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Across the world, women are striving in low-wage jobs where they are usually not paid as much as men.
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CAIRO — Millions of women joining the workforce continue to be treated as a second class, stuck in low-wage jobs and paid less than their male counterparts, the UN labor rights watchdog warned on Thursday, March 8.
"Throughout most regions and many occupations women earn less money for the same job," Juan Somavia, chief of the International Labour Organization (ILO), said in a report marking the International Women's Day and posted on its website.
The report, titled "Global Employment Trends for Women", cautions that today's women are disproportionately employed in sectors where wages tend to be lower.
"Far too many women are still stuck in the lowest paying jobs, often in the informal economy with insufficient legal protection, little or no social protection and a high degree of insecurity."
The 20-page report asserts that even in 'typically female occupations such as nursing and teaching, gender wage equality is lacking.
It maintains that discrimination combined with growing numbers of women in work are leading to the "feminization of working poverty."
Women make up about 60 percent of the world's "working poor", or those who make less than a dollar a day, according to the ILO.
Worse still, women are more likely to be unemployed than men, it stressed.
The ILO indicated that gender imbalance in the workforce was most notable in the Middle East and North Africa, where just over 20 percent of working-age women were employed, compared to 70 percent of working-age men.
"The pace with which gaps are closing is very slow."
The world celebrates the International Women's Day every year on March 8. This year's theme is "Ending impunity for violence against women".
In a message marking the day, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned that women and girls were victims of countless acts of violence in every segment of society.
The celebration dates back to March 8, 1857, when the women garment workers of New York protested against appalling work environment and poor wages.
Pay Gap
Surprisingly, the trend of bias against women in the work field is not confined to the third world countries as generally believed, according to the report.
"Even in many European countries, women are still disproportionately employed in sectors where wages/earnings are lower and have been declining."
The ILO found that 60 percent of women workers in the United Kingdom are in ten occupations, with the majority concentrated in "the five Cs": caring, cashiering, catering, cleaning and clerical.
"Many of these jobs are in smaller non-unionized firms, where women have less bargaining power and less possibility to improve their economic situation vis-à-vis their male counterparts."
The European Commission warned on Wednesday, March 7, that the yawning pay gap between men and women across Europe has remained virtually unchanged.
"While women are outperforming men in educational achievement and boosting Europe's overall employment rate, they are still underpaid, earning on average 15 percent less than men for every hour worked."
The inequality is also reflected in another developed part of the world, the United States.
Catalyst, a New York-based research organization, said that women remain greatly underrepresented in top executive positions in corporate America.
"At the current rate of change, it could take women 47 years to reach parity with men as corporate officers of Fortune 500 companies."
Clickhereto read the ILO report in full.
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