Appropriate Policy for Gender Equality in Employment: Insights from the ILO Interdepartmental Project on Equality for Women in Employment*
| Date | 01 December 1996 |
| DOI | 10.1177/135822919600200202 |
| Author | Eugenia Date-Bah |
| Published date | 01 December 1996 |
International
Journal
of
Discrimination
and
the
Law,
1996,
Vol.
2,
pp.
3-22
1358-2291/96
$10
©
1996
A B
Academic
Publishers. Printed
in
Great Britain
APPROPRIATE
POLICY
FOR
GENDER
EQUALITY
IN
EMPLOYMENT:
INSIGHTS
FROM
THE
ILO
INTERDEPARTMENTAL
PROJECT
ON
EQUALITY
FOR
WOMEN
IN
EMPLOYMENT*
EUGENIA
DATE-BAH
Senior Technical Specialist
on
Women and Gender Questions,
International Labour Office (fLO), Geneva
ABSTRACT
Using insights from the recent ILO Interdepartmental Project on Equality for
Women in Employment, the article portrays gender inequality in the work situation
as
a complex issue requiring a number
of
interlinked strategies within a compre-
hensive proactive policy framework for its effective tackling. Interventions are
required in: legal framework and enforcement; labour market, training and the gen-
eral macro and micro-economic context; working conditions and reconciliation of
work and family responsibilities; social security coverage; women's representation
in decision-making; women's mobilization and participation in workers' and
employers' organizations; and roles and concerted action by governments,
employers, workers' organizations and other relevant bodies
of
civil society. Relev-
ant statistical measurement instruments, concepts and up-to-date sex-disaggregated
data are necessary for accurate assessment and monitoring. The creation
of
a sup-
portive legislative framework, for example, involves reflecting gender equality in
labour laws
as
well
as
in family and marriage, inheritance, contract, property own-
ership, national constitution and customary laws since the latter also influence
women's economic situation and in some situations are even more important than
the former.
1. INTRODUCTION
An
appropriate policy for equality in employment should tackle
inequalities based not only on gender but also race, ethnicity, reli-
gion, and physical disability. While the ILO's work on equality has
covered all these areas, this paper examines the issue only with
respect to gender since it is based on a particular ILO initiative,
called the ILO Interdepartmental Project on Equality for Women in
* Paper presented at the 8th Annual Labour Law Conference, Durban, South
Africa, July, 1995.
4
Employment, that exclusively covered this specific area. The project
provided the ILO with a unique opportunity to assemble a valuable
data base, on both the developing and developed regions
of
the world
and in relation to some
of
the critical issues concerning gender equal-
ity as well as the required institutional framework and the different
levels
of
intervention. The data could guide the elaboration
of
an
appropriate policy geared to the promotion
of
gender equality in the
world
of
work.
The past two decades have been remarkable in many respects in
the area
of
women and gender equality in the world
of
work.
Of
sig-
nificance is the substantial increase in women's participation in paid
employment in most regions
of
the world, compared to the stagnation
and even reduction in men's participation in this sphere. A number
of
governments, enterprises, trade unions and other relevant bodies
have adopted and tried to implement gender equality policies. This
positive development has been in some ways linked to the growing
gender sensitivity, the calls in a number
of
fora for such policies to
be adopted, these bodies' wish to improve their public image, and the
growing realization
of
the economic benefits
of
such a policy. Other
factors that have also contributed to this trend are: the level
of
insight gained from the large quantity
of
empirical data gathered;
obligations emanating from international measures adopted such as
conventions (the United Nations Convention on the Elimination
of
all
Forms
of
Discrimination against Women and various ILO standards);
technical assistance projects and diverse strategies implemented; the
United Nations world conferences organized such as in Mexico
(1975), Copenhagen (1980), Nairobi (1985) and Beijing (1995); the
wide range
of
other meetings convened at the national, subregional,
regional and international levels to deliberate on some
of
the critical
gender equality issues; and the work
of
the institutions and machiner-
ies set up at the various levels to promote gender equality and
women's status in society.
These dramatic developments have provided considerable
insights in terms
of
the specific dimensions
of
the gender issues in
the world
of
work, the enabling environment and other elements that
should constitute an effective policy for its tackling and the fact that
more than governmental action is required including concrete roles
of
the different actors and also tripartite dialogue. Furthermore, they
have clearly indicated that women's situation in the world
of
work is
critical for their overall status in society. The promotion
of
equality
should, inter alia, eliminate the differences in opportunity and treat-
ment between men and women, the discrimination in the work situ-
ation and barriers that hinder women's vertical and horizontal mobil-
ity and entry into the so-called traditional 'male' jobs at the different
levels as well as ensure gender sensitivity in every facet
of
the work
To continue reading
Request your trial