1. Women Living in Rural Areas:  Percentage Employed Compared to Unemployed        52 developing countries   −   most recent year 

  

Source:  ILO Special Dataset on Rural Labour Statistics, February 2011 

Analysis: Women who live in rural areas have a higher probability of being employed than of being unemployed, as compared to women living in urban areas. This is especially the case in Sub-Saharan Africa and in many countries in Asia. In Latin America and the Caribbean, even though more women work in urban areas, rural employment still plays an important role in providing jobs for women in the region. Probable reasons for this higher probability are that women living in rural areas have to provide a living for their families and therefore cannot afford to be unemployed. They must undertake work activities, mainly in the agricultural sector, in addition to the unpaid service work they also provide to their households. The majority of jobs in the rural areas and in agriculture are likely to be lacking in some elements regarding decent and productive work. The labour force situation of women in rural areas for the 52 developing countries for which data are available compares the percentage of employed women living in rural areas and the percentage of unemployed women living in rural areas in a scatter plot. The diagonal line in this chart represents a perfectly identical representation of female employment as of female unemployment (as currently defined and measured for the labour force). The majority of the country observations fall below the identical line. This means that the greater the distance from the line, the bigger the disparity between urban and rural areas in that country. The chart also shows that there are large variations in the magnitude of rural employment or unemployment to total employment or unemployment. As can be seen, the range goes from 5 percent up to close to 90 percent of total employment in rural areas.

Women’s employment status does not account for (domestic) unpaid household service work they also perform, which would be included in a measure of work statistics. Such household tasks not shared co-responsibly by men, taken together with women’s growing agricultural responsibilities and the feminization of farming that has become a major trend with male migration, HIV AIDS, etc. leave little time for women’s participation in rural business activities, which would provide additional income and resources.

Identical representation within employment as in unemployment. 

Traditional and legal regulations concerning property rights and property use in rural areas affect the differences in intra-household distribution of goods and income; differences in rights and responsibilities, wage structures, etc. These factors and women’s status in employment (a bulk of contributing (unpaid) family workers) render harsher the inequalities facing women with regard to rural enterprise development, although their capacity for rural business activities and their potential as rural entrepreneurs is apparent in their roles in households, coping with the multiplicity of tasks and duties performed. Taking managerial and economic decisions, planning and ensuring their implementation, are all operations similar to those required of business entrepreneurs that should enable women to obtain decent work and to take their active part in the mainstream economy.

See also: http://www.ilo.org/stat/lang‐‐en/index.htm 

ILO Department of Statistics Updated August 2011 

   

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