GENDER EQUALITY IN THE

WORLD OF WORK: TRENDS AND

CHALLENGES IN MENA REGION

Simel Esim, Senior Technical Specialist, ILO

Presentation for Promoting Job Quality and

Productive Employment in the Middle East and

North Africa: What Works?

GENDER EQUALITY IN THE WORLD OF WORK

Equality of opportunity and treatment in employment

Equal remuneration for work of equal value

Equal access to safe and healthy working

environments and to social security

Equality in association and collective bargaining

Equality in obtaining a meaningful career

development

Balance between work and home life that is fair to

both women and men

Equal participation in decision-making, including in

the constitutive ILO organs

WOMEN HAVE BECOME MORE EDUCATED

AND MORE ECONOMICALLY ACTIVE

0.00

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

6.00

7.00

Alger

ia

Bah

rain

Egy

ptIra

nIra

q

Jord

an

Kuw

ait

Syr

ia

Tunisia

MENA

0

510

15

2025

30

35

4045

50

Average Years of Schooling Labor Force Participation Rate

Source: Omeira, 2007; based on data from Barro and Lee (2000) and ILO (2008b).

Trends in women’s average years of schooling and labour force

participation rates, selected countries (1980, 1990, 2000)

YET THEY REMAIN BEHIND WOMEN IN OTHER

REGIONSWomen's labour force participation

rate (%)Women's as a % of men's

rates1998 2008 1998 2008

World 51.4 51.6 65.4 67.3Developed Economies & European Union 49.2 49.8 71.1 75.1

Central & South-Eastern Europe (non-EU) & CIS 50.2 49.5 72.2 72.5

East Asia 70.7 68.2 85.8 87.5South-East Asia & the Pacific 57.3 56.8 70.2 69.1

South Asia 35.1 35.8 42.2 43.7

Latin America & the Caribbean 45.6 52.4 56.9 66.5Sub-Saharan Africa 59.6 61.5 73.0 76.6

Arab region 23.1 26.4 30.4 35.4

Source: ILO Global Employment Trends Model

Source: ILO GET Model for year 2008

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Alg

eri

a

Bah

rain

Co

mo

ros

Dji

bo

uti

Egyp

t

Iraq

Jord

an

Ku

wai

t

Leb

ano

n

Lib

ya

Mau

rita

nia

Mo

rocc

o

Om

an

WB

GS

Qat

ar

KSA

Som

alia

Sud

an

Syri

a

Tun

isia

UA

E

Yem

en

Men

Women

ONE REGION, MANY REALITIES

YOUNG WOMEN’S DOUBLE BIND

Women participate in the labour force less than men,

although their participation is on the rise

Lowest participation of women in the labour force and

highest rates of women’s unemployment in the world

Women have higher unemployment rates than men,

especially among youth

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

70.0

80.0

90.0

Women Men Women Men Women Men Women Men

15-24 15+ 15-24 15+

1997 2007

Labour force pariticipation

rate (%)

Employment-to-population

ratio (%)

Unemployment rate (%)

Source: ILO EAPEP, 2009

MORE EDUCATION DOES NOT GUARANTEE

FINDING A JOB

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

Less than primary

Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

Less than primary

Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

Less than primary

Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

Less than primary

Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

Less than primary

Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

Less than primary

Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

Less than primary

Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

Alg

eria

(200

4)

Mor

occo

(200

5)

Om

an

(199

6)

Qat

ar

(199

7)

Tun

isia

(199

7)U

AE

(19

95)

WB

GS

(200

4) Women

Men

Source: ILO, 2008b.

BUT EDUCATION IS KEY TO SECURE A GOOD JOB

Women’s employment has a dual nature as they are

concentrated in sectors with:

Low education and low social protection-informal employment

(e.g. Agriculture, domestic work, etc.)

High education and high social protection-formal employment

(e.g. Public sector, education, health, etc.)

Illustration from Yemen (Census, 2004)

Main sectors of women's employment % Employed

population

% Women % Illiterate % Protected

Agriculture, hunting and forestry 28.5 11 61 1Not classifiable 4.0 35 38 9Manufacturing 5.7 11 29 26Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles,

motorcycles and personal and household goods18.4 2 29 5

Private households 0.5 31 45 5Transport, storage and communications 5.3 2 28 14

Other social and personal services 1.4 7 32 32

Public administration & defence; compulsory social security 12.7 5 15 98

Health and social work 1.3 31 7 76Education 7.6 22 2 96

Note: Red: low social protection; Green: high social protection

RISING INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT?

The concept of ‘informal employment’ is central to

understanding job quality

Four related aspects to informalization around the world

(Beneria and Floro, 2006):

Increasing labour market flexibilization

Growing inequality in income distribution and diminishing

bargaining power of workers

Institutional factors (e.g. forms of ownership, production, and

distribution)

Socially ascribed positions in society and within the

household

Studies of the region suggest that:

Different countries have different trends of informalization

There are fewer women in informal employment than men

WOMEN’S SHARE OF INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT IN

THE REGION IS LOWER THAN ELSEWHERE

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

Average 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

Source: Charmes J. (2002, updated 2004), Self-employment, informal employment, informal

sector employment: Trends and characteristics. A tentative assessment of their statistical

knowledge, 77p.

WOMEN AND MEN ARE EMPLOYED IN

DIFFERENT SECTORS

Countries with a large share of employment in agriculture (e.g.

Egypt, Iraq, WBGS, Yemen) have larger shares of women’s

employment than men’s in these sectors

Countries with a small share of employment in agriculture (e.g.

KSA, Qatar, Bahrain) have large shares of women in private

households with employed persons (mainly migrant domestic

workers from Asia and Africa) and/or in education

Across the region, women have a larger share of employment in

education and men a larger share in wholesale and retail trade

In countries with large export industries (e.g. Algeria,

Morocco), the share of women is larger in manufacturing

Country

% of Firms With

Participation of

Women in

Ownership

% of Women in

Senior Positions

Algeria (2007) 15.03 5.74

Egypt (2007) 20.89 1.28

Jordan (2006) 13.13 4.92

Lebanon (2006) 27.88 ..

Mauritania (2006) 17.26 14

Morocco (2007) 13.12 8.31

Oman (2003) .. 6.81

Syria (2003) .. 0.42

West Bank & Gaza

(2006) 18 ..

World 29.23 9.13

Arab States 17.90 5.93

Source: World Bank Enterprise surveys

Women participate in

the ownership of less

than 18 per cent of

enterprises --

significantly lower

than world average

On average, women

represent less than

6 per cent of workers

in senior positions in

the region

MEN ARE MORE LIKELY THAN WOMEN TO OWN THE

ENTERPRISE OR OCCUPY SENIOR POSITIONS IN IT

LABOUR LEGISLATION TYPICALLY EXCLUDES

THE LARGEST GROUPS OF WORKERS

Largest sector of employment

Country, year, % share of employment

Men and Women Women

Agriculture, hunting and forestry

Egypt 2006 (30.4%); Morocco 2006

(43.3%); Algeria 2004 (20.3%); Syria

2003 (26.9%); 1999 (53.2%)

Egypt 2006 (43.2%); Morocco 2006

(61.3%); 1999 (87.8%); Syria 2003

(49.1%); Iraq 2004 (32.6%); and Strip

2007 (36%)

Education

Jordan 2003 (40.6%); Oman 2000

(41.4%)

Manufacturing Algeria 2004 (26.4%)

Wholesale and retail trade; repair of

motor vehicles, motorcycles and

personal and household goods

Iraq 2004 (20.4%); and Strip 2007

(17.5%)

Public administration and defence;

compulsory social security

Saudi Arabia 2007 (18%); Bahrain

2001 (18%); Oman 2000 (48.6%);

Jordan 2003 (17.8%)

Construction

United Arab Emirates 2005 (29%);

Qatar 2006 (23.7%)

Private households with employed

persons Kuwait 2003 (25.4%)

Bahrain 2001 (36%); Qatar 2006

(42.7%); Saudi Arabia 2007 (46.4%);

UAE 2005 (41.7%)*

Source: ILO, 2009b. * Note: No sex-disaggregated data was available for Kuwait.

LABOUR LEGISLATION TYPICALLY FOCUSES ON

NATIONALS IN AN EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP

Self-employment as share of total employment Estimated

migrants’ share

(%) of

populationCountry Year Men Women

Algeria 2004 38.1 50.2 <1

Egypt 2006 36.3 46.3 <1

Morocco 2006 53.2 66.6 <1

Oman 2000 12.2 12.2 24

Qatar 2004 1.3 0.1 78

Syria 2001 50.2 53.4 5

UAE 2005 3.4 1.3 71

WBGS 2006 39.8 45 45 (refugees)

Yemen 1999 49.3 86.2 1

Source: KILM; UN Population Division

BEYOND LAWS… INSTITUTIONS AND SOCIAL

NORMS MATTER

The assumption of a national male head of household

who is working full-time in a for-profit enterprise with a

permanent employment relationship remains, although it

is not the case

Parents may still direct girls to non-labour market

relevant skills or ‘women appropriate skills’ that are

oversaturated

Women have a preference for public sector jobs on

account of better working hours, benefits and job security

Employers may opt for men as workers on account of

assumptions around women’s mobility constraints, care

responsibilities and maternity-related costs

UNEQUAL SHARING OF CARE RESPONSIBILITIES

Source: Shannak, 2008 based on Jordan DOS data.

Reasons for home-based work: evidence from Amman, Jordan

INADEQUACY OF MATERNITY PROTECTION

Strong enforcement in the public sector, less so in the

private sector

Protective legislation may increase incentives for

employers’ discrimination against employing women

in the private sector

Provision of maternity benefits by employer (Middle

East) rather than by social security (North Africa)

Childcare facilities linked to number of women

employees (childcare as women’s responsibility)

NORMATIVE FRAMEWORK FOR GENDER EQUALITY:

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR STANDARDS (1/2)

ILS are legal instruments drawn up by the ILO’s

constituents (governments, employers and workers)

setting out basic principles and rights at work

Conventions are legally binding international treaties

that may be ratified by member states

Ratifying countries commit themselves to

Applying the convention in national law and practice

Reporting on its application at regular intervals

Recommendations serve as non-binding guidelines

NORMATIVE FRAMEWORK FOR GENDER EQUALITY:

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR STANDARDS (2/2)

The gender implications of all ILO standards

should be considered in ensuring their effective

application

Four conventions have been acknowledged as

being key gender equality conventions

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100)

Not ratified by Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation)

Convention, 1958 (No. 111)

Not ratified by Oman

Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention,

1981 (No. 156)

Ratified in the region only by Yemen

Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183)

No ratification in the Arab region

SUGGESTED PRIORITIES FOR

DISCUSSION

EXPAND SOCIAL CARE INFRASTRUCTURE

Bring into focus paid and unpaid contributions in care work and housework

Take into account family responsibilities of women and men workers

Provide social care services to relieve women of the supply side constraints to their labour force participation and to generate opportunities for them to work as paid caregivers

Recognize the provision of childcare as a basic element towards extending women’s employment opportunities

Encourage a more active role for men in assuming care responsibilities, particularly at home

EXTEND SOCIAL PROTECTION COVERAGE

Extend social protection coverage to informal

workers and their families

Gradually extend social insurance schemes

Provide non-contributory social pensions

Develop cash transfer programmes combining

benefit payments with incentives to further

education and health

Introduce employment guarantee schemes

Ensure that maternity benefits are funded by the

social security fund rather than employers only

INCLUDE WOMEN AND MEN WORKERS IN

POLICYMAKING

Involve employers and workers in the formulation

and implementation of relevant policies

Foster a democratic and participatory process of

social dialogue

Support the organization and representation of

workers generally, and informal workers

particularly

Promote the membership, participation, and

leadership of women in membership-based

organizations

Conduct gender audits of institutions as a starting

point

THANK YOU

esim@ilo.org