Global Women Labor Force Participation Rate Near 49%

More women are less likely to participate in the labor market and more likely to be unemployed in most parts of the world, the International Labor Organization has said.

In its World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends for Women 2018, it revealed that the global women’s labor force participation rate was 48.5% in 2018 and was still 26.5 percentage points below the rate of their male counterparts, ILO.com reported.

Also, the global women unemployment rate for 2018 was at 6% and approximately 0.8 percentage points higher than the rate for men, which means that for every 10 men who have jobs, six women are employed.

ILO’s Deputy Director General, Policy, Deborah Greenfield, explained that despite the progress made and the commitments to further improvement, women’s prospects in the labor market was still far from being equal to that of men.

Greenfield stated that whether it is about access to employment, wage inequality or other forms of discrimination, there was the need to do more to reverse the trend by putting in place policies tailored towards women, taking into account the unequal demands that they face in household and responsibilities of care.

ILO Director of Research Department, Damian Grimshaw also said to achieve 2030 target on gender equality and empowerment of all women, closing gender gaps in the world of work should remain a top priority.

She stated that women’s persistent challenges and obstacles would reduce the possibility for societies to develop pathways to integrate economic growth with social development.

ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder, said rural women should not be overlooked in policy decisions, adding that women, who make up over one-fourth of the world’s population and between 41 and 60% of its agricultural workforce, were often overlooked despite their huge contributions.