A focus on women and gender

Addressing the Gender Pay Gap

Women often earn less than men for the same roles. This pay disparity affects women’s financial stability and economic independence. By prioritizing equal pay, female workers can achieve fair wages that better reflect their skills and contributions, leading to improved financial security and greater purchasing power to support their families.

Improving Job Quality and Economic Security

Many women are employed in informal, part-time, or low-wage positions with little to no job security or benefits. For example, women are overrepresented in sectors like agriculture, retail, and domestic work, where they often face unstable employment and minimal protections. Enhancing access to decent work means women can secure full-time positions with reliable incomes, health benefits, and retirement plans, leading to more stable and sustainable employment.

Gendered division of labor and legal discrimination: nature of jobs, different tasks and different remuneration

In some states, it may be necessary to overcome legal barriers to employment: specific documents are required, and the absence of the right to work or to move freely are all obstacles to be overcome. Access to decent employment must therefore go hand in hand with questioning and action around women's political and civic participation, and legal changes. 

Division of domestic chores has to be taken in account, which encompass all the work carried out almost entirely by women and young members of the household, and which is neither remunerated nor counted, and even less valued, if not completely invisible. Women are thus often much further away from the possibility of a living wage than men, insofar as the distribution of power within society and within the household places financial management in the hands of men (husbands, fathers, uncles, etc.). This also distances them from access to all aspects of social protection (see this section). 

Governance

The evolution of gender equality policies in the workplace can be questioned, whether by analyzing national policies according to societies, the international normative framework, or on a lesser scale that of local organizations. 

To achieve this, we need to work towards the implementation or even creation of policies, legislation and normative frameworks that take into account a gender-transformative approach. One can also question the representation of women and men within decision-making and strategic structures at the level of an organization or company, in order to move towards a goal of parity, while ensuring that this is not just a façade, but acts in favor of a gender-transformative approach. 

Protecting Against Exploitation and Unsafe Conditions

Women are disproportionately affected by unsafe working conditions and exploitation, especially in sectors like domestic work, textiles, and agriculture. They often face long hours, low wages, and poor working conditions without adequate protection. By focusing on women, the Decent Work Agenda can implement stronger labour regulations, enforce health and safety standards, and create anti-harassment policies that specifically address the risks of female workers. This includes ensuring that women working in domestic or informal sectors have access to legal protections and safe working environments.

Focus on forced labor - a reality for women domestic workers

This point refers to ODD on decent work target 8.7: Eliminate forced labor, modern slavery and human trafficking. Domestic work is particularly targeted, especially when crossing borders. In this context, it is first necessary to recognize and identify the people concerned, in a context of illegal employment, forced labor, confiscation of papers, and often mistreatment. One of the first steps is therefore to correctly name and identify the women and girls who most often occupy these jobs. 

Resource : “Mobilisation des travailleuses domestiques migrantes: de la cuisine à l'Organisation internationale du travail”, Helen Schwenken, Cahiers du genre, 2011

Implementing programs for these populations in particular requires collaboration with a governance expertise, as trafficking is often linked to geopolitical elements and state structures: that requires that gender analysis to be enriched by a socio-political analysis. If we focus on the national level and not on cross-border forced labor, it is necessary to consider the strong resistance to which such a project may expose, as the absence of rights for domestic workers economically benefits a large part of the population, taking into account the systematic presence of domestic staff in sub-Saharan societies, including among the poorer classes. Moreover, investing in decent livelihoods helps to avoid the circle of economic-sexual exchange, abuse and exploitation. 

Harassment in the workplace

Decent work also includes a mental health dimension, and the fight against all forms of discrimination in the workplace, and even upstream of it, if we think of recruitment. In addition to economic empowerment, offering decent working conditions enables people to achieve good mental health and combat gender-based inequalities and all forms of discrimination. A secure job, in working conditions that guarantee the safety of individuals, boosts self-esteem, enables people to become involved in social and civic relations thanks to increased confidence in themselves and in others, and thus contributes to serene social relations. Improving working conditions thus helps to strengthen bonds between workers and boosts everyone's performance, while also contributing to the pacification of social ties.

Conversely, failure to guarantee decent working conditions can only lead to conflict, tension, deteriorating mental health and withdrawal, and thus contribute to the deterioration of social ties. 

Under these conditions, one needs to pay particular attention to all forms of harassment in the workplace, including sexual harassment, which particularly affects women. In its analyses, the WHO suggests analyzing situations in the workplace by gender, to identify the characteristics of harassment based on gender discrimination (Example of a guideline)

Enhancing Family and Community Well-being

Women’s earnings directly impact their families' well-being. When women hold decent jobs, they can afford better healthcare, educational opportunities, and housing for their children. For example, a woman working in a secure job with a fair wage can invest in her children’s education and healthcare, which can lead to improved long-term outcomes for her family and contribute to the overall prosperity of her community.

Social protection systems can also play a significant role in reducing gender inequality. 

Gender-responsive social protection helps women overcome vulnerabilities related to:

• Discrimination: address systemic biases that affect women’s access to resources and opportunities.
• Domestic responsibilities:
  • Provide support for caregiving and household responsibilities that disproportionately impact women.
  • Address specific needs for women, such as maternity income/leave—either by exploring pilot initiatives in countries where they do not yet exist or by reinforcing existing institutional systems
• Unequal labour market access: enhance women’s participation and conditions in the workforce.
• Reproductive rights:
  • Ensure access to healthcare and rights related to reproductive health.
  • Importance of childcare for women to be able to work

Informal workers 

One can also question the links that organize social protection and decent work within the framework of social protection: one of the key points of programs on decent work and gender is to formalize work, to frame it, to make it legal, so that both women and men have access to social protection. Sometimes, however, it comes up against resistance, not least because for women, informal work allows a degree of freedom in managing their income, independent of the vertical power of the men in the family. 

The fact of having to pay social security contributions can also frighten people away from formal employment, particularly in politically unstable societies, where the future is not guaranteed, and where the move to formal employment may in fact represent the loss of savings.

For women, who in many societies are primarily responsible for feeding their children on a day-to-day basis, this difficulty in projecting themselves into the future can keep them in these informal work situations, even if they lose out in the long term. This issue is evident in both rural and urban settings, as the informal economy encompasses a wide range of activities. According to the OECD, the informal economy includes all activities that are not, or are only marginally, registered, thus taking into account both the nature of businesses and the people who work informally in formal businesses. In all cases, the common denominator is the absence of social protection.

 A gender analysis is, therefore, essential prior to any project on decent work in a given society, as the distribution of jobs and the very distribution between formal and informal work will depend on gender norms. 

In a society where gender stereotypes and inequalities are strong, women working in the informal sector are left to fend for themselves, with no guaranteed income, no safety net in the event of illness or unemployment, and no protection in the event of harassment at work or violence.

In urban environments, women face additional challenges, including various forms of violence.: women can be the target of arrest, theft or racketeering at any time, with no means of defending their rights (e.g. street vendors, market stallholders, etc.). 

In an urban setting, the physical safety of women workers is not guaranteed for many reasons, and their isolation can be greater than in a rural environment. In the latter, the network of acquaintances is stronger, more powerful and longer-lasting. The high degree of mobility experienced or desired by women working informally in urban areas often deprives them of solidarity networks. 

Occupational segregation and difficulties of access to the job market

One of the key points of gender in decent work is to address inequalities of opportunities in the workplace. Many projects are already working on feminizing sectors of activity considered to be reserved for men, and this needs to be perpetuated as part of a global approach. We can think of strategies that implement the will to feminize all positions offered by organizations as a whole, through practices that disseminate proposals in universities, by women's rights organizations, but also through joint programs with the education sector. One of the difficulties is often that very few women apply for jobs considered to be gendered, so it's essential to start raising awareness of gender equality right from the school system. 

Gender equality can also be questioned in relation to forms of employee representation, in particular trade unionism, by analyzing on the one hand the presence of women in trade union structures, and on the other the capacity of these structures to represent them and to consider the particularities of women's work. This raises the question of gender relations at work, but these will of course depend on the gender norms in force in a given society. In this way, the workplace merely represents the cognitive structures of a society and the individuals who make it up. Trade unions are no exception. 

The place of women in trade unions can thus be analyzed as a factor in the permanence of cognitive frameworks relating to gender that are depreciative and conducive to inequality. Indeed, women are generally under-represented in these union structures, despite, in Europe at least, a strong feminization of the membership, as shown, for instance, by R. Silvera's research paper, “L'égalité de genre dans le syndicalisme : quelques expériences européennes” (Informations sociales, 2009). One therefore need to question the organizational processes and informal norms that contribute to this exclusion. 

The other side of this question concerns the way in which trade unions take on women's interests, both in their approach to gender-based difficulties and discriminations, in their demands, and in their modes of action.

According to the FAO, women account for 45% of the agricultural workforce in developing countries. In rural areas, the issue of free labor is even more acute than in urban areas. In fact, they may work on other people's plots, but also on their own, without ever receiving any financial gain from the work. They are particularly active in the marketing of food products, but these earnings are often confiscated. What's more, what is considered domestic work in rural areas is neither recognized, nor valued, nor remunerated (clearing land, gathering wood, fetching water, preparing food, etc.). 

Working conditions in rural areas are precarious, difficult and tiring (long working hours, tedious and repetitive gestures, physical tasks), and take place in a context far removed from any form of social protection, while gender inequalities expose women and girls to greater risks of violence or exploitation. Projects carried out in rural areas must also take into account gender inequalities in education, as girls are more likely than boys to drop out of school to help with domestic chores. On the other hand, seasonal harvesting and heavy agricultural work require the requisitioning of young boys. 

Decent work projects in the agricultural sector must take this gender approach into account, and not overlook the exploitation of women and children in particular. Partnerships can be forged here with economic incubators, but also with the entire green jobs sector. 

In addition, the land issue is intrinsically linked to those of decent work in the agricultural and rural world: projects must systematically integrate actions in favor of recognition of the land rights of women, who can easily see their rights unrecognized, or even flouted in cases of widowhood or celibacy. Here again, the link must be made with programs that focus more on governance and public and administrative authorities (see Governance section). 

• Find out more about decent work in rural areas.

International frameworks, such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), emphasise gender equality as a key component of global development. Specifically, Goal 5 aims to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Addressing women’s specific needs in the labour market helps align with these goals, promoting policies that support women’s leadership and participation in decision-making processes. For instance, advocating for equal representation in workplace leadership roles and policy-making can ensure that women’s perspectives and needs are considered in shaping labour standards and practices. 

In alignement with the EU Gender Action Plan III, development programmes must focus on integration of specific results on gender. Programmes with at least one deliberate result and indicator on gender equality score 1 (G1 marker). The G1 marker corresponds to : 

• The integration of a specific result (output or intermediate outcome, as the case may be) aimed at reducing gender inequalities, to which must correspond a set of indicators (gender-specific and disaggregated) and activities, with dedicated budgets and resources, and,
• A concrete consideration of gender in all the other outputs of this intervention.

Programmes focusing on strengthening gender equality dynamics get a score 2. G2 marker requires that, in addition to the above criteria, the specific outcome/objective of the intervention is aimed at reducing gender inequalities.). 

Merely avoiding reinforcing existing inequalities scores 0.

Tackling gender inequalities in decent work programs : the first step

A gender analysis, which identifies the root causes of gender inequalities and differences between and among women and men in terms of their relative position and power in society, distribution of resources, opportunities and constraints in a given context, is therefore a necessary step in the programming and formulation of a project. A gender analysis should be carried out before a project is formulated, or, if this has not yet been done, as soon as it is implemented. 

This analysis enables a rapid, targeted assessment of gender issues in a given context, at a given time and with a given objective. In addition, the gender analysis will enable us to acquire sex-disaggregated data, which will subsequently be enriched during the monitoring and evaluation processes. 

This disaggregated data can quickly reveal that a department, administration or decision-making body is failing to take into account the specific needs of women and girls, or is excluding part of the population. In such cases, it is necessary to readjust and readapt the project in progress. 

Framework and key questions for a gender analysis

Specific points to be addressed for a in the context of decent work: 

• Analyze the potential obstacles that women and adolescent girls may encounter in accessing and participating in the workplace and the various professional branches (gendered occupations, level of education, difficulties in accessing information, level of skills, authorization from family/husband, etc.)
• Analyze power dynamics within the household and within the couple: understand how economic and financial decisions are made, and the degree of autonomy of each member, particularly in terms of participation in IGAs
• Study the degree of women's economic empowerment: existence of advocacy trade associations ? Access to bank loans?
• Assess the potential risks of involving women and adolescent girls in IGAs, skills-building activities and vocational training, and consider mitigation measures
• Mapping of associations and potential partners for training development, schools, training centers, as well as administrative and political bodies that could hinder or encourage the development of such activities
• Assessing the potential of each economic area, and the activities that could be undertaken by women, but also by young people in general and people who are far from employment. 

• Formalization of work: women in particular may reject it in the absence of medium- to long-term prospects, preferring to retain this form of financial independence.
• Greater access to goods and financial availability for women can give rise to resentment within the couple or extended family, and contribute to an increase in violence against them. Projects must therefore be accompanied by efforts to raise awareness of gender norms, in order to combat the root causes of inequality and avoid reproducing or contributing to violence.
• In the case of decent work projects or the implementation of IGAs with displaced/refugee populations, this can increase violence against them on the part of host communities.
• Access to decent work is often difficult, if not impossible, for women who have no one to look after their children. This applies in particular to female heads of household. In this context, and to guarantee inclusive participation in this type of project, we can think of childcare services to be set up in parallel, but also plan training hours according to the availability of women of all statuses. 

• POGGI, C, & WALTMANN, J (2019). La (re)production des inégalités de genre dans le monde du travail : des discriminations légales à l’autonomisation. La (re)production des inégalités de genre dans le monde du travail : des discriminations légales à l’autonomisation. Éditions AFD, pp. 1-36.
• « Mobilisation des travailleuses domestiques migrantes : de la cuisine à l'Organisation internationale du travail », Helen Schwenken, Cahiers du genre, 2011
• EU Gender Action Plan III
• « Genre, féminisme et syndicalisme », Cécile Guillaume, Sophie Pochic, et Rachel Silvera, travail, genre et sociétés, 2013
• « Syndicalisme et représentation des femmes au travail », Cécile Guillaume, Sophie Pochic. Syndicalisme et représentation des femmes au travail, in Maruani, M. (dir.). Travail et genre dans le monde. L’état des savoirs, La Découverte, pp.379-387, 2013