Gender Equality Labour Market Indicators ILO ROAS

Gender Equality & Labour Market Indicators ILO ROAS Presentation Simel Esim Inter-agency & Expert Group Meeting On Gender & MDGs in the Arab Region 10 -11 September, 2007 Cairo, Egypt

Outline n n n Women and Employment Trends in Arab States: Brief Overview and Reasons Additional indicators needed for MDG 3 Case for Old Data, New Definitions: Where are Women in Informal Economies of Arab States? Moving forward on Data Issues: Few reflections Compliance to Core International Labour Standards by Arab States: MDG Indicators for the Labour Market from a Gender Equality and Rights Perspective

OVERVIEW Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Indicators in the Labour Market for Arab States

Women’s LFPRs in Arab States are lowest of all regions.

Women’s LFPRs in Arab States

Women’s LFPRs in Arab States n n Working women have a higher share of agricultural employment as contributing family workers (unpaid) There is a rigid gender based occupational segregation in the LM (women working as teachers, nurses, social workers, community, social and personal services) – traditional, low paid Public sector jobs (safeguards for women in most of the region) are shrinking with public sector cuts & privatization, & private sector absorption of women is much lower than public sector The unemployment rates for women, young educated women are on the rise

Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment in LM n n n Labour markets are not gender neutral anywhere Women and men engage, participate and benefit from labour markets differently from each other on account of gender inequalities Gender equality in the LM is about women and men having the same opportunities in three domains: n n n LM relevant capabilities (skills, knowledge, networks) Access to productive resources and LM opportunities Agency (ability to influence & contribute to LM outcomes)

Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment in Arab LMs n n n Women have more limited access to LM relevant capabilities (skills, knowledge, networks) than men in Arab States Women in Arab States also have less access to productive resources (land, capital, livestock) than men ( Women face mobility constraints in communities (social norms, crisis/conflict, resurgence of religious extremism) Early marriage & child bearing/rearing continue to inhibit women’s integration into the LM across the life cycle Women are underrepresented in the formal LM & over represented in the informal economy, unpaid family work, part time/low wage work, unemployed & inactive

Constraints Posed by Labour Market Governance Rules and Institutions n The labour market governance rules, regulations and institutions: n n Were established when women’s LFP was low, and women were considered as dependants Were based on a traditional male breadwinner household model with women in unpaid care work as part of a family Showed direct concern for women in social policy and programs through maternity benefits and/or MCH care Few took into account the multiple roles of working woman recognizing care needs and constraints (i. e. child care, elderly care, care for the sick and the disabled)

ARAB STATES Current and Expanded Indicators for the Labour Market Using a Gender Equality and Workers’ Rights Perspective

MDG Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality & Empower Women Target 4: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015 Indicator 9. Ratio of Girls to Boys in Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Education (UNESCO) Indicator 10. Ratio of Literate Women to Men 15 -24 years old (UNESCO) Indicator 11. Share of Women in Wage Employment in the Non-Agricultural Sector (ILO) Indicator 12. Proportion of Seats Held by Women in National Parliaments (IPU)

Addition to Indicator 9 for Arab States (Girls/Boys in Education) n n Ratio can be misleading due to decline in GERs for boys (hh poverty sending children to work) Need to add: Drop out rates for girls & boys in primary and secondary education Due to duality in skills base for LM (no skill, high theoretical skills), need more TVET Therefore need to add: Enrollment in TVET centers for boys and girls

Addition to Indicator 10 for Arab States (Illiteracy Ratio) n n n The ratio of literate women to men (15 -24 years old) is important especially in extended crisis/conflict contexts like Palestine and Iraq) Overall, illiteracy is more a pressing issue for older generations of women (45 and above) especially in rural areas with little access to education in the region. Therefore, we need to add: Ratio of illiterate women to men (45 and above) for rural populations

Addition to Indicators 9 & 10 for Arab States (Technical Skills) n There is a dual bulge in the skills base of the labour force, especially among youth in Arab States: n n n When in TVET, girls are concentrating in traditional skills Therefore, we need to add: n n n With the low skilled/unskilled on the one hand, and Highly educated, with theoretical information, but no technical know-how on the other There is a huge gap in technical and vocational skills which are high in demand from the labour market TVET enrollment rates for boys and girls TVET enrollment rates for girls in non-traditional skills Need to make the resource allocations (human, budget, institutional) to ensure achieving targets

Addition to Indicator 11 for Arab States (Occupational Segregation) n Share of women in wage employment in the nonagricultural sector important, but does not capture gender based occupational segregation in the labour markets of Arab States where women are concentrated in: n n n lower ranks (secretarial, clerical) without opportunities for promotion and professional growth (vertical segregation) in occupations associated with women’s traditional care giving roles (teachers, nurses, social workers, etc. ) that are seriously underpaid (horizontal segregation) Therefore we need to add: n n % of women in senior decision making positions in public and private sector establishments (vertical) % women in industry and technical fields, i. e. engineering, sciences, IT (horizontal)

Add to Indicator 12 for Arab States (Women Leaders in COCIs & TUs) n n Proportion of Seats Held by Women in National Parliaments is necessary, it is insufficient Therefore, we need to add: n n n % women in senior decision making positions in local government % women in labour market governance institutions (chambers of commerce & industry & trade unions) Need to make the resource allocations (human, budget, institutional) to ensure achieving these targets

Challenge of achieving targets for 9 & 10 vs. 11 & 12 in Arab States n n n While gender parity in education and literacy rates may seem within reach for indicators 9 and 10 They are far from achievable for indicators 11 (women in wage employment in the nonagricultural sector) and 12 (% Seats Held by Women in National Parliaments) by 2015 Unless there is serious ‘political will’ and advocacy to put in place policy measures, training, awareness raising and resource allocations (human, budget, institutional) to achieve them

MENA=green Key Gender Equality Indicators, 2000 Developing regions Female life expectancy 100 =yellow %Seats Held by Women in Parliament Reducing Fertility Rate Ratio of girls to boys in primary and secondary education Ratio of Women to Men in Non Agricultural Wage Employment GDP Per Capita $

Need to Lower Women’s Unemployment Rates in Arab States n n Globally, more women than ever before are unemployed: rate of women’s unemployment (6. 6 %) higher than that of men (6. 1 %) In Arab States, in 2006, women’s unemployment rate (17%) was 6. 6% higher than men’s (10. 4 %) Therefore we need an indicator on: Unemployment rates for Arab women (decline of 5% by 2015) Serious implications for macroeconomic policies (employment intensive growth, investments, etc. ) and training of women in technical fields where there is LM demand Source: Global Employment Trends for Women, ILO KILM, 2007.

Women’s Unemployment in Arab States Women and Unemployment in Arab States Even if not all women of working age may want to work, the fact that there is high unemployment for women in Arab States shows they want to work, but are unable to find work

Need to Lower Young Women’s Unemployment Rates in Arab States n n Youth unemployment rates (aged 15 to 24 years), for both, four times higher than adult unemployment rates in Arab States Difficulty of finding work is even higher for young women with their unemployment at 32% compared to 23% for young men Majority of unemployed young women are likely to be well educated (more so than the young men who are unemployed) Therefore we need to add indicators on: n n Unemployment rates for young women Unemployment rates for educated young women Source: Global Employment Trends for Women, ILO KILM, 2007.

Young Women’s Unemployment in Arab States Young Women (15 -24) and Unemployment in Arab States

Gender Difference in Employment- to-Population Ratios in Arab States n n Employment to-population ratios show efficiently economies make use of the productive potential of their working-age population. In most regions, employment to population ratios are 20 -30 points smaller for women than men The gender difference is highest in South Asia and Arab States, (around 40 points gap both) & increasing in the last decade n n n Female employment to population ratio 20. 4% (1996) and 24. 5 (2006) Men’s employment to population ratio 68. 3% (1996) and 69. 3% (2006) Therefore we need to add and indicator to track the change in the employment to population ratios for women and men in the region and lower the gender gap by increasing women’s employment-to-population ratio Source: Global Employment Trends for Women, ILO KILM, 2007.

Where are Women in the Informal Economies of Arab States?

Gender Equality and Workers’ Rights in the Informal Economies of Arab States n n n Joint ILO/CAWTAR regional initiative (focusing on statistics and social protection) Research (regional, country), training, policy advocacy and organizing in the informal economy Regional and 5 country research done, 2 more country case studies under way Training program for statisticians and socials security experts on workers in informal economy Policy advocacy for updating and improving IE statistics, protection and coverage for IE workers & their families Initiative with TUs to organize workers in IE

Old & New Definitions: Informal Sector & Informal Employment Individuals/Jobs Informal Economic units / Enterprises Formal Informal sector (1) (2) Formal (3) Formal sector (4) The two cells in grey cover the ‘informal sector’ while the two cells in double line cover ‘informal employment’. Cell (2) means that in the informal sector, some individuals may have a formal job (it may happen where the criteria of nonregistration of the unit or of the employees is not used in the definition). Such a category is assumed to be small. But the new and un-investigated group of workers are in cell (3), which represents informal jobs outside the informal sector and in the formal sector (mainly in private, but also in public). This category is large around the world and is shown to be growing. We do not have these indicators for Arab States.

Workers in the Expanded Definition of Informal Economy Informal self-employment includes: n n n employers in informal enterprises own account workers in informal enterprises unpaid family workers in informal and formal enterprises members of in formal producers’ cooperatives Informal wage employment includes n n employees without formal contracts, worker benefits or social protection employed by formal or informal enterprises or as paid domestic workers by households

Stylized Facts from Other Regions on Women’s Employment in IE n n Women are disproportionately represented in informal employment compared to men In many countries, agricultural employment accounts for larger share of men’s total empl. than women’s Employment as own-account workers is often a significant source of work for women Employed women are often far less likely to work as wage employees – particularly in formal, private employment – than are men

Gender Equality and Workers’ Rights in the Informal Economies of Arab States Living conditions survey Surveys on informal sector or microenterprises Establishment census or Economic census Micro and small enterprise survey ERF 2002 -2003 2001 -02 Population census Labour force survey Morocco 1994, 2004 Annual, 2004 Algeria 1987, 1998 1994, 2004 Annual, 2001 National survey on economic activities ENAE, 1997, 2002 1986, 1996 Annual, 1998, 2006 Micro and small enterprise survey ERF 2003 -2004 1997, 2007 Quarterly, 19952007 Work conditions survey 2004 Statistics on social protection Annual, 2005 Tunisia Other enterprise survey Egypt Palestine Yemen 2004 2003 Informal sector survey 2003 2004 Lebanon Expend. & consumptio n survey 2004 -2007 Micro and small enterprise survey ERF 2005 Small and smaller establishments survey 2000 19702000 1986, 1996 2004 Wage structure survey 2007

Definitions of Informal Economy from the Recent Research in the Region Countries Informal employment Informal sector Egypt Occupied population without social protection (selfdeclaration) Private enterprises with less than 5 workers Lebanon Occupied population without social protection (selfdeclaration) Enterprises with less than 5 employees Palestine Own-account workers (without professionals) + contributing family workers + irregular paid employees (wage per day or per week) + workers in Israel (informal) Note: paid employees in the private sector can also be discriminated according to be benefit of paid vacations or the security of job (or paid sick leave) (self-declaration) Enterprises with less than 5 employees Tunisia Occupied population not employed in formal sector enterprises (until 2002); occupied population not recorded in social security registers (2004) Individual micro-enterprises with less than 6 paid employees and without a complete set of accounts Yemen Own-account workers + contributing family workers + employers with less than 5 workers + unprotected workers in enterprises with 5 workers and + (self-declaration) Own-account workers + contributing family workers + employers with less than 5 workers + workers in enterprises with less than 5 workers

Harmonized Data on Informal Economy from Arab Region Countries Industries Trade Services Total Egypt (2006) 9. 8 23. 1 21. 2 17. 1 Lebanon (2004) 9. 3 27. 9 32. 6 40. 0 Tunisia (2004) 27. 6 32. 2 53. 4 39. 8 Yemen (2004) 8. 5 2. 2 5. 9 4. 2 Middle East North Africa 13. 8 21. 4 28. 3 25. 3 Sub-Saharan Africa 35. 2 56. 7 35. 9 51. 0 Asia 28. 7 47. 3 40. 2 38. 8 Latin America 28. 4 51. 0 44. 6 46. 0 Palestine (2004)

Distribution of women & men’s tot. employment (inc. IE in Arab States)

Women’s & men’s employment by category of employment in Palestine Source: Hilal, Kafri, and Kuttab, 2007. Note: Own-account workers in professional occupations are classified as formal. Other ownaccount workers are classified as informal.

Data Conclusions n n Fill in data gaps, gather and analyze (i. e. wage data) Mine and use existing data to shed light on issues where facts from other regions were used as a given, i. e. IE Standardize definitions of informal employment and change the existing LFSs so they better capture all dimensions of employment Review existing data for underestimation. For instance: n n home based subcontracting work home based economic activities for market purposes (especially rural households)

Compliance to Core International Labour Standards by Arab States MDG Indicators for the Labour Market from a Gender Equality and Workers’ Rights Perspective

Gender Equality & Worker’ Rights Framework of the ILO n n n Addresses the similarities and differences in the LM experiences of women and men Identifies specific groups of workers being marginalized, discriminated against and abused, and develops responses Uses international labour standards as a tool for regulation and monitoring

International Labour Standards n n n International conventions & recommendations that represent an international consensus on minimum standards for basic labour rights to regulate conditions of work Constitute binding legal obligations in international & national laws when ratified by Members States Member states have to provide regular, periodic reporting on measures taken to comply with the provisions of a given convention

Core International Labour Standards, ILO (1998) n n n An expression of commitment by governments, employers' and workers' organizations to uphold basic human values Whether they have ratified them or not, ILO Member States have an obligation to respect these principles The Declaration covers four areas with eight core conventions (two per area)

Core International Labour Standards & Arab States Year (# Convention) Year Field Arab States (# Countries) Arab States KU/SY/YE (141) 1948 (C. 87) Freedom of Association & Protection of Right to IR/JO/LEB/SY/YE(152) Organize 1949 (C. 98) Right to Organize & Collective IR/JO/LEB/SA/SY/UAE/ Bargaining YE (159) BA/IR/JOR/KU/LE/QA/ 1951 (C. 100) Equal Remuneration 1958 (C. 111) Discrimination (Employment SA/SY/UAE/YE (156) BA/IR/JOR/KU/LE/QA/ & Occupation) SA/SY/UAE/YE/OM(161) 1930 (C. 29) Forced Labour 1957 (C. 105) Abolition of Forced Labour 1973 (C. 138) Minimum Age 1999 (C. 182) Worst Forms of Child Labour No Arab States (158) IR/JO/KU/SY/UAE/YE (117) BA/IR/JOR/KU/LE/QA/ SA/SY/UAE/YE/OM(129)

ILO Key Gender Equality Conventions in Arab Region Convention on Gender Equality Ratification Status Equal Remuneration, 1951, No. 100 163 countries ratified it. Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman have not. Discrimination (Employment & 165 countries have ratified it. Of Occupation), 1958, No. 111 Arab Countries only Oman has not signed it. Workers with Family Responsibilities, 1981 (No. 156) It has only been signed by Yemen among Arab Countries. Maternity Protection, 2000 (No. It has not been ratified by any of the 183) countries in the region.

ILO’s Indicators on Gender Equality Conventions n n n Ratification of the four key conventions for gender equality (111, 100, 156 and 183) Positive changes in policies, legislation, programmes and institutions Measurable progress in the representation of women in decision-making

Domestic work becomes forced labour when: n n n n Worker is forced to stay in the job against her will Worker is physically confined (locking in the house) Worker’s identity papers are withheld, taken away Debt bondage (i. e. employment agencies charge labour migration costs to worker who has to work without pay) Non-payment of wages to worker Worker is threatened with denunciation or deportation Worker faces physical or sexual abuse

ILO Women Migrant Domestic Workers’ Surveys Bahrain, Lebanon, Kuwait, U. A. E. & Costa Rica Lebanon Costa Rica Kuwait Bahrain U. A. E. (2001) (2002) Average working hours/week 102 72 101 108 105 Overtime paid none n. a. none Average days off/month 1 4 to 6 1. 1 2 0 Health fees, social security n. a. 29. 5% 57% n. a. Above 5 hh residents/worker n. a. 50% 41% n. a. Physical, verbal, sexual abuse, % of total 37% 14% 51% 47% 50% Wages/month (US$) 100 -300 150 -200 Non-payment of wages 19% 0% n. a. 20. 5% n. a. Domestic workers interviewed 78 54 301 34 51 % women of total interviewed 100% 69% 100% Freedom of movement control no control Coverage by Labour Law no yes, but* no no no Withholding of passport common inexistent common all times

Resolution on Conditions of Work for Domestic Workers In 1965, the ILC adopted a resolution concerning the conditions of employment of domestic workers, which drew attention to: “the urgent need to provide domestic workers with the basic elements of protection which would assure them a minimum standard of living, compatible with the self-respect and dignity essential to social justice”

No International Convention on Domestic Workers n n n There has not been enough international support for an international convention specially conceived to protect domestic workers’ rights. In many countries domestic workers are excluded from the labour code protection and their working conditions remain unregulated. Many States do not provide them with optional protection under any other national law

Key Messages n n Unless otherwise specified, all ILO Conventions apply to both nationals & non-nationals (refugees, migrant workers) Ratification of instruments alone is not enough: legislation and enforcement are equally critical ILO core conventions and universal human rights instruments do address most violations of workers’ rights Even if countries do not ratify, they can draw upon the good practices embodied in Conventions and Recommendations drafting national laws.