The window of demographic opportunity is directly linked to female labour participation. The gender agenda is key ...
The window of demographic opportunity is directly linked to female labour participation. The gender agenda is key for the region’s development agenda.
March is women’s month. Every year, due to an UN initiative signed in 1975, the International Women’s Day is commemorated on March 8th. The date recalls a strike carried on by Russian women in 1917 who demanded bread and peace during the First World War. Four days later, the tsar abdicated and the provisional government acknowledge women’s right to vote.
A century and many social achievements later, we are going through a new strike in several cities in Latin America and the rest of the world, which is bringing different issues into the light.
If we are discussing strikes and time, it is said that the first one was developed during the reign of Ramses III in 1152 B.C., when a group of 60 artisans refused to work in the Valley of Kings.
Making clear that: the gender agenda is an urgent matter and that several issues cause anguish and pain; that gender violence must be eliminated and that the full weight of the law must fall upon those who execute it; that discrimination is an abomination that brings shame; that every country must work hard to generate equal opportunities; I do believe that it would be interesting to find another fighting mechanism, more innovative and disruptive in the 21st century to channel complaints and bring awareness on different issues.
Having said this, in this column I want to focus in one single aspect of the gender agenda: women and work, or, to be more accurate “women, education and work”.
The raise of female participation in the labour market has been the biggest and most significant change of the 20st century economy. However, though the female participation rate has grown, it showed differences per country in Latin America, showing a behaviour that has not been homogeneous, particularly when we analyse the main cities of the region.
Female participation in the labour market has a direct impact on economic growth and productivity. A lot has been written on how the economy impacts on women, but little has been said about how women affect work and the economy.
A study by the Journal of Regional Science has shown that female participation rate in the American labour market has had an influence of wages’ growth. The study analysed 250 metropolitan areas in the United States and found out that when there is a larger number of women participating in the labour market, the city is more productive and wages are higher. It was observed that women tend to replace unproductive men and this has been linked to a particular phenomenon: as women beat men by getting a university degree, they raise the skills level and bring a set of complementary skills into the market. In Latin America, this phenomenon linked to education has already happened: today, more women graduate from university than men.
Evidently, there is a clear and complex ethical argument connected with gender equity, but the economic impact is also clear.
Nevertheless, both in the United States and in Latin America, female participation rate has stagnated. Only by the end of 2017 we overcame, for the first time ever, the 50% female labour participation rate in our region.
Given a global context where countries do not only struggle to grow, but also to do it quickly and reduce inequities, seizing women’s potential in labour markets seems to be first obvious step.
According to the IMF Director, Christine Lagarde, should Latin American countries increase female labour participation until reaching the average shown by Nordic countries (around 60%), the GDP per capita would be 10% higher. Olinda Salguero, chief of the Cabinet of the Central American Integration System (SICA), believes that, should gender equity be promoted in Latin American labour markets, the region’s GDP would grow 18% to 20%.
Do men put up resistance to female advances in labour markets? ILO states that they do not, as most of them support female inclusion at work. The same survey shows that most women prefer to work and get paid. In addition, one third of female workers say their income is a key contribution at home, and nearly another third claim it is the household’s main source of income.
Is it easy to achieve balance between work and family in Latin America? The question would actually be: is balance simple when the professional career is developed in rigid and old-fashioned markets?
The clear disadvantages that women experience in the world of work can only be tackled using multiple regulatory, educational and cultural instruments that go from increasing flexible workdays, extending paternity leaves among men, fighting gender stereotypes when selecting a course of study, to redistributing tasks at home. Is that enough? No, it is not. Modern, flexible and secure regulatory frameworks must be developed, including different types of formal labour contracts that address different lifestyles and organizational needs. Regulatory frameworks fit for the 21st century.
In Latin America and the Caribbean women earn 84% of what men earn and, according to the IDB’s Better Jobs Index, they are more likely to have an informal job. The equal pay concept could end the gender wage gap. A partnership has been created among the International Labour Organization (ILO), UN Women, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that gathers public and private sector representatives and actors, with the goal of reaching equal pay per equal job.
We must provide urgent answers to 117 million Latin American women who, in several cases, get paid worse salaries than men, have poor access to social security and less contact with technology and innovation. It is key to acknowledge and redistribute non-paid work, as well as tackling stereotypes deeply rooted in our culture.
Sixty years ago, the average life expectancy in Latin America was 55 years, while today is almost 75 years. Higher levels of productivity during the window of demographic opportunity is key to reach development. When we analyse the working age population, we find out that most of them are women. They must be included in programs that train STEM skills, strengthen their socioemotional skills, encourage them to learn to unlearn in order to relearn with no conditions nor prejudices. Having a vast working age population is clearly not enough. People must be educated and trained and the conditions for them to produce must be made effective. Some countries in the region have already lost their change of seizing the demographic bonus, and can only cling to the gender bonus opportunity.
Skills training based on the demand, making labour markets more dynamic by including different forms of formal labour, developing active employment policies, ratifying ILO Convention 181 on Private Employment Agencies, increasing female representativeness, breaking the glass ceiling and standing up for the obvious fact that a job is really a set skills used to contribute to an organizational goal, without labels and stereotypes, these are some of the initiatives we must start implementing.
Reducing the gender gap that exists in the region between men and women is a legal, family, social, cultural and economic challenge. We need more women in the labour market, participating under equal opportunities. According to WEF, 170 years are needed to fully close the gender gap on a global level. I resist to agree with that figure. I rather take as a reference every March 8th to witness real advances, significant changes for Latin American women who contribute to social and economic progress every day.
If the combination of talent and technology will determine the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on sustainable development and benefits for society, there is no reason to avoid working in a systematic, methodical, and urgent way to solve the gender gap.
March will end in just a few days. My wish is that every month plenty of women may celebrate how their lives change and that all of them have an impact on Latin America’s growth, without distinctions of any kind.
About Martin Padulla
Founder and Managing Director of staffingamericalatina. Martin Padulla is Sociologist (USAL), MBA (UCA) and labour markets expert. He published “Flexible Work in South America” and “Regulatory framework for private employment agencies in Latin America” two books about the new realities of work in Latin America.
Follow Martín Padulla on Twitter: @MartinPadulla
mpadulla@staffingamericalatina.com
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