The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

International Women's Day will be observed today in the country as elsewhere around the world with various programmes by women rights groups and international organisations. This year's theme for the day is 'Investing in Women and Girls'.

International Women's Day traces it origins to this day in 1857, when female workers of a sewing factory in New York, USA fought with local police in protest against a 12-hour workday, low pay and unhealthy condition in workplaces.

The day was later declared International Women's Day during the second International Socialist Women's Conference in Copenhagen in 1910 following a proposal by German Socialist Movement leader Klara Jatekin.

International Labour Office (ILO) prepared a report to mark the Day today.

According to the report, which was released yesterday, more women are entering the global labour force in record numbers, but they still face higher unemployment rates and lower wages and represent 60 per cent of the 550 million working poor in the world.

However, the report says the rate of success in crashing through the invisible, symbolic barrier to top managerial jobs remains "slow, uneven and sometimes discouraging".

"Women must have an equal chance of reaching the top of the jobs ladder. And, unless progress is made in taking women out of poverty by creating productive and decent employment, the Millennium Development Goals of halving poverty by 2015 will remain out of reach in most regions of the world," said ILO Director-General Juan Somavia.

The report said the explosive growth in the female workforce has not been accompanied by true socio-economic empowerment for women.

Nor has it led to equal pay for work of equal value or balanced benefits that would make women equal to men across nearly all occupations. "In short, true equality in the world of work is still out of reach," the report added.

The study found that while the gap between the number of men and women in the labour force (the sum of the unemployed and employed) has been decreasing in all regions of the world since 1993, this decrease has varied widely.

While women in the transition economies and East Asia - where the number of women working per 100 men is 91 and 83 respectively - have nearly closed the gap, in other regions of the world such as the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, only 40 women per 100 men are economically active, the report said.

Meanwhile, female unemployment in 2003 was slightly higher than male unemployment for the world as a whole (6.4 per cent for female, 6.1 per cent for male), the ILO said, leaving 77.8 million women who were willing to work and looking for work without employment. Only in East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa did the regional male unemployment rate exceed that of women, with 3.7 per cent male unemployment in East Asia compared to 2.7 per cent female unemployment, and 11.8 per cent unemployment for men in sub-Saharan Africa compared to 9.6 per cent female unemployment.

In developing countries, women simply cannot afford to not work, the report says, noting that low unemployment rates thus mask the problem.

The challenge for women in these countries is not gaining employment - they have to take whatever work is available and are likely to wind up in informal sector work such as agriculture with little, if any, social security benefits and a high degree of vulnerability - but in gaining decent and productive employment, the report added.

The report also found that women typically earn less than men. In the six occupations studied, women still earn less of what their male co-workers earn, even in "typically female" occupations such as nursing and teaching.

"Creating enough decent jobs for women is only possible if policy makers place employment at the centre of social and economic polices and recognise that women face more substantial challenges in the workplace than men", Somavia said.

In politics, the proportion of women representatives in national parliaments remains low, increasing from 13 per cent to 15.2 per cent between 1999 and 2003. However, the update did find recent increases in the number of women in traditionally male-dominated cabinet posts, such as foreign affairs, finance and defence, the report said.

The study said some employers are beginning to shift attitudes and businesses now understand that family-friendly policies, improved access to training, and stronger mentoring systems encourage female staff retention and can improve productivity.

And governments and unions are advocating the reform of employment and welfare legislation to ensure that mothers can maintain seniority, benefits, and earning potential, the report observed.