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SPF and gender equality.docx
In 2011, governments’, employers’ and workers’ delegates of the ILO’s then 183 member States, gathered at the International Labour Conference ILC, called for the rapid
implementation of national social protection floors as part of national social security coverage extension strategies seeking to provide higher levels of protection.
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In 2012, the ILC adopted the Social Protection Floors Recommendation No. 202, which provides
guidance to the now 185 ILO member States in implementing their national social protection floors and building comprehensive social security systems. This wide
international recognition illustrates the important role played by SPFs in reducing and preventing poverty and containing inequality. The Recommendation sets out that national
social protection floors should comprise at least the following basic social security guarantees:
a access to a nationally defined set of goods and services, constituting essential health
care, including maternity care, that meets the criteria of availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality;
b basic income security for children, at least at a nationally defined minimum level, providing access to nutrition, education, care and any other necessary goods and
services; c
basic income security, at least at a nationally defined minimum level, for persons in active age who are unable to earn sufficient income, in particular in cases of sickness,
unemployment, maternity and disability; and
d basic income security, at least at a nationally defined minimum level, for older persons.
Achieving universal coverage of the population in each of these basic social security guarantees is particularly relevant with regard to achieving gender equality. In fact, the
Recommendation explicitly calls for the application of the principle of “non- discrimination, gender equality and responsiveness to special needs”.
Accordingly, this working paper explores some of the linkages between gender inequality and social protection, and assesses the significant contribution that social
protection floors can make to promoting gender equality. The following chapter briefly summarizes some of the linkages between gender inequality and access to social
protection. The paper then discusses the contribution of national social protection floors as powerful tools in reducing gender inequalities and women’s poverty. Finally, the last
chapter summarizes recent developments in the international legal framework relevant to gender equality and social protection floors.
This working paper highlights some of the relevant aspects with regard to the complex relationship between gender equality and social protection. The on-going work of
the ILO and its partners can help to better understand how social protection schemes can best contribute to redressing inequalities, ensuring equal treatment and non-discrimination,
enhancing women’s empowerment, facilitating women’s participation in decent and productive employment, and in promoting gender equality.
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ILO: Resolution and conclusions concerning the recurrent discussion on social protection social security, International Labour Conference, 100th Session, Geneva, 2011. See also ILO: Social
security for social justice and a fair globalization: Recurrent discussion on social protection social security under the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization, International Labour
Conference, 100
th
Session, Geneva, 2011.
SPF and gender equality.docx
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2. Gender inequalities and access
to social protection
Ensuring effective and equitable access to social protection is key to helping achieve gender equality. Social protection schemes, as well as wider social security systems, can
contribute to women’s economic empowerment and greater gender equality, where they are designed, implemented and monitored in a gender-responsive way. On the other hand,
gender-blind schemes and systems can perpetuate unequal gender relations and may even exacerbate them in some cases.
The following sections highlight some of the gender inequalities in societies and economies that can manifest themselves in unequal access to social protection.
2.1. Labour market situation of women and social protection coverage gaps
Women’s generally lower rates of labour force participation as compared to men, gendered employment patterns, and women’s greater representation in the informal
economy result in lower rates of social security coverage of women. In particular, women tend to benefit less from coverage of contributory social security schemes,
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as such schemes are usually linked to formal employment.
The obstacles to women’s equitable access to contributory social security schemes are two-fold See Razavi et al., 2012. First, women are over-represented in low productivity,
low paid and poorly protected jobs World Bank, 2011, p. 79 and pp. 198-239; ILO, 2013.
They are more likely than men to work in the informal economy, in casual, temporary or part-time employment and tend to earn less. In many countries, and particularly in
developing countries, formal employment tends to be found in sectors where men are over- represented, such as manufacturing or financial services. Sectors where women are over or
equally represented such as personal services, retail and hospitality tend to be prone to precarious forms of employment. Women are also highly represented in sectors that tend to
be poorly protected by labour and social security legislation, such as domestic work
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or agriculture. Second, women bear the overwhelming responsibility for unpaid work, such as
housework, or care-giving for children and other dependents older relatives or relatives with disabilities. For example, in Pakistan, women spend more than twice as much time
on housework per day than men do 5.5 hours as opposed to 2.5 hours World Bank, 2011. Time poverty
See, for example, Lawson, n.d., related to unequal division of labour with men in the home, constitutes an important obstacle to increased engagement in paid
work for many women. Some countries offer incentives for more equal sharing of unpaid care work through paternity leave or incentives for a more equal sharing of parental leave
between mothers and fathers, for instance, as well as measures to recognize care work to a certain extent in the calculation of pension entitlements, which can partly redress existing
inequalities.
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For definitions and data, see ILO, 2010a and the Statistics pages on the GESS platform at http:www.social-protection.orggimigessRessShowRessource.do?ressourceId=15263.
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See the Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 No. 189 and the Domestic Workers Recommendation, 2011 No. 201. For related publications, see, for example, ILO, 2012b and ILO,
2012c.
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SPF and gender equality.docx
In many countries, women experience lower labour force participation rates a 26 gender differential globally in 2009.
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Additionally, as mentioned above, when they are in work, women tend to work in more precarious employment, in the informal economy and
in unpaid jobs. Figure 1 gives an overview of the representation of women in wage and salaried employment which tends to be relatively well protected, in self-employment and
as contributing family workers which tend to be relatively poorly protected. Across all regions, women are strongly represented in non-waged employment. For instance, in 2011
the proportion of women as contributing family workers in total employment reached 40.2 of working women in sub-Saharan Africa and 39.4 of working women in South
Asia against, respectively, 19.7 and 11.1 of working men Ibid.. As a result of their lower labour force participation and irregular employment patterns, women are less likely
to be covered by contributory social insurance schemes than men.
Figure 1: Employment by status as percentage of total employment, regional estimates, in 2011
Source: ILO: World Social Security Report 2013, forthcoming.
Many women are not in a position to contribute to social insurance at all due to the nature of their employment, or have irregular contribution records andor low contributions
that lead to low benefit levels or - in the worst cases - no derived benefit at all. The persistent inequalities in earnings between men and women further enhance the gap in the
level of benefits received by women in some contributory schemes, which calculate benefit as a proportion of past wages.
Figure 2 shows the share of women and men contributing to the main social insurance scheme as a percentage of total employment by sex and area of residence. In most of the
countries for which data are available, there is a clear gender gap with regard to contributions paid. In general, men are more likely to contribute though Nicaragua and
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See http:kilm.ilo.orgkilmnet.
