Global Employment Trends for Women: Brief, March 2008

Abstract

[Excerpt] Access to labour markets and to decent and productive employment is crucial in the process of creating greater equality between men and women. The analysis of the latest data in GET Women 2008 shows that in 2007, 1.2 billion women around the world worked, almost 200 million or 18.4 per cent more than ten years ago. But, the number of unemployed women also grew from 70.2 to 81.6 million over the same period and in 2007, women at the global level still had a higher likelihood of being unemployed than men. The female unemployment rate stood at 6.4 per cent compared to the male rate of 5.7 per cent. The report shows clearly that most regions are making progress in increasing the number of women in decent employment, but that full gender equality in terms of labour market access and conditions of employment has not yet been attained.