Women continue to work longer hours per day than men in both paid and unpaid work, says the International Labour Organisation (ILO). In both high and low income countries, on average, women carry out at least two and a half times more unpaid household and care work than men. In developed economies, employed women work eight hours and nine minutes in paid and unpaid work, compared to seven hours and 36 minutes worked by men. In developing economies, that is nine hours and 20 minutes and eight hours and seven minutes respectfully.
The result of these findings reveal that, across the world, women, who represent less than 40% of total employment, make up to 57% of those working shorter hours and on a part-time basis due to limits on women’s capacity to increase their hours in paid work.
The findings form part of the ILO’s Women at Work: Trends 2016 report which examined data for up to 178 countries and concluded that inequality between women and men persists across a wide spectrum of the global labour market—this is despite improved levels of education amongst women over the past few decades.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
