5 5 THEMATIC Labour Women in the World of Work Pending Challenges for Achieving Effective Equality in Latin America and the Caribbean 5 Women in the World of Work Pending Challenges for Achieving Effective Equality in Latin America and the Caribbean Copyright © International Labour Organization 2019 First published 2019 Publications of the International Labour Office enjoy copyright under Protocol 2 of the Universal Copyright Convention. Nevertheless, short excerpts from them may be reproduced without authorization, on condition that the source is indicated. For rights of reproduction or translation, application should be made to ILO Publications (Rights and Licensing), International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, or by email: [email protected]. The International Labour Office welcomes such applications. Libraries, institutions and other users registered with a reproduction rights organ- ization may make copies in accordance with the licences issued to them for this purpose. Visit www.ifrro.org to find the reproduction rights organization in your country. ILO Women in the world of work. Pending Challenges for Achieving Effective Equality in Latin America and the Caribbean.Thematic Labour Overview, 2019. Lima: ILO / Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, 2019. 188 p. Employment, labour market, gender, labour income, self-employment, equality, Latin America, Central America, Caribbean. 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Information on ILO publications and digital products can be found at: www.ilo. org/publns. Printed in Peru 5 Women in the World of Work Pending Challenges for Achieving Effective Equality in Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean TITLES IN THIS SERIES Transition to Formality in Latin America and 1 the Caribbean Small Enterprises, Large Gaps Employment and Working Conditions in Micro and Small 2 Enterprises in Latin America and the Caribbean Working in Rural Areas in the 21st Century Reality and Prospects of Rural 3 Employment in Latin America and the Caribbean Presente y futuro de la protección social en América 4 Latina y el Caribe Women in the World of Work Pending Challenges for 5 Achieving Effective Equality in Latin America and the Caribbean ILO / Latin America and the Caribbean Contents 5 CONTENTS Preface 7 Acknowledgments 9 Executive summary 11 1. Introduction 15 2. Women in the labour market during the 100 years of the ILO 22 2.1 History of International Standards on Women’s Employment 22 2.2 Phase I: 1919-1950 28 2.3 Phase II: 1951-2019 34 3. Gender gaps in labour markets 55 3.1 Beyond the averages. Decomposition of gender pay gaps 55 3.2 Gaps and low earnings. The role of minimum wages 71 3.3 Gender gaps in the Caribbean 81 3.4 Not one but many worlds: gender in rural labour markets 83 4. What is behind the gaps? 91 4.1 Unobservable factors 91 Stereotypes 94 Behaviour 95 Social norms 96 4.2 Unpaid care work and labour force participation 99 5. Women in the future of work 112 5.1 Automation, skills and labour markets 113 5.2 New employment relationships 127 5.3 The challenge of addressing the gender pay gap through social dialogue 134 6 Contents 6. Conclusions and recommendations. How can women’s participation in the world of work be improved? 140 References 148 Annex 1. General statistics 165 Annex 2. Supplementary materials for analyzing minimum wages 176 Annex 3. Selected articles of ILO Convention No. 100 and Recommendation No. 90 185 ILO / Latin America and the Caribbean Preface 7 Preface Women’s labour market participation is on the rise in Latin America and Caribbean. In the mid- 20th century, just one in five women formed part of the labour force; today that number is one in two. Notable progress has also been made in incorporating women into the education system. The road to gender equality at work is a long one, however. Indicators of wages, formality, occupational segregation and work-family balance are evidence of this. We are experiencing a unique moment in the region and the world today. Technological progress, the rise of life expectancy of the population, climate change and globalization, coupled with structural conditions of informality, inequality, poverty and low productivity, define the agenda of the present and future of work. In this scenario, the debate concerning the future of women in the world of work and gender equality deserves special attention. Gender differences are one of the most clearly unjustifiable forms of inequality today. It is a situation that conspires against the possibility of building more prosperous, fair and cohesive societies. This new Thematic Labour Overview of the ILO Regional Office, “Women in the World of Work. Pending Challenges to Effective Equality in Latin America and the Caribbean,” seeks to contribute to the discussion, reflection and decisions necessary to redouble efforts to achieve equality, especially given that progress has slowed in recent years. This report presents a historical perspective of the situation of women in the 100 years since the founding of the ILO, which reveals the progress made and demonstrates that this subject has always appeared on the ILO agenda. It even formed part of the discussions during the initial ILO American Regional Meetings of 1936 and 1939. The report reviews the instruments of the ILO system of international labour standards adopted since the organization’s establishment in 1919 that address the challenge of achieving gender equality. It also presents an overview of different labour market indicators today, providing a detailed look at gender pay gaps. To this end, it uses advanced econometric techniques to report not only on the average situation of female workers as compared with their male colleagues, but also to provide details on the gaps in different labour market segments. Although gender pay gaps of 17 per cent per hour worked are still large, they experienced a slight decline between 2012 and 2017. Two 8 Preface variables are crucial for understanding this situation: education and the hours people work weekly. The gaps are widest among own-ac- count workers and the segment of lower-income workers. After reviewing different manifestations and dimensions of the gender pay gap, this Thematic Labour Overview offers a vision of the future of work and the challenges the region faces to eliminate inequality to enable women to develop the skills they need to meet the demands of the new employment scenarios. This report concludes with a set of recommendations that can serve to guide the discussions and actions of governments, employers, workers and other members of society to achieve more effective, equitable spaces for men and women in the future. For the ILO, gender equality is a priority. Accordingly, it is present in all the organization’s activities, in the discussions with tripartite constit- uents, documents and reports and the instruments of the regulatory system. It is not surprising, then, that gender equality forms part of the ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work, adopted by representa- tives of governments and employers’ and workers’ organizations at the 108th International Labour Conference in June 2019. The declaration calls on the 187 ILO members states to work towards “the effective realization of gender equality in opportunities and treatment.” It also proposes “achieving gender equality at work through a trans- formative agenda,” which: (i) ensures equal opportunities, equal participation and equal treatment, including equal remuneration for women and men for work of equal value; (ii) enables a more balanced sharing of family responsibilities; (iii) provides scope for achieving a better work–life balance by enabling workers and employers to agree on solutions, including on working time, that consider their respective needs and benefits; and (iv) promotes investment in the care economy. Juan Felipe Hunt Acting Director, ILO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean ILO / Latin America and the Caribbean Acknowledgments 9 Acknowledgments This report was prepared by a team coordinated by Hugo Ñopo, an ILO labour market specialist for Latin America and the Caribbean. The contributions and comments of María Arteta, Carmen Benítez, Valeria Esquivel, Noémie Feix, Elva López Mourelo, Andrés Marinakis, Shingo Miyake, Bolívar Pino, Efraín Quicaña, Diego Rei and Rosalía Vázquez- Álvarez, ILO specialists at different offices (Buenos Aires, Geneva, Lima, Mexico City, Panama, Port of Spain, San José and Santiago) are much appreciated. During the year of preparation of this report, the work team was led by José Manuel Salazar, Carlos Rodríguez and Juan Hunt, ILO regional directors for Latin America and the Caribbean. ILO external consultants Andrea Bentancor, Carla Calero, Werner Gárate, Virginia Robano and María del Pilar López Uribe also made substantial contributions to the report. The ILO’s Panama-based Labour Analysis and Information System for Latin America and the Caribbean (SIALC) was responsible for the statistical analysis of household surveys of the region. Ángelo Cozzubo and Daniel Pajita managed the computational and econometric data of the surveys.