LABOUR-URUGUAY
Women Still at a
Disadvantage
By Marta Moss
MONTEVIDEO (IPS) - In the world of
labour in Uruguay there is one indicator
in which women are ahead: unemployment.
The unemployment rate among women is
twice that of men in this small South
American country between Argentina and
Brazil, and three times as high in some
provinces, according to a study by the
Gender Information System of the
National Women's Institute.
The report on "territorial-based gender
indicators for the drafting of equity
policies", drawn up with the support of
the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA),
found large gender disparities in this
country of 3.3 million people, where the
unemployment rate currently stands at
just over six percent.
"There are alarming situations like in
the departments (provinces) of Artigas
(in the extreme north), Lavalleja and
Rocha (in the east), where female
unemployment reaches 15 percent," Lucía
Scuro, head of the Gender Information
System, told IPS.
"Women are represented in two's and
three's in a world of suits and ties,"
said Carmen Beramendi, who headed the
National Women's Institute under the
government of socialist President Tabaré
Vázquez (2005-2010), when the study was
carried out.
"Power remains in the hands of men, not
only in politics but in business
management," Beramendi told IPS. "The
employment rate is higher for men than
women in all 19 of the country's
departments."
Scuro said "these indicators have to do
with prejudice on the part of employers
against hiring women of child-bearing
age, and with the fact that women are
responsible for most of the
non-remunerated (household and
child-rearing) work, which makes it
difficult for them to take on other,
paid, work."
The Gender Map, drawn up by the
Interdisciplinary Centre of Studies on
Development (CIEDUR) with the support of
the International Labour Organisation (ILO),
also shows that unemployment among women
is between 60 and 80 percent higher than
among men, although the gap has shrunk.
The gender bias affects the distribution
of activities as well. According to the
Gender Map, women workers are still
concentrated in certain areas of the
economy: retail (19.1 percent), domestic
service (18.7 percent), industry (12.3
percent), social and health services
(12.1 percent) and education (10.3
percent).
"Women continue to carry out jobs that
are more stereotypically 'female' and
that involve sectors where they can
reconcile work and family. It's a
vicious circle that keeps them
segregated," CIEDUR researcher Soledad
Salvador told IPS.
The basic divisions seen in domestic or
household work are reproduced in the
world of labour. "Men are still seen in
the role of provider, and women in their
child-rearing role, which is why they
are more involved in social, educational
and health areas, and in care-taking of
children and others," Beramendi said.
But although women have more years of
education than men on average, they
still earn less. "Uruguayan women earn
11 percent per hour less than men, on
average. But the difference is 16
percent in Salto and 19 percent in Río
Negro (two provinces in western
Uruguay)," Scuro said.
The wage gap is higher than average in
both the highest-paying and the
lowest-paying jobs. Women not only run
up against the famous "glass ceiling",
but they are also held back in their
careers by the less well-known "sticky
floor" syndrome.
"Men are promoted to better positions
and are paid more because the idea is
that they don't have responsibilities
outside of the workplace," said
Salvador. "It takes women longer to
reach management or executive level
posts."
According to the ILO's Global Employment
Trends for Women 2009 report, in a
majority of countries around the world,
women's wages represent between 70 and
90 percent of men's wages, "with even
lower ratios in some Asian and Latin
American countries."
In Scuro's view, this global reality has
to do with women's reduced chances of
promotion, compared to men.
"Women are rarely promoted to the
top-earning jobs, and the overall salary
mass of women is far below that of men,"
she said.
Furthermore, in Latin America, the
labour market participation of married
women is lower than that of other women,
which shows that family responsibilities
discourage women's insertion in the
workforce, as indicated by data from the
ILO and the Inter-American Centre for
Knowledge Development in Vocational
Training (CINTERFOR).
In addition, over half of all Latin
American women who have paid employment
work in the informal sector; women's
wages are hit harder by downwards
adjustments; and women tend to have
longer workdays. The situation is
especially difficult for women of
African descent, indigenous women, and
poor women overall.
Nor are women equally represented in the
leadership of Uruguay's trade unions.
CIEDUR's Gender Map shows that women
make up only 11 percent of the
representative board of the country's
sole labour federation, the PIT-CNT, and
a similar percentage of the collective
bargaining units, made up of
representatives of workers, business and
government.
"The labour movement should take a close
look at its gender policy, at the
highest levels of the organisations,"
Salvador said. "It's not a question of a
lack of effort on the part of women
activists, but of a struggle for power,
in which men do not want to give up
their positions." |
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