twice as likely to be contributing family workers (i.e. self-employed in a business owned or operated by a relative) than men. Such workers are likely to be poorly paid (if at all) and living in poverty, with no employment contract and little access to social protection. This gap is even more pronounced in low-income countries. 🤰Maternity coverage - While over two-thirds of potential mothers live in countries where maternity leave cash benefits are funded through social protection, effective coverage remains low. In 2020, only 44.9 per cent of women giving birth worldwide received maternity leave cash benefits. This lack of coverage has a major impact on women’s and children’s health outcomes and can push them into poverty. 👨👧👦Paternity leave – When fathers take paternity leave, they increase their long-term involvement in unpaid care work, in turn promoting greater participation of mothers in employment. There are also indications that children have better development outcomes, as they benefit from interaction and stimulation from both parents rather than just one. Despite this, the average duration of paternity leave is 9 days, compared to 18 weeks for maternity leave. This surmounts to a global “gender leave gap” of 16.7 weeks, stunting the more equal sharing of family responsibilities between mothers and fathers. 🛡️Social protection access - Women often do not have access to social protection. When they do, their entitlements are lower, due to low pay, shorter contribution periods and higher incidences of informal work. This problem is particularly acute when it comes to pensions: on average, the proportion of women above retirement age receiving a pension is 12.4 percentage points lower than that of men. Let’s work together to close the gender gaps in the labour force.

Chijioke J. Evoh

Consultant (Contract) - Sustainable Livelihood Expert at UNDP, & Employment Growth at ILO

2w

Cultures and norms in different societies have equally enabled heavy and unequal responsibility against women in the form of unpaid care work. This is another dimension of gender gap.

James Banda Kamtantho

Science graduate- in environmental science and education

1w

This may not be true in some areas. Men do more work than women. In fact most women before marriage in rural areas of malawi for example earn nothing to the extent that a good opt in getting married with men who are able to earn alittle something per month. What I am trying to say is that if that was true many women who are not married would have had earnings than men. That may be true in some communities but not all.

Like
Reply
Devi Sunny

Author & Mentor for Inclusive Careers

2w

Balancing family responsibilities and career growth, navigating a competitive workplace, and dealing with mid-life psychological changes—all these challenges significantly impact women's professional lives. In this context, how is equity being applied to ensure women receive the support they need to thrive personally and professionally? Thanks for highlighting the gap.

Like
Reply
Farha Naz

Gender and Human Development

1w

Society is gender differentiated. Access to resources of men and women in society determined by gender-differentiated social position and political process. Therefore when "authority comes it is for Men and when responsibilities come it is definitely for Women.

Like
Reply
See more comments

To view or add a comment, sign in

Explore topics