Two steps taken by ILO
Manuela Tomei –Appointed Chief of the Conditions of Work and Employement Branch at International Labour Organisation- was clear: “Women want to work and to be paid, we need a new prospective narrative. How to low inequalities, addressing gender for reducing poverty? What are the new topics, to focus on women conditions?
In her speech, Tomei assessed what is the goal changing the assumption. Progress has been too slow: the global pay gap is still 23%, in the last 20 years global disparities between men and women have been narrowing only one point, and to reach equity we will have to wait 70 years according to ILO (and 217 year to reach it, according to the World Economic Forum Report, which analyzes disparities in health, education, economy, and politics).
As explained in The future of gender equality at work video, according to ILO studies, explained Tomei, to reach equal pay for equal value we must change roles, recognize, reduce, reward, redistribute care work. Yet, roles are slow to change, in many countries it is difficult to demonstrate, with empiric facts, that there are inequalities, there is always the double care role to consider, there are no data about the impact on gender produced by the skills polarization required by the markets, we don’t know how it will be the consequence on women work in the new labour market intersectionalities of not homogeneous groups, and, last but not least, it is time to stop harrassment.
For all this and more, there are two very useful new tools from ILO, providing data and guidance toward the 2030 sustainable development goals agenda.
One is the Gallup-ILO Report “Towards a Better Future for Women and Work: Voices of Women and Men”. An extremely interesting study, for the first time enumerating, for example, that wordwide 58% of women want to work at paid jobs and 41% would like to be able to both work out with a wage, and for the family. But, at the same time, the challenge in developed economies is equal pay, while women in developing economies denounce unfair treatment.
The second is the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC), the initiative launched by ILO, UN Women and the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in order to cut the time to cut the gap. One hundred years is too much, considering that equal pay for women translates into lifelong benefits for them as well as their families, boosting career prospects and lifetime earnings, greater independence, higher investments in their children’s education and health, promote inclusive societies, reduce poverty, create conditions for decent work.It will a multi-stakeholder coalition to contribute to the achievement of SDG target 8.5 focusing on equal pay.
In her speech, Tomei assessed what is the goal changing the assumption. Progress has been too slow: the global pay gap is still 23%, in the last 20 years global disparities between men and women have been narrowing only one point, and to reach equity we will have to wait 70 years according to ILO (and 217 year to reach it, according to the World Economic Forum Report, which analyzes disparities in health, education, economy, and politics).
As explained in The future of gender equality at work video, according to ILO studies, explained Tomei, to reach equal pay for equal value we must change roles, recognize, reduce, reward, redistribute care work. Yet, roles are slow to change, in many countries it is difficult to demonstrate, with empiric facts, that there are inequalities, there is always the double care role to consider, there are no data about the impact on gender produced by the skills polarization required by the markets, we don’t know how it will be the consequence on women work in the new labour market intersectionalities of not homogeneous groups, and, last but not least, it is time to stop harrassment.
For all this and more, there are two very useful new tools from ILO, providing data and guidance toward the 2030 sustainable development goals agenda.
One is the Gallup-ILO Report “Towards a Better Future for Women and Work: Voices of Women and Men”. An extremely interesting study, for the first time enumerating, for example, that wordwide 58% of women want to work at paid jobs and 41% would like to be able to both work out with a wage, and for the family. But, at the same time, the challenge in developed economies is equal pay, while women in developing economies denounce unfair treatment.
The second is the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC), the initiative launched by ILO, UN Women and the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in order to cut the time to cut the gap. One hundred years is too much, considering that equal pay for women translates into lifelong benefits for them as well as their families, boosting career prospects and lifetime earnings, greater independence, higher investments in their children’s education and health, promote inclusive societies, reduce poverty, create conditions for decent work.It will a multi-stakeholder coalition to contribute to the achievement of SDG target 8.5 focusing on equal pay.
