Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Changing World of Work · Growth performance remains strong...
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Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Changing World of Work Francisco Cos Montiel Regional Advisor Women’s Economic Empowerment UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Changing World of Work · Growth performance remains strong across the region . The World Bank (2016). East Asia and Pacific Economic Update
Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Changing World of Work
Francisco Cos Montiel Regional Advisor Women’s Economic Empowerment UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Key Questions: • What are the key overall emerging trends, issues, concerns
and opportunities for women’s economic empowerment in a changing world of work in Asia and the Pacific?
• How does this relate to and how can it best inform the ongoing policy and normative developments at the national, regional and global level?
Growth performance remains strong across the region
The World Bank (2016). East Asia and Pacific Economic Update October 2016: Reducing V: ulnerabilities. World Bank PublicationsWashington DC.
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Presentation Notes
Growth in developing AP was broadly stable in the first half of 2016 and continues to perform well relative to other developing regions. Weak external demand was largely offset by robust domestic demand, supported by the stabilizing external financial conditions and accommodative monetary and fiscal policies. Adopting a longer perspective, growth in the region has been particularly resilient since the global financial crisis. Budget deficits have increased across much of the region, largely reflecting increased public expenditure, which is being used partly to scale up investment but also to meet growing current expenses.
Trends in ASEAN trade
• Extra- and intra-ASEAN trade is expanding; ASEAN economic integration is trade-creating not trade-diverting
• Intra-regional FDI is rising but distribution of FDI is uneven; 3/4th investments concentrated in 5 countries, and 1/2 in Singapore
Intra-ASEAN, extra-ASEAN and total merchandize trade (in million current USD) 2000-2011
Intra-ASEAN, Extra-ASEAN and Total FDI (in million USD) 2000-2010
Inequality is on the rise
Source: ESCAP, based on World Development Indicators of the World Bank.
Gini-coefficients of inequality in selected Asia-Pacific economies, 1990s and latest
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Poverty in the region has declined rapidly in recent years, and is projected to fall further with continued growth; however, there remain significant challenges to inclusiveness. In 2015, the share of the region’s population living in poverty fell to 2.6 percent (or, excluding China, to 5.6 percent), from approximately 18 percent a decade earlier, reflecting continued rapid growth. Poverty fell most sharply in China, Vietnam, and Cambodia, but has also decreased appreciably in Indonesia and Lao PDR. Still, there remain large numbers of increasingly hard-to-reach poor in middle-income China, Indonesia, and the Philippines. And, in countries such as Vietnam, even though poverty has been almost eliminated, disadvantaged groups such as ethnic minorities are lagging behind by an often increasing margin.
Social Protection Expenditures
Asian Development Bank statistical Database and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, social expenditure database
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Social expenditures, which are important for inclusive and equitable growth, are increasing in the Asia Pacific region, albeit from a low base. But while social protection expenditures in the region have been generally on the rise, such spending remains relatively low at an average of 5.3 per cent of GDP compared with the global average of 8.6 per cent. The Social Protection Index for the region suggest that, despite steep GDP gains in recent decades, the majority of countries in Asia and the Pacific — particularly those that have graduated to middle-income status — have not correspondingly strengthened their systems of social protection. They need to scale up and broaden these systems. Spending that corresponds to 20% of poverty-line expenditures or 5% of its GDP per capita — as in the Republic of Korea — is a reasonable strategic target. In general, women do not share equitably in the benefits from social insurance. And very few poor households are able to gain access to such contributory schemes. But even large segments of the nonpoor, especially those working in the informal sector or in small enterprises, are not covered by such forms of insurance.
Labour Force Participation Gap Persistent gender inequality in labour force participation across all ASEAN countries
AEC Impact on Female Wages and Employment
▶ Post-AEC wages ↑ both men and women ▶ Job gains for male workers higher than female workers for both semi-skilled
& unskilled categories
AEC effects on
female and male
wages (% change
from 2004
baseline, 2025)
GDP Losses due to Economic Gender Gaps in ASEAN Member States (% of GDP)
Source: Estimates by Cuberes and Teignier (2014). Losses are estimated for a particular year for each country and can thus be interpreted as a one-off increase in GBP if gender g gaps were to be removed
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Research show that increasing the presence of women in the workforce can have significant benefits for economic growth and welfare in addition to the intrinsic values of equality. Lower levels of female labour force participation reduce the potential growth rates of an economy, implying that underutilization of female labour force result in economic losses. Increased women’s participation and reduced gender gaps in the world of work have also been found to have positive spill over effects in terms of improved child health and education, accelerating poverty reduction and spurring productivity.
Corollarium
• Economic growth will continue to be the ultimate development goal in Asia and the Pacific
• Inclusiveness remains a challenge
• Consumption and innovation are two important trends that will affect inclusiveness and sustainability
• New consumption trends will rely heavily in technology to improve productivity and meet the demand
• Majority of women are located in the lower end of the value chain, where technology will substitute labour
Potential of Labour Replacement 2016 World Economic Forum report: • Current movement could lead to a net employment impact of
more than 5.1 million job loss during 2015–2020 • With a total loss of 7.1 million jobs, 2/3 of which are
concentrated in routine white collar office functions • A total gain of 2 million jobs in computer, mathematical,
architectural and engineering related fields • A jobless digitalization of the economy could be a reality in the
near future?
Pervasive Trends in Gender Inequalities in
Paid and Unpaid Work
Economic structural shifts • Caused women to move out of agriculture and into services and
manufacturing, although at a different pace in different sub-regions and generally more slowly than men
• Widespread and increasing entry of women into work on a temporary, casual, seasonal or part time basis, often in home-based activities or subcontracted by intermediaries as part of global value chains
• A large proportion of working women are working as unpaid labour in family farms and enterprises with no access to an income of their own
Diversity of female labour force participation
Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2016: Nurturing productivity for inclusive growth and sustainable development. UN ESCAP 2016, Bangkok.
Female labour force participation diverse in South and South-West Asia
Informality of work Informal employment as a percentage of non-agricultural employment by gender
ILO (2016). Women at Work: Trends. Geneva: ILO Office.
Global Gender Pay Gap
Global Wage Report 2014/15: Asia and the Pacific Supplement. Wages in Asia and the Pacific: Dynamic but Uneven Progress. ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific: Regional Economic and Social Analysis Unit.
The global gender pay gap is estimated to be 22.9% which means that on average women earn 77.1% of what men earn. In Asia and the Pacific, women earn one-half to two-thirds of what men earn for the same work in some countries in Asia.
Financial Access • Financial access is low for men and even lower for women in
Asia
• There are however great differences among countries
• There are also gender gaps in savings and credit, account use and the quality of financial products and services
• Gender gaps are the largest for the poor; poor women are 28% less likely than poor men to have a formal bank account
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Presentation Notes
Although women’s account ownership has increased since 2011, the gender gap overall remains at around 7 percentage points, and 9 percentage points in developing economies 57 percent of women globally have a financial account, against 64 percent of men
Source: UN High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment, Leave No One Behind: A Call to Action for Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment (2016)
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Source available at: http://www.unwomen.org/~/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/n ws/stories/2016/unhlp-womenseconomicempowerment-overview.pdf
Property Access • Land ownership and distribution patterns vary greatly in
Asia
• Across Asia the land owned by women on average is about 10%, despite ownership rights being on par with men in China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Uzbekistan
• Son preference remains strong in India, Pakistan and China, where a majority of economically active women are engaged in agriculture
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Also: The ownership rights or land ownership specifically is not directly linked to women’s status as seen through sex ratios or the SIGI index (Table in the next slide)
Diversity and Inequality in Selected Asian Countries Source: Women’s Access to Land: An Asian Perspective UN Women In cooperation with FAO, IFAD and WFP (2011)
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Source available at: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/csw56/egm/Rao-EP-3-EGM-RW-30Sep-2011.pdf
Access to ICTs in Asia: The Widening Broadband Divide
”90 % of future jobs will require ICT skills, so women need to be at the forefront of ICT development and development of application.”
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Presentation Notes
Urgency! Open the link to play video where UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka states the quote and talks about ICTs (2:55 min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW6c4zB_WQM (Can be inserted as a hyperlink into the slide)
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The total number of broadband subscriptions is an important indicator, if the market size and commercial opportunities are to be considered. Even if a country has a 50% fixed broadband penetration, the market remains small if the total number of broadband subscriptions is 10,000. However, from the social and digital inclusion perspectives, the higher percentage of broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants would be a far more important indicator to a given society. The geographical overview of fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 habitants across the region is shown in the map.
The Need for an Inclusive Digital Society
• Females are acutely underrepresented in the ICT field
• Less than 17% of computer science degrees are earned by female
students
• Globally women only make up 15% of top decision makers in the
technology sector
• Only 9% of apps in Europe are made by women
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Presentation Notes
Lead with: Rise in the need for ICT skills means that women need to be at the forefront of ICT development and development of application � Repeat: 90 % of future jobs will require ICT skills – so women need to catch up
Digital Access • Nearly 35% fewer women than men in South Asia and the Middle East
have Internet access, and nearly 30% across Central Asia • Globally, women are 14% less likely than men to own a mobile phone • Gender gaps are larger in Internet access than in mobile phone
ownership except in South Asia • In Asia and globally, fewer women than men have Internet access,
and the gap is the smallest in South Asia • Gender gaps in digital inclusion appear to be larger
among the poor
Source: UN High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment, Leave No One Behind: A Call to Action for Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment (2016)
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Presentation Notes
Source available at: http://www.unwomen.org/~/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/n ws/stories/2016/unhlp-womenseconomicempowerment-overview.pdf Worldwide, some 2.3 billion women do not have any Internet access, and more than 1.7 billion do not own a mobile phone - some 200 million fewer women than men have online access or mobile phones Across developing countries, 23 percent fewer women than men have access to the Internet.
ICTs and The Fourth Industrial Revolution
Video
• A
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Presentation Notes
The First Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to mechanize production. The Second used electric power to create mass production. The Third used electronics and information technology to automate production. Now a Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third, the digital revolution that has been occurring since the middle of the last century. It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.
Economic Growth and Increased Inequality • Technological innovation will lead to improved efficiency
and productivity • Open new markets and drive economic growth
• Could also yield more inequality
• Disrupt labour markets • Displace workers • Main beneficiaries tend to be those with intellectual
and physical capital vs. labour
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Presentation Notes
In the future, technological innovation will also lead to a supply-side miracle, with long-term gains in efficiency and productivity. Transportation and communication costs will drop, logistics and global supply chains will become more effective, and the cost of trade will diminish, all of which will open new markets and drive economic growth. At the same time, the revolution could yield greater inequality, particularly in its potential to disrupt labor markets. As automation substitutes for labor across the entire economy, the net displacement of workers by machines might exacerbate the gap between returns to capital and returns to labor. On the other hand, it is also possible that the displacement of workers by technology will, in aggregate, result in a net increase in safe and rewarding jobs. In addition to being a key economic concern, inequality represents the greatest societal concern associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The largest beneficiaries of innovation tend to be the providers of intellectual and physical capital—the innovators, shareholders, and investors—which explains the rising gap in wealth between those dependent on capital versus labor. Technology is therefore one of the main reasons why incomes have stagnated, or even decreased, for a majority of the population in high-income countries: the demand for highly skilled workers has increased while the demand for workers with less education and lower skills has decreased. The result is a job market with a strong demand at the high and low ends, but a hollowing out of the middle.
The ”Sharing Economy” • The ”sharing” or ”on demand” economy: Making use of
platforms that combine demand and supply to disrupt existing industry structures
• Rendered easy to use by ICTs such as smartphones • Used to convene people, assets and data – new way of
consumption • Lower the barriers to creating wealth • These platform businesses are rapidly multiplying – laundry,
parking, etc.
Presenter
Presentation Notes
A key trend is the development of technology-enabled platforms that combine both demand and supply to disrupt existing industry structures, such as those we see within the “sharing” or “on demand” economy. These technology platforms, rendered easy to use by the smartphone, convene people, assets, and data—thus creating entirely new ways of consuming goods and services in the process. In addition, they lower the barriers for businesses and individuals to create wealth, altering the personal and professional environments of workers. These new platform businesses are rapidly multiplying into many new services, ranging from laundry to shopping, from chores to parking, from massages to travel.
Virtual Worlds
Virtual Worlds • Huge part of today’s society
• Some people spend a total of
one day a week in virtual
worlds
• Multiple uses: Professional,
pleasure, education,
socializing, etc.
Definition:
Almost a particular
thing or quality
Not physically existing
as such but made by
software to appear to
do so
Presenter
Presentation Notes
Virtual worlds are a huge part of today’s society Some people are spending around a total of one day a week in virtual worlds - has taken the place of watching TV, etc. Virtual means Almost (almost a particular thing or quality), and has been extended when used in reference to technology and computers to mean: Something that can be done or seen using a computer and therefore without going anywhere or talking to anyone.
Future vision I – More feminized sector of care work?
• Nature of care work is dependent on human interaction and emotional intelligence
• Women might be driven to take again jobs identified with the bodily and emotional sphere, which would increase the gendered division of labour
• Crisis of care = society as a whole is becoming less able and willing to provide caring labour and is prompted by salary increases and more extensive outsourcing of care work
• E.g. Feminization of the migrant domestic workers
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