Research Paper on Women Share in Labor Market
Women Share in Labor Market – In the labor market, women’s share in professional work in the Third World is reported to be the highest in all regions. The proportion of women among professionals averages 46.5 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean, 34.3 percent in Asia and 23.8 percent in Africa. Women’s relatively high share of professional jobs can be explained largely by their predominance in two professions – teaching and nursing.
For instance in Guatemala, 75 percent of professionals are teachers; in Lima, Peru and Mauritania teachers constitute 74 percent and 69 percent of professionals respectively. Women’s share of administrative and managerial jobs is extremely low (less than five percent) in most countries of the Middle East and North Africa as well as some countries in Asia.
These are positions of responsibility where many of the main development decisions are taken. The low representation of women in these positions means, therefore, that women do not have a very significant role in making decisions regarding development planning.
Women Share in Labor Market
There also exists a universal framework,that “regards women as inferior bearers of labour and generally defines their work as the property of men”, In developing socialist countries such as Cuba, China, Algeria, South Yemen and Tanzania which strive to build equitable societies, women are encouraged to enter the labor force in great numbers.
But despite the commitment to ensure equal employment opportunities for women in these countries, Molyneux argues that the “sate colludes in the production of a gendered labor force by permitting fundamental inequalities to persist in both domestic and public sphere”.
Prejudices against women and hostility towards women’s full participation in public life inhibit their advancement.
Although legal reforms in socialist countries have brought about a significant improvement in women’s position in the areas of family law and the laws of personal status, most of these governments have inherited laws that embody substantial discrimination against women.
Thus, as in capitalist countries, the majority of women in socialist societies are concentrated in gender-specific occupations, which tend to be lower paid than those associated with the male labor force.
