UN Women: Informality in Latin America also discriminates by gender
60% of women in the region work informally, the UN maintains that this is a gender problem
Last month the UN called on the private sector in Latin America to promote gender equality. This is because, according to the newspaper El Observador, 60% of women in the region work informally. In addition, the same media reports that the wage gap between men and women in the region is 22%.
Leer en español: ONU Mujeres: la informalidad en América Latina también discrimina por género
As a result of these data, the global institute McKinsey affirmed that if global gender equality were reached in the markets, the countries of the region would increase their GDP by up to 26% by 2025. However, according to the International Labour Organization, "during the last year, when the slow-growing swell or in some cases of frank economic contraction that hit the region impacted the labor market, leading to an abrupt rise in unemployment and also the deterioration of some indicators of the quality of employment , it was evident that the situation affected women more. "
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The organization also noted that some 17 million women carry out domestic work. There are more than 90% of the people dedicated to this activity. In this occupation, levels of informality are still too high, around 70%.
Additionally, according to the last report "Economic Perspectives of Latin America 2017" presented by the Casa de América in Madrid, informality in women's work is caused, in large part because there are certainly also social and cultural factors at play, negative macroeconomic perspectives and lack of access to training programs.
An initiative that helps balance the situation
"In the last 15 years we have seen the greater incorporation of women IGNORE INTO the labor market, compared to other regions of the world, but they joined precariously, the majority in the informal sector, earning less," said Luisa Carvalho, regional director of UN Women for Latin America and the Caribbean.
To cope with this situation, recently, within the framework of the Women's Empowerment Principles Forum, held in Sao Paulo and promoted by the UN, the Gana-Gana program was created. The purpose of which is to promote gender equality in the Latin American and Caribbean region, and was signed by around 1800 executives around the world, according to El Observador.
The head of the political section of the European Union in Uruguay, Tomaz Gorisek, explained that this regional project by UN Women and the European Union will be deployed for three years and its deployment will be to facilitate access to credit, guarantees, and technical and legal support to women in the Latin American labor market.
In addition, according to the official website of the Uruguayan government, Gorisek "pointed out that 60% of the resources will be allocated to the creation of a community of companies with an agenda on gender, supporting each other and advancing together, in which gender equality is a way of 'being and doing'."
LatinAmerican Post | Sofía Carreño
Translated from: 'ONU Mujeres: la informalidad en América Latina también discrimina por género'
