Changing times and the increasing global economic integration have brought about widespread changes in the way that people learn, work and communicate. Higher technological diffusion has led to greater access to information, which has in turn lifted some major constraints to gender equality in the developing world, according to WDR 2012: Gender Equality and Development, a report prepared by the World Bank. The report, which focuses heavily on analysing key dimensions of gender inequality across the globe presents a detailed analysis on gender differences in labour market participation and the picture it paints for developing countries presents both immense opportunities and tough challenges for the future. On the one hand, rapidly closing the access gap, female participation in labour forces is on the rise amongst the majority of the developing countries in the world with greater trade openness and economic development translating into stronger market incentives for womens participation in the labour force. According to data presented by the report, while female labour force participation at 26 percent is at its lowest in the Middle East and North Africa; it remains consistently strong in developed regions including East Asia and the Pacific at 64 percent; whereas Sub-Saharan Africa stands out of the crowd with FLFP (female labour force participation) as high as 61 percent. Countries such as Bangladesh and Pakistan have also seen a significant rise in female participation as a result of exponential growth of export-oriented sectors such as small scale and garment manufacturing, which employs a major portion of the two countries female labour force. However, the gender participation gap remains significant with FLFP in South Asia averaging around 35 percent. These statistics, however, present just one side of the story. An exclusive focus on statistics for female labour force participation only provides a partial view into the true dynamics of the labour market which is mired in gender differences that cloak the nature of the work where a large portion of these women engaged in. In reality, despite the significant progress in FLFP over the last quarter of a century, widespread and persistent gender segregation in nature of work, productivity and wages is evident across all developing countries of the world, with a majority of working women apparently caught in a "productivity trap". For instance, women are more likely than men to work in flexible jobs that allow them to combine work with their care responsibilities. As a result of a high concentration of women working these low-paying jobs reinforce their specialisation in non-market work which traps them in low-paying, low-productivity jobs. Additionally, because education and experience are valuable factors contributing to productivity, gender segregation along these lines adds to differences in productivity and earnings between men and women. An overall increase in access to productive inputs including education and work experience is, therefore, necessary to help tackle this gap and improve both the participation and nature of work for women in the developing countries of the world.
Comments
Comments are closed.