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Barriers to women
winning in the New Economy
Education and training are key to
making women winners in the New Economy.
That’s one of the conclusions in a background paper prepared for a three
and half-hour workshops session at UNI’s World Women’s Conference.
But first, important disparities to formal education and on-the-job
training between men and women need to be overcome.
And when it comes to balancing work and family life, it is still women who
tend to assume primary responsibility for household and family
responsibilities.
Women-dominated skills tend to get lower ratings – and lower pay –
than those in which the men excel.
And an on-going UNI-sponsored inquiry into the commerce and finance
sectors in Europe shows that new glass ceilings are emerging to hold back
women.
There are some success stories – in India women are expected to make up
30% of the workforce in the software industry by the end of this year and
an estimated 250,000 jobs for women in India have been created in the
mobile telephony industry.
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UNI General
Secretary, Philip Jennings, addresses the World Women's Conference |
An ILO employment report shows that the role of women in the digital
economy has been greatest in online, export-oriented information process
work.
But many of the new jobs are casual or part time and lower quality than
those occupied by men.
And while tele-working extends the range of work, there is a fear that new
forms of work may "perpetuate the unequal sharing of household and
family responsibilities, if tele-(home)working is seen as an opportunity
for women only".
The ILO report is quite positive:
"Information and communication technologies have created new types of
work that favour women because the technology enables work to be brought
to homes and allows for better accommodation of work and family
schedules".
But many social policies inhibit women in the new as in the old economy.
In spite of equal pay laws (in those countries that have them) women’s
earnings lag well behind that of men.
And while women are a growing part of the labour force they spend less of
their lives at work - as a result of child raising – with an impact on
career, earnings and even pension.
"Real changes will only occur when men and women are given the same
opportunities to reconcile family and working life and men are encouraged
to make use of them," says the UNI paper.
Flexibility is the buzzword of employment at the moment.
Its upside is greater flexibility for family responsibilities.
But the downside is the creation of part time, casual and short-term
employment that lacks many of the benefits of full time,
"permanent" work.
And then there are the sweatshops of badly run call centres or export
processing zones where unions are outlawed.
The conclusion of the working paper is that globalisation alone will not
reduce inequalities between men and women.
"To gain a place was ‘winners’ in the new economy, women globally
need to have access to education and the tools of the information society,
such as those available on the Internet."
An ILO report recently found that few women were breaking through the
glass ceilings to reach top positions. "These gender inequalities
will persist or even be reinforced in the new economy unless proper policy
measures are implemented," says the UNI paper.
Die
Frauen müssen zu Gewinnerinnen werden - Aktionsplan 05.09
Action
plan to make women winners 05.09
General Secretary
hails pioneers and builders 04.09
Erste
Vorsitzende des UNI-Weltfrauenausschusses 04.09
First
UNI World Women’s Committee President 04.09
Bahn
frei für einen raschen Aufstieg der Frauen in Gewerkschaften! 04.09
Fast
track women in unions, conference told 04.09
Was
hindert die Frauen daran, in der neuen Wirtschaft zu Gewinnerinnen zu
werden? 03.09
Barriers
to women winning in the New Economy 03.09
UNI call to stop
economic violence against women 03.09
Aufruf der UNI:
Stop der wirtschaftlichen Gewalt gegen Frauen!
03.09
Asia Pacific
women meet 02.09
Media Briefing: August 16th - UNI World Congress - UNI World Women's Conference
07.08
Media-Briefing: 16. August -
UNI-Weltkongress - UNI-Weltkonferenz der Frauen
07.08
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