March 2001

SEMINAR: WOMEN AT WORK: A CHALLENGE FOR DEVELOPMENT

IDB PROMOTES INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE WORKING CONDITIONS FOR WOMEN IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

Progress and challenges in the labor market for the most disadvantaged groups

Although women have rapidly entered the work force and gained broad access to political and community leadership in Latin America over the last few years, the region’s rates of unemployment and informal or unstable employment as well as the data on social protection and income levels clearly show that gender disparities remain significant.

"Women need much higher education levels than men to compete for the same employment opportunities: four years more to earn the same income and two years more on average to have similar opportunities for formal-sector employment", according to a report by the International Labour Organization on employment in the region.

The figures speak volumes: in 1998, the rate of female participation in the work force was 44.7 percent in Latin America compared with close to 60 percent in the United States and Canada. That same year, unemployment rates among women were almost 50 percent higher than among men, particularly in low-income groups. The report indicated that, on average, women earn 64 percent of what men earn.

Women’s work continues to be undervalued and occupational segregation remains strong, according to a study on women and work in the face of Latin American structural reforms of the 1980s and 1990s, prepared by Francisco León of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL).

In this context, a seminar sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank, CEPAL, and the Governments of Chile and Norway will be held on March 17 in Santiago, Chile, ahead of the IDB’s annual meeting. The seminar will review the progress achieved in the field of women in the labor market as well as the challenges remaining. It will also showcase successful policies and programs to improve working conditions for women.

The impact of globalization on women in the workforce, gender inequity in pension programs and social safety-net systems, labor market discrimination, and the incorporation of gender considerations into development policies are among the issues that will be discussed at the seminar Women at Work: A Challenge for Development, which will take place at Santiago’s Mapocho Station Cultural Center.

During the seminar, IDB Executive Vice President K. Burke Dillon will chair a workshop with delegates from civil society organizations who will provide examples of successful experiences in the promotion of women in the labor market.

In addition to identifying innovative experiences and sharing the lessons learned from policies and programs aimed at improving the situation of women at work, the seminar will explore ways of expanding economic opportunities for women and other disadvantaged groups, such as youths, indigenous and Afrolatin peoples, and the poor.

The double-digit unemployment rates in many countries in the region are cause for concern. According to the ILO, these rates implied that some 18 million Latin Americans were jobless in 1999, and the most vulnerable groups were more seriously affected. That year, one out of five young people, one out of 10 women, and 15.2 percent of the poor looked for work unsuccessfully.

The IDB and the advancement of women

Over the last few decades, the IDB has supported numerous programs and initiatives that promoted women and their participation and leadership in Latin America. Gender issues have become a significant concern in terms of the entire IDB project portfolio.

In 1987 the Bank established a policy on women in development to encourage its member countries to incorporate women into regional growth strategies through its lending and technical cooperation programs. The Women in Development Program Unit was established in 1994 to support these activities and systematize them, and to identify new initiatives that would benefit women.

Since then, IDB experts have worked with governments and civil society to identify opportunities for women in all the Bank’s areas of activity, particularly the social sectors, agriculture and rural development, housing and urban development, governance and democracy, income support and productivity, and social investment funds.

Women’s participation in the labor market is taken into account in many Bank-financed projects such as the Youth Project in Argentina and Chile, launched in the early 1990s, and a great number of training and employment programs and vocational training in nontraditional areas. Nevertheless, special attention in the context of government policies is required to offer better economic and job opportunities to the most disadvantaged groups.

The IDB’s renewed debate on these issues dovetails with the Bank’s initiative to promote social inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean.