Women still poorly paid, says new study

WORKING FOR HER MONEY: A Ugandan woman coils recycled paper at a weekly meeting of the Ushindi Women's Initiative in Kampala, Uganda. Today is International Women's Day, marking an ongoing battle to ensure equal rights for half the globe's population on issues such as work, voting and abortion. -- PHOTO: AFP

Global labour body finds women likely to be in poor jobs and UN calls for better funding.

GENEVA - WOMEN are in the workplace like never before but they are still more vulnerable than men to unemployment and low-paid jobs, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said yesterday, ahead of International Women's Day today.
The report comes even as the United Nations drew attention to violence against women and called for nations to spend more on their pressing needs, besides jobs and health care.
'Investing in women helps us fight all the challenges of our time - from poverty, hunger and illiteracy to environmental degradation and disease, including HIV/AIDS,' UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said during a meeting of a UN commission on gender equality and advancement of women on Thursday.
UN officials have also been urging nations to mark Women's Day with renewed efforts to end rape, forced prostitution and other violence against women.
Ms Joanne Sandler, acting director of the UN Development Fund for Women, has called on member nations to seize the chance 'to break new ground in the struggle for women's rights'.
Oscar-winner Reese Witherspoon also lent her star power by pitching a fund-raising drive by US cosmetics giant Avon for the purpose.
But, violence is not the only problem facing women. The ILO report said women are more likely to be stuck in low productivity jobs which are poorly paid and precarious even after being fairly educated.
'More women have access to education and are entering the labour market later,' said economist Dorothea Schmidt, one of the report's authors. The report points out that female labour activity reached 52.5 per cent against 78.8 per cent for men last year, but female labour is not enough to pull communities out of poverty.
Women in sub-Saharan Africa have the highest labour activity rate worldwide at 62.6 per cent but poverty remains widespread, the report found. 'This shows a severe dysfunction of the labour market in the region,' the ILO said.
On the positive side, a report released at the UN said that the number of women serving in parliaments around the world crept up to a new record this year.
'It is progress, but if you ask me it is very slow progress,' said Mr Anders Johansson, the Secretary-General of Inter-Parliamentary Union.
'If you try to look beyond, down the road to see when do we reach gender equality in parliament, it is still very, very far off into the distant future, unfortunately.'
ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS

One of the millennium goals is to achieve gender equality. Women in many countries especially the LDCs are still a largely disadvantaged group. I think girls in Singapore are really blessed. We're given equal opportunity to education as well as jobs. Though in some situations, there is still discrimination, it doesn't really matter. Girls, no fear, speak up for your rights and independence.