Session Background Note

Improving Gender Equality and Quality Employment Opportunities for Women in APEC Economies

1. Overview

Over the past decade, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies1 have witnessed dynamic economic changes. However, economic gains have not always translated into equal opportunities for women and men and progress varies across countries. The Asia and the Pacific region2 still presents some of the widest global gender gaps, with South Asia exhibiting excessively low female labour force participation rates. This indicates deep-rooted obstacles to women’s economic opportunities and gender equality. Even if women’s employment opportunities have generally improved, their access to decent work remains elusive. Women continue to face horizontal and vertical occupational segregation, and in many countries they remain overrepresented in “low-skilled” and low productivity sectors, in informal work arrangements and as contributing family members. As a result, many women lack access to labour protection and social protection, which further hampers them from realizing their full potential, with severe and multifaceted negative impacts on economic growth and well-being. If the status quo is maintained and gender gaps are not addressed, countries will face sizeable opportunity costs. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that greater gender equality could increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Asia and the Pacific by as much as 4.7 per cent in 2030 (using the baseline of 2015).3

Investing in women is one of the most effective drivers of gender equality and inclusive, sustainable economic growth.4 Gender equality has been recognized as a key area by APEC for over 20 years, after being introduced into APEC’s Action Program in 1996. Since then, the economic empowerment and participation of women has been increasingly acknowledged, and in the 2011 APEC Women and the Economy Summit, a need to measure progress was identified as an important means to tackle the barriers to the full economic participation of women. In 2016, APEC Leaders made a commitment to advance women’s participation in the economy, which will be followed up by a workshop on quality employment opportunities for women, held 6-7 March 2017 in Bangkok.5 This session note provides a background to this APEC workshop and gives an overview of gender gaps in the world of work, identifies measures and policies in APEC economies for gender equality, and points to gender transformative policies that could contribute to realizing the unmet potential of women in the APEC economies.6

2. Gender gaps in the labour market

A large body of research shows that the intensifying rate of women’s entry into the labour market has been a strong motor of global growth and

competitiveness.7 Nonetheless, globally, women are nearly 27 percentage points less likely to participate in the labour market than

March 2017

Improving Gender Equality and Quality Employment Opportunities for Women in APEC

men, a gap which varies across regions. For the Asia and the Pacific region, the labour force participation rate for women is 32 percentage points lower than men’s, standing at 47 per cent. The gaps are highest in South Asia, at over 50 percentage points. In the Americas,8 where 54 per cent of women are active in the labour market, this gap is at above 20 percentage points9 (see Figure 1).While there has been some progress in narrowing gender gaps in participation in Northern America, which has among the lowest gaps in the world, they have been widening in South Asia and East Asia during the past two decades, and progress for the Asia and the Pacific as a whole is slow and uneven. In addition to lower rates of labour force participation in certain Asian sub-regions, women also have a higher propensity to be unemployed. The gender gap in employment rates was prevalent in all Asian sub-regions, except in Eastern Asia, where the male unemployment rate was higher than that of females by almost a percentage point.10

Figure 1: Labour force participation rates, by sub-region & sex (2016)

Source: ILO Trends Econometrics Models, November 2016

However, labour force participation does not provide the full story, and the quality of work and economic opportunities availed by women are also important to consider. The most recent available ILO data reveals that in 2015-16, the Latin America and the

Caribbean labour markets faced increasing unemployment – at a faster pace than in the 2008-09 financial crisis – and this has worsened the quality of employment. This has a greater impact on women than on men, and youth unemployment has increased sharply.11 The recent data contrasts the previous decade’s progress, during which women’s participation in the labour force grew considerably; from 45 per cent in 1995 to 53 per cent in 2015. This is likely related to improved education and health elements, including declining fertility, as well as to the rise in subsidized childcare provision experienced in the region.12

Unequal distribution of unpaid care and household work and deficient care services are root causes of gender inequalities at workWomen’s participation in the labour market is constrained due to uneven share of unpaid care and household work. Globally, the gender differences in hours per day spent in total work have decreased, largely because women spend less time on unpaid work while spending more time on paid work. In the United States, for example, women spend 19 minutes less per day on unpaid work than a few years ago, and nine minutes more on paid work.13 Still, the time women invest in unpaid care and domestic work exceeds that of men across the globe; by almost three times in China; over three times more in Japan and Mexico, and five times more in the Republic of Korea.14

Further, with rapidly ageing societies and growing populations, many countries face shortages of long-term care workers. The Asia and the Pacific region presents the world’s biggest shortages, a demand which will continue to increase. As women take up the bulk of unpaid childcare and eldercare, this shrinks the formal

Improving Gender Equality and Quality Employment Opportunities for Women in APEC

workforce and limits their career choices. This has negative implications on countries’ economic performance. Therefore, to achieve a higher labour force participation of women and sustain economic growth, countries should consider increasing the provision of accessible and affordable care, and promote a more balanced distribution of unpaid care between women and men. The ILO anticipates that in contrast to most members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN),15 where the labour force is expected to grow by 25 to 35 per cent until 2030, a negative or close-to-zero growth path is foreseen in China, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Thailand.16

Box 1: Investing in the Care EconomyIn two recent publications by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)17, a gender analysis of employment stimulus in seven high-income18 and seven emerging19 economies in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has been conducted. They show how public investments in paid care jobs generate large economic and gender equality benefits. Both reports reveal that investing in social infrastructure would increase productivity; address the care provision deficit; reduce gender inequality, with several positive gender equality outcomes in both paid and unpaid work; and improve people’s quality of life.The report on high-income economies estimates that if two per cent of GDP was invested in the care industry, it would create 600,000 new jobs for women and men in Australia, 3.5 million jobs in Japan, and nearly 13 million jobs in the United States. This would increase the overall employment rate by 4.0, 4.3 and 6.1 percentage points in Australia, Japan and the United States, respectively, and as a larger share of those new jobs would be taken up by women, the gender gap in employment would decrease by 20 per cent in Australia, 10 per cent in Japan, and by half in the United States. (In comparison, investing a similar amount in construction industries would create only around half as many jobs and instead increase the gender

gap in employment).20 Emerging economies would also face progress from investment in the health and care sector equal to two per cent of GDP. In China, it would generate as much as 24 million new jobs, and in Indonesia, almost 2.8 million jobs. The employment rate would increase by 2.4 and 1.8 percentage points in China and Indonesia, respectively. (In both countries, investment in health and care would create almost 25 per cent more jobs than a similar investment in construction).21

The absence of universal care services further blocks women’s capacity to access decent work. While available and affordable childcare solutions, flexible working arrangements and other measures to balance work and family life are crucial for all workers, it creates a particular impact on women. Today, young women and men tend to have greater expectations for achieving work-life balance, flexibility and mobility than previous generations have had.22 Therefore, to meet this demand, work-life balance policies and measures by governments and enterprises will be essential. Research has found that work-life balance policies and measures are associated with increased productivity and better business performance.23

Women are often in vulnerable and informal employment, taking up jobs of lower qualityOver 46 per cent of the world’s female and male workers, and around 54 per cent in Asia and the Pacific, are in vulnerable employment (i.e. own-account work and unpaid family work) (see Figure 2). Women in the Asia and the Pacific region tend to be overrepresented in unpaid care and household work, in particular in Southern Asia, South-Eastern Asia and the Pacific. Estimates suggest that as many as one in thirteen female wage earners in Asia and the Pacific are domestic workers, many whom are

Improving Gender Equality and Quality Employment Opportunities for Women in APEC

migrants. Like other groups of vulnerable workers, they are often working in informality, with low pay, excessive working hours and high levels of precariousness.24 Only about 12 per cent of domestic workers have the right to a minimum wage in the region.25

The domination of domestic work is even bigger for women in Latin America and the Caribbean, where over 18 million women are domestic workers, representing above one in four of all female wage earners. As much as 92 per cent of the region’s domestic workers are women.26

Figure 2: Status in employment, by sub-region &

sex (2016)

Source: ILO Trends Econometrics Models, November 2016

The ILO estimates that worldwide, only just above five per cent of workers who are in vulnerable employment have access to contributory social protection measures, such as pensions, unemployment benefits or parental leave. Over half of the workers in non-agricultural employment across regions with low- and middle-income countries are in informal employment. These trends are firmly entrenched in countries’ inability to create enough formal, decent jobs and livelihood opportunities.27 Efforts should be made to recognize, respect and value the work performed by women in the informal economy, including those in agriculture, migrant workers and domestic workers, and to integrate them into labour and social protection

policies so that they can gain access to coverage for unemployment, pensions, benefits and parental benefits. Some recent policy measures are highlighted in Box II.Box II: Progress in domestic workers’ rights Hong Kong (China) and the Philippines

are the only nations in the Asia and the Pacific region in which domestic workers have the right to a minimum wage.28

In 2012, Thailand passed the Ministerial Regulation on Domestic Work. It provides several protections, including mandating one day off per week and paid sick leave and holidays.

The Philippines provides a range of social services (with life and personal accident insurance) to the country’s 3.8 million migrant workers, including domestic workers, under the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act (Republic Act 8042).

Informality and vulnerable employment are also characterized by strong gender dimensions. In Latin America and the Caribbean and in Southern Asia, more women than men are found in informal, non-agricultural employment, and ILO data has shown that in Latin America and the Caribbean, informality disproportionately affects women, youth and households at the bottom tiers of income distribution.29 The gender dimensions of informality are also manifested in entrepreneurship, as many women entrepreneurs remain in informal micro- and small businesses and self-employment, without access to opportunities to formalize and grow. This has multiple negative implications, not only in terms of vulnerability and limitations on income generation, but it hinders them from realising their full potential to contribute to socio-economic development, job creation and environmental practices.30

Therefore, while the increased participation of women in the labour force is important, the quality of the

Improving Gender Equality and Quality Employment Opportunities for Women in APEC

jobs availed to female workers is equally important to ensure that women can contribute fully to inclusive and sustainable growth and leverage their educational and skills investments.31

The glass ceiling and glass walls that impede women’s access to managerial jobsThere has been significant progress on closing the gender gaps in education but these gains have not necessarily led to improved career opportunities for women. The distinctive obstacles to career advancement, particularly encountered by women, shrink the available talent pool for employers. For companies across Asia and the Pacific this has a large cost, as many face challenges related to recruitment of candidates with the right skills. This indicates that the region’s high unemployment rates, skills mismatches and gender inequalities are interlinked and mutually deteriorating problems.32

Although the number of women who are business owners and managers has increased in most regions, to a large extent, women remain excluded from leadership positions and decision-making. There is a persistent “glass ceiling” that prevents women from reaching top positions, such as chief executive officers (CEOs) and company presidents, as only a small fraction of those positions are held by women.33 In addition, there are “glass walls” that impede women from breaking into typically male dominated jobs and sectors, causing a concentration of women in certain types of occupations and management functions. This creates a viscous cycle as women’s career paths often prevent them from achieving the diverse management experiences that senior management positions require.34

Figure 3: Percentage of women on boards (2013)

Source: GMI Ratings: 2013 Women on Boards Survey35

Furthermore, women’s voice and representation in employment institutions, employers’ organizations and trade unions is insufficient. Increased representation of women in such organizations, and in industrial relations, will be a key driver for gender equality, for example by promoting gender inclusive business policies, or by raising gender equality issues in collective bargaining. By tackling gender biased recruitment processes; improving training access and remuneration systems; setting targets in representation of women; addressing sexual harassment and violence in the world of work; recognising care responsibilities of women and men; as well as tackling the norms and attitudes that shape the “corporate culture”, such problems can be overcome.36

Box III: A steep climb up the career ladderIn 2013, the ILO Bureau for Employers’ Activities surveyed around 1300 enterprises in five regions.37 The survey identifies women’s family responsibilities as the key barrier to women’s leadership. China, New Zealand and Viet Nam are the only countries in the world with a larger share of female CEOs than 5 per cent, based on available data for publicly listed companies. In the public sector, New Zealand and the Philippines are the only APEC economies in which women hold a share of 40 per cent or

Improving Gender Equality and Quality Employment Opportunities for Women in APEC

more of the legislators, senior officials and managers.38

Gender pay gaps underpinned by discriminationGender pay gaps are associated with various forms of discrimination. As in other parts of the world, women in Asia and the Pacific face sizeable wage discrimination, including those in salaried jobs. It is estimated that women held only 38 per cent of all salaried jobs in the region in 2015.39 In some countries, wage discrimination causes low wages for women and is a deterrent for them to enter and remain in the labour force.The gender pay gap can be divided into components that are “explained” (referring to observable labour market features, such as experience, education level and employment sector) or “unexplained” (such as discrimination and certain behaviours). For example, the gender pay gap is mostly explained in the United States, where a larger share of those who earn the minimum wage or less (62 per cent) are women,40 although the gap for better-paid women is largely unexplained. In Chile and the Russian Federation, differences in pay between women and men are primarily unexplained.41

In high-income countries, the gender pay gap is partly explained by disparities in wage rates, and the fact that women are more concentrated in lower paying sectors and job categories, such as health, social work, education and other services.42 Differences in the number of hours worked do also have a negative impact on women’s monthly wages, as women are more likely to work part-time, often owing to childcare duties. High-income countries’ gender gaps in monthly average wages are however not fully

explained by these factors, as there are other aspects of relevance which are more difficult to measure, such as biases.43

Figure 4: Gender wage gaps in per cent (2013)

Source: ILO: Global Wage Database 2014/15, based on national statistics

In excess of the gender pay gap, working mothers in all regions suffer an additional wage penalty, referred to as “the motherhood pay gap”. This gap implies that mothers earn less than women without dependent children, and a lot less than fathers with comparable household and work features. The unadjusted motherhood pay gap is at 1.7 per cent in Russia, 17.5 per cent in Chile, 27.6 per cent in Peru and 33.2 per cent in Mexico.44 In Australia, the gap is at 36.3 per cent, 30.7 per cent in Japan and 29.8 per cent in New Zealand.45

At current trends, it will take 70 years to close the gender pay gapGlobally, the gender pay gap is estimated at 23 per cent; meaning that women earn 77 per cent of what men earn. Even when accounting for the hourly wage rates (women generally work shorter hours than men), women continue to face a persistent gender wage gap, amounting to 10 per cent or more in countries for which data is available.

Improving Gender Equality and Quality Employment Opportunities for Women in APEC

While there is evidence that some progress has been made in closing gender pay gaps, current data collection methods make it challenging to capture all the underlying discriminatory factors. There is a need to go beyond the comparison of wages between women and men for the same jobs, and also address the undervaluation of work that women generally perform, in order to achieve

equal pay for work of equal value. It is advised to conduct gender neutral job evaluations to measure and compare the relative value of different jobs and to avoid discriminatory practices. Such evaluations should account for differences in required education, skills and qualifications, as well as responsibility, effort and working conditions.46

3. Policy measures and gender equality

Policies and programmes aimed to facilitate equal pay; remove discrimination; increase skills and entrepreneurship development; and universal social protection, including parental benefits as well as policies related to work and family reconciliation and eliminating violence at work, are all used for advancing women’s economic opportunities and combatting gender inequalities in the labour market. Additionally, ramping up implementation of gender responsive laws and regulations that comply with specific gender equality international labour standards are a means to advancing progress towards gender equality.Above all, women’s economic empowerment will only happen when there is a corresponding shift in conventional gender roles around care, with a more equal sharing of care responsibilities between women and men. Therefore, policies that encourage women’s work must be sensitive to existing biases in order to avoid inadvertently reinforcing conventional gender roles. An approach that focuses exclusively on maternity leave rather than promoting parental entitlements can be an example of this. The policy challenge is to create an enabling environment within which women have

a wider range of feasible choices, with the objective of moving away from “protecting” women to promoting equality.

Box V: Gender equality – a driver of sustainable developmentProgress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will be dependent on how the world of work, public policies and national legislation respond to current megatrends as well as to the underlying drivers of gender inequalities. While women feature in all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Goal 5 on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls and Goal 8 on promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth and decent work for all are particularly essential to the realization of women’s economic rights, the elimination of poverty (Goal 1), and reducing inequality (Goal 10) with social justice. Targets set out by SDG Goal 5 and 8 provide a framework of action towards the right to equal pay for work of equal value (Target 8.5); the recognition and valuing of unpaid care and domestic work through e.g. social protection policies, and the promotion of shared responsibility within the family and the household (Target 5.4); and reforms to give women equal rights and access to economic and other resources (Target 5.a). To meet the gender equality and decent work targets, and to ensure that no one is left behind, concerted effort and action by all social actors is needed. Moreover, it is of utmost

Improving Gender Equality and Quality Employment Opportunities for Women in APEC

importance that women have access to full and equal participation and leadership in all areas of sustainable development to enable transformative changes.Specific to the world of work, the ILO Centenary Initiatives on Women at Work and the Future of Work also provide opportunities to redouble efforts to close remaining gender gaps in the world of work and achieve inclusive growth and decent work for all.

Needs-based and informed policy-makingTo ensure that policy-making is successful and effective, it is important that they are needs-based and informed by evidence. Such efforts are made by APEC through the Women and the Economy Dashboard (see box VI), a tool to improve the conditions for the participation of women in the economy. Recent findings indicate that APEC has improved women’s accessibility to training and educational programmes; that basic health indicators (e.g. maternal mortality and attended births by specialized staff) are improving; that more credit information systems are collecting data that facilitates small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) access to credit; that most APEC economies’ legal frameworks on property and inheritance rights are equal for women and men; and that the economy is becoming more inclusive for women through better access to basic infrastructure, technology and international markets. Nevertheless, the data also emphasizes a need for APEC to strengthen policy efforts in certain areas, to make equal opportunities for women a reality.47

Box VI: APEC Women and the Economy DashboardThe Women and the Economy Dashboard (“the Dashboard”) was established in November 2014, through APEC’s Policy

Partnership on Women and the Economy (PPWE). The Dashboard is a tool for informing policy discussions and contains a set of objective and quantifiable indicators on the status of women and the economy in the APEC region. The APEC members share the goal to “have clear and concrete metrics for evidence-based planning and programming”.48 The PPWE articulated five core priorities for women’s economic empowerment: (1) access to capital and assets; (2) access to markets; (3) skills, capacity building, and health; (4) leadership, voice, and agency; and (5) innovation and technology. Each APEC member will update their Individual Action Plans on a yearly basis with plans on how to overcome the barriers and achieve all five PPWE priority areas.

Strengthening national data collection and ensuring that data is disaggregated by, for example, sex, disability, ethnicity and indigenous identity would contribute to gender equality by providing a clearer picture of remaining gaps and progress for policy and programmes. It would also help improve advocacy as well as accountability towards gender equality. Of urgency is the need for more data and research on violence against women and men in the world of work, a topic which is currently under discussion in the ILO to inform the forthcoming standard-setting agenda.

Inclusive economic integration and national development planningThe ILO has been supporting governments and social partners in all regions by integrating gender considerations into general planning, as well as designing and implementing targeted strategies to address gender gaps and increase decent work for women. Policies that address specific gaps for underrepresented groups have been integrated within some national development planning.

Improving Gender Equality and Quality Employment Opportunities for Women in APEC

In the case of Japan, women’s empowerment is one of the core aspects of the growth strategy articulated by the Prime Minister in 2013. In Latin America and the Caribbean, active labour market polices focus on increasing the employability through various innovative measures and tools, addressing a variety of labour market and social challenges. These efforts have been made possible through increased public expenditures and intend to complement the interventions aimed at poverty reduction, such as development of national social protection systems, including unconditional and conditional cash transfers. However, persistent gaps remain, which hinder the region in its process towards sustainable employment. Chile is the only APEC economy in the region with high levels of public spending on active labour market polices. In Mexico and Peru, such public spending is below 0.1 per cent of GDP and is thus inconsequential.49

It is important that national development contain actual budget allocations that feed into macro-economic and trade policies. Gender budgeting, participatory planning and gender-sensitive monitoring and evaluation are tools that can be considered in order to realise growth that benefits all.

Labour rights and equal remunerationAreas of legislation and policy development that have significant impact on women’s economic opportunities and gender equality are labour and social security laws; in particular, the right to equal pay for work of equal value. The imbalance in pay can be traced back to gender biases against women that permeate into human resource processes in

organizations. Efforts in some APEC members are underway to address the gender pay gap (see Box VII).Box VII: Initiatives addressing the gender pay gap The Philippines has implemented the

Regional Model Competency Standards for Domestic Work which defines benchmarks for skills and competencies of domestic workers with correspondent adequate payment.

In Australia, under the “Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012”, employers with over 100 employees are legally required to report to the Government annually on equal remuneration, the gender breakdown of the workforce, the availability of flexible working arrangements and the availability of support for employees experiencing domestic violence.

In Indonesia, a ministerial decision states that enterprises shall establish wage structures and wage scales based on a job analysis, job description and job evaluation. This decision is a means to tackle the gender pay gap through addressing the gender bias and discrimination that deficient or poor job evaluation create.50

In Canada, the Republic of Korea and the United States, the labour law gives mothers the right to return to work upon maternity leave to the same or an equal position and with the same pay rate.

In 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada reinstated the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal’s decision that clerical work, primarily carried out by women, was undervalued and that it should be recognized as being of equal value to the higher paying sorting and delivery work (postal operations) that men mostly perform.51

Skills and entrepreneurship development policiesMany countries in Asia and the Pacific and the Americas have put in place policies aimed at increasing the employability of job seekers, including women, through a combination of measures such as training or retraining, technical support and microcredits for

Improving Gender Equality and Quality Employment Opportunities for Women in APEC

start-ups and SMEs, and targeted programmes for women entrepreneurs. They have also invested in ameliorating the functioning of the labour market by improving the flow of information (e.g. better matching of jobs and skills, vacancies and job seekers, and generally job search assistance).In developing and transitioning economies, a lot of effort has been made to promote women’s entrepreneurship development and self-employment as a means to promote female economic empowerment and job creation. Technical and financial support from governments and international organizations has been extended to promote the start-up and running of businesses, including training and mentorship programmes; encouraging access to markets by women-led businesses through supply chains; access to credit and other resources; assisting in business formalization; and strengthening women entrepreneurs’ associations. For example, the government of Mexico has designed land redistribution programmes to target women by issuing joint titles to land. This is a means to promote women’s entrepreneurship as it lowers gender-biased service delivery to women.52

Box VIII: Women’s Entrepreneurship Development (WED)The ILO’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Development (WED) programme builds the institutional capacity of ILO constituents and stakeholders with evidence-based policy recommendations; capacity building of business service providers to address the needs of women entrepreneurs; promotion of role models, financial literacy, management and relevant skills for small-scale businesses; and encouraging organizing of entrepreneurs in associations and self-help groups to achieve stronger voice, formalisation and access economies of scale. In Viet Nam, an assessment conducted in 2010 showed that after receiving training and support from the

WED programme, women-led businesses saw a substantial leap in sales, profits and full-time employment.53

The WED programme has also established the link between productivity gains, better working conditions, good industrial relations and good environmental practices, as women entrepreneurs are often particularly motivated and effective at protecting the environment and promoting green business opportunities. 54

Notwithstanding the effectiveness of skills and entrepreneurship development policies and interventions for women, many entrepreneurship programmes focus on strengthening the capacities of the individual without addressing the underlying gender-based obstacles to create an environment for lasting empowerment. Thus, proportionately more women entrepreneurs are found in necessity-driven businesses in the informal economy and in sectors with low growth potential compared to men. Additionally, the number of women employers, while increasing, remains very low in the APEC region.It is therefore crucial to complement these micro-level interventions with macro-level policy measures that tackle the social and gender norms and biases that create barriers for women to enter typically “masculine sectors” and for men to take up female-dominated jobs. Such norms and biases generate occupational segregation and labour market segmentation, which has increased with the past decades’ skill-biased technological change. This has a broad spectrum of negative consequences, including skills mismatch, worsened business performance and gender gaps in pay and employment. Tackling this will be fundamental to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and it is important that trainings targeting women are flexible and

Improving Gender Equality and Quality Employment Opportunities for Women in APEC

focusing on market relevant skills, especially skills that are considered non-stereotypical.As recognised by APEC, it is important to attract more female talent to Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), where women remain under-represented. The global gender gap stands at 47% per cent, with 30 per cent of all male students graduating from STEM subjects, in contrast to 16 per cent of female students.55 Increasing the share of women graduating in STEM would likely contribute to quality employment for women and thereby to more equal opportunities in the labour market. The Australian Government is currently seeking to increase diversity in a wide range of growth industries, including those that are traditionally male-dominated. The National Innovation and Science Agenda includes measures which aim to attract more girls and women to STEM and entrepreneurial studies and careers. This includes extra funding to support over 1,000 new research internships for women researchers in STEM.Box VIX: Better WorkBetter Work is a joint initiative of the ILO and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group.56 This flagship programme was initiated in 2007 to improve working conditions and promote competitiveness in global garment supply chains. It is carried out in seven countries,57 including the APEC members Indonesia (where 86 per cent of the garment workforce is female) and Viet Nam (where 81 per cent are women). A recent independent impact assessment concludes that empowering women at work drives positive change. In both countries, the programme has had positive impact on workers’ prenatal care, life satisfaction and well-being. Evidence from Viet Nam suggests that better working conditions are linked to improved worker productivity.One of the Better Work programme’s components is a Supervisory Skills Training

(SST) for supervisors and middle managers in garment factories, designed to increase their understanding of leadership and to practice an active and less authoritarian leadership style through better communication with workers. The assessment finds that female supervisors trained through SST have increased productivity on their line by 22 per cent, and that worker-management committees show most progress when women are equally represented and freely elected. Women’s participation and voice generates improved working environment, and less sexual harassment, verbal abuse and discrimination.58

Social protection policies for allAnother policy area with substantial impact on gender equality in the world of work is that of social protection. Concerning the right to maternity protection, many countries in Asia and the Pacific grant maternity leave under their labour and social security laws. The region presents deficits in the length of the leave, access and funding mechanisms. The ILO’s Maternity Protection Convention guidance calls for three key aspects: that countries provide for at least 14 weeks of leave, at a rate of at least two-thirds of previous earnings, and the provisions be paid by social insurance or public funds.59 Financing of social protection through a combination of taxation and expanded social insurance should be a priority. Further, the changing world of work will require further attention to inclusive social protection measures that effectively cover workers in in the informal economy and in non-standard forms of employment, so that no one is left behind.There has been improvement in some countries towards the adoption of government funded social security (as in China) and mixed funded benefits (as in the Republic of Korea and Thailand). In Mexico, the statutorily responsibility

Improving Gender Equality and Quality Employment Opportunities for Women in APEC

for the full payment of benefits still falls on the employers in the cases where women do not qualify for contributory social security benefits. Another risk of rendering employers responsible for funding social protection is that women of child bearing age are more likely to be discriminated against, as this could be a disincentive for employers to hire women.Social protection systems, including floors, also play a key role in recognizing, reducing and redistributing unpaid care and household work, through the provision of care-related paid leave policies, to promote equal responsibilities of women and men in child- and eldercare; and adequate and affordable social care services in increasingly ageing societies. Generally, the share of public spending on work-family policies is correlated to higher female employment-to-population ratios, although some APEC members, such as Canada and the United States, have combined lower public spending on work-family benefits and higher female employment rates. However, the United States’ low investment in work-family policies explains almost one third of the decreasing female labour force participation that the nation witnessed between 1990 and 2010, relative to other OECD countries which increased family-friendly policies over that period.Until recently, no APEC countries had ratified the Maternity Protection Convention (No. 183), with Peru being the first member to have ratified it in 2016. There is a clear need in the APEC region to progress on coverage of maternity; look into reconsidering the premises that underlie maternity protection measures; adjusting maternity leave duration and funding sources; as well as move into the promotion of paternity and parental rights. Policy and legal initiatives

adopted by APEC members to remove unequal treatment linked to parental and family responsibilities are highlighted in Box X.Box X: Initiatives on parental and family responsibilities Japan provides one of the world’s

longest periods of parental, non-transferable leave entitlements to fathers.60 The same entitlements are available to mothers, with a bonus system to promote fathers’ take up rates. If both parents take some of their leave, parental leave can be extended up to 14 months.

In the Russian Federation, parental leave benefits can be reallocated to grandparents or other caregivers. For parents who have taken leave periods for childcare, employment services such as vocational training, retraining and skills upgrading are provided to help reintegrating workers with family responsibilities into the labour force.

An example of a more holistic programme is the “Chile Crece Contigo” (“Chile Grows with You”), which combines childcare services with support for fathers’ roles in care and promotes women’s access to paid work.

“Sex”, “pregnancy” and “family responsibilities” are specifically mentioned as illegal grounds of discrimination in Australia and the Republic of Korea’s legislations.

In Australia, the Fair Work Act provides employees the right to request flexible working arrangements (part-time work, flexible working hours) to better balance work and care. Eligible employees include a parent, or someone, who has responsibility for the care of a child who is of school age or younger, and carers. Employers must respond to a request for flexible working arrangements in writing within 21 days and must justify if they refuse.

In Singapore, it is compulsory to offer maternity cash benefits for self-employed workers.

Statutory labour laws exist to protect pregnant and nursing workers from hazardous and unhealthy work. In Chile, employers are compelled to ask for judicial or administrative permission before discharging a pregnant or

Improving Gender Equality and Quality Employment Opportunities for Women in APEC

nursing worker. In Japan, such arrangements allow workers to be temporarily transferred or their work tasks to be rearranged for medical motives. Mexico and the Russian Federation’s statutory provisions include working time adjustments to facilitate for nursing and breastfeeding of infants. The Republic of Korea and Viet Nam offer paid time off for prenatal medical check-ups.Given the significant presence of women working in the informal economy, including in unpaid family work and other forms of non-standard employment, and the extent of their unpaid care and household work, many women fall outside the scope of labour and social protection laws and policies. This results in a global gender gap in social protection coverage.61 In particular, women’s access to pensions is adversely affected by informality, gender gaps at work and discrimination in the law. In Japan, Mexico and Viet Nam, ILO calculations based on household survey data, show that women receive on average only around 60 per cent of the pensions that men receive. The gender gap in pension levels is less marked, but still prevalent, in Canada and China, at above 70 per cent. Peru and the Russian Federation represent a lower gap, as women on average receive above 80 per cent of men’s pension levels. Australia is the only APEC member that has achieved gender parity in pension levels.62

As stereotypical gender roles gradually change, countries will need to develop child- and family-centred transfers and, most importantly, universal child- and eldercare services, maternity, paternity and parental leave, taking into account the characteristics of informal and migrant workers.

Gender Equality Conventions, legislations and measuresAll APEC economies but the United States have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Many APEC member economies have ratified the ILO Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100)63 and almost two thirds have ratified the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111).64 Since the turn of the new millennium, only four new ratifications of the Fundamental Conventions (C100 and C111) have occurred and eight APEC economies have not yet ratified one or both.Of the other gender equality Conventions, namely, Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No. 156), Maternity protection, 2000 (No. 183) and Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189), ratification is remarkably low in the APEC member economies. Only three Asian OECD economies (Australia, Japan and Korea) and three other APEC economies (Chile, Peru and Russia) have ratified C156. Peru is the only APEC member economy to having ratified C183 (to enter into force in May 2017). Finally, while adoption of a comprehensive standard C189 was a milestone worldwide for the rights of domestic workers, the rate of ratification is inadequate, with Chile and the Philippines being the only APEC economies to having ratified it.Even if countries have improved standards and regulations, these can be undermined by weak monitoring and enforcement. Weak implementation and labour inspection undermines any progress from ratification. Failure to fully implement C111 and C100, for example, has resulted in ongoing discrimination, sexual harassment, gender pay gaps and foregone

Improving Gender Equality and Quality Employment Opportunities for Women in APEC

economic growth. Moreover, either by legal design or practice, labour inspectorates limit their focus to formal workplaces, thus excluding workers in the informal economy such as those in agriculture, home-based and domestic work. Some countries are developing codes of conduct in order to strengthen implementation, for example, in Viet Nam, a National Tripartite Code of Conduct on Sexual Harassment was developed with support from the ILO and is currently being applied.

Women’s voice and representation on boards, in policy-making and in social dialogueWomen’s voice and representation remains a key deficit globally, and the APEC economies are not an exception. Increasing gender diversity on company boards, in governments and other top leadership positions can be achieved by encouraging transparency in promotion and hiring processes and promoting flexible working arrangements, in an enabling environment for gender intelligent action. Top level commitment is crucial for such transformative change, and governments, companies and organizations are taking action to address this in different ways.65 For example, in 2016, on International Women’s Day, the Australian Government announced a new gender diversity target of women holding 50 per cent of Australian Government board positions overall, and women and men each holding at least 40 per cent of positions on individual boards.As many women continue to work in the informal economy, their level of unionization and collective action is limited. However, some employer’s organizations and trade unions have made progress, for example, women have reached prominent leadership positions in Chile and Peru.

Nevertheless, women remain underrepresented in leadership, collective bargaining and policy positions across the globe. Female participation in collective bargaining agreements is typically low, in spite of efforts in some countries. Efforts are being made to combat gender biases in wage-fixing processes as well as increased representation for informal sector workers, unpaid family workers, domestic workers and other women-dominated sectors. In Indonesia, for example, the metal sector federation FSPMI (affiliated to the Indonesian Trade Union Confederation, KSPI) achieved 36 per cent of women on its central board at its 2016 elections. This was achieved by taking action to extend greater opportunities for capacity building to women union leaders, including in ILO training activities.Concluding remarksThis session background note has intended to contribute to the discussions on strategies aimed at improving quality employment opportunities and advance the participation of women in the APEC economies. APEC has made high-level commitments to advance women’s participation in the economy. However, member economies should devote more efforts to ensuring that national development policies and trade agreements are inclusive and effectively promote women as active economic agents. This can be done by implementing gender transformative macro-economic policies, strengthening institutional capacity and allocate adequate resources.Innovative efforts that mobilise both women and men towards achieving gender equality will be key. Skills and entrepreneurship development programmes that respond to the needs

Improving Gender Equality and Quality Employment Opportunities for Women in APEC

of women and men; more gender-balanced voice, representation and leadership; social protection and work-life balance measures for all; and efforts to support the transition from the informal to the formal economy can all contribute strategically to greater gender equality and securing quality employment and decent work for women and men.Enhancing partnerships across and within APEC member economies can deliver more impact, leveraging public,

private and non-profit partners to advance progress and enable more women to achieve their full potential as employees, as women entrepreneurs and as leaders. It is time to accelerate efforts and actions to close existing gaps and remove remaining barriers to achieve gender equality. APEC has an essential role to play to demonstrate that designing and implementing gender transformative policies can contribute to realizing the full potential of women in the world of work.

Improving Gender Equality and Quality Employment Opportunities for Women in APEC Economies

For more information, please contact

Australian GovernmentDepartment of EmploymentInternational Strategies/Labour Market Strategies GroupGPO Box 9880Canberra, ACT, 2600

ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific

Regional Economic and Social Analysis UnitUnited Nations BuildingRajdamnern Nok AvenueBangkok 10200, ThailandEmail: BANGKOK@ilo.orgTel.: +66 (0) 2 288 1234

Improving Gender Equality and Quality Employment Opportunities for Women in APEC Economies

AcknowledgementsThis Session Background Note is a joint publication by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Australian Government’s Department of Employment. It has been developed by Matilda Dahlquist and Joni Simpson at the ILO DWT-Bangkok, and with inputs from the Australian Government’s Department of Employment. This Session Background Note has benefitted from inputs from several peer-reviewers, including technical specialists at the ILO’s DWT-Bangkok, at the ILO’s Headquarters in Geneva, and at the ILO’s Regional Economic and Social Analysis Unit (RESA).A special thanks to Akiko Sakamoto, Laura Addati, Maki Matsumoto, Martin Oelz, Nuno Meira Simões Cunha, Phu Huynh, Raphael Crowe and Richard Horne for technical contributions, and to Kwantawan Hongladarom and Laetitia Dard for the layout.

1 The 21 APEC member economies are: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, The Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, The United States and Viet Nam. 15 countries are found in the Asia and the Pacific region, three in North America, two in South America and one in Eastern Asia and Central Europe.2 Henceforth referred to as the Asia and the Pacific region includes 36 countries across all income levels, from East Asia, South-East Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific island countries.3 ILO, 2016. Building an inclusive future with Decent Work – towards sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific - The Director-General’s report to the 16th APRM. ILO, 2016. Available at: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---relconf/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_531409.pdf 4 ILO, 2016. Women’s Entrepreneurship Development. Encouraging women entrepreneurs for jobs and development. Geneva: ILO, 2016. Available at: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/---emp_ent/---ifp_seed/documents/publication/wcms_175471.pdf 5 This two-day APEC workshop is hosted by the Australian Government, with the endorsement of the APEC Human Resources Development Working Group and with collaboration from the International Labour Organization, and will discuss strategies aimed at improving quality employment opportunities for women. The workshop information is found at: https://www.employment.gov.au/apecwomen 6 Gender transformative policy changes refers to policies that address “strategic gender needs to transform unequal gender relations to promote shared power, control of resources, decision-making and support for women’s empowerment”. Source: Goulding, Kristine. 2013. Gender dimensions of national employment policies: a 24-country study. International Labour Office, Employment Policy Department. Geneva: ILO, 2013. p. 5. Available at: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/documents/publication/wcms_229929.pdf 7 Women in business and management: Gaining momentum in Asia and the Pacific. Bangkok: ILO, 2015. Available at: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/---sro-bangkok/documents/publication/wcms_379571.pdf 8 The Americas refers to 35 countries located in North America and South America.9 ILO calculations based on ILO, Trends Econometric Models, November 2016.10 Women at work. Trends 2016. Geneva: ILO, 2016. Available at: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_457317.pdf 11 The Latin America and the Caribbean region’s unemployment rate rose from 6.6 per cent in 2015 to 8.1 per cent (preliminary estimate) in 2016 – an increase of 1.5 percentage points. Women's unemployment increased by 1.9 percentage points, reaching the rate of 9.8 per cent. However, Mexico demonstrated a drop in unemployment rates (-0.4 percentage points) over the same time period. Source: 2016 Labour Overview of Latin America and the Caribbean – Executive Summary. Lima: ILO, 2016. Available at: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---americas/---ro-lima/documents/publication/wcms_538067.pdf 12 Women at work. Trends 2016. Geneva: ILO, 2016.13 United Nations. 2015. The World’s Women 2015: Trends and statistics (New York, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs, Statistics Division). Available at: https://unstats.un.org/unsd/gender/downloads/WorldsWomen2015_report.pdf 14 Women at work. Trends 2016. Geneva: ILO, 2016.15 The ten Member States of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) are: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam.16 ILO, 2014. The Road to the ASEAN Economic Community 2015: The challenges and opportunities for enterprises and their representative organizations. Bangkok: ILO, 2014. Available at: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/dialogue/actemp/downloads/publications/working_paper_n7_en.pdf 17 ITUC, 2016. Investing in the Care Economy. A gender analysis of employment stimulus in seven OECD countries. Brussels: ITUC, 2016. ITUC, 2017. Investing in the Care Economy. Simulating employment effects by gender in countries in emerging economies. Brussels: ITUC, 2017. Both reports are available at: http://www.ituc-csi.org/investing-in-the-care-economy 18 The seven high-income OECD economies are: Australia, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and United States. This brief focuses on the three high-income APEC economies: Australia, Japan and United States.

19 The seven emerging OECD economies are: Brazil, Costa Rica, People’s Republic of China, India, Indonesia and South Africa. This brief focuses on the two emerging APEC economies: China and Indonesia.20 ITUC, 2016. Investing in the Care Economy. A gender analysis of employment stimulus in seven OECD countries. Brussels: ITUC, 2016.21 ITUC, 2017. Investing in the Care Economy. Simulating employment effects by gender in countries in emerging economies. Brussels: ITUC, 2017.22 Women in business and management: Gaining momentum in Asia and the Pacific. Bangkok: ILO, 2015.23 Women in business and management: Gaining momentum in Asia and the Pacific. Bangkok: ILO, 2015.24 Women at work. Trends 2016. Geneva: ILO, 2016.25 Global Wage Report 2014/15 Asia and the Pacific Supplement. Bangkok: ILO ROAP Regional Economic and Social Analysis Unit (RESA), p.5. Available at: http://www.ilo.org/asia/whatwedo/publications/WCMS_325219/lang--en/index.htm 26 Women at work. Trends 2016. Geneva: ILO, 2016.27 ILO, 2016. World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2016. Geneva: ILO, 2016. Available at: http://www.ilo.org/global/research/global-reports/weso/2016/WCMS_443480/lang--en/index.htm 28 Global Wage Report 2014/15 Asia and the Pacific Supplement. Bangkok: ILO ROAP Regional Economic and Social Analysis Unit (RESA), p.5.29 Women at work. Trends 2016. Geneva: ILO, 2016.30 ILO, 2016. Women’s Entrepreneurship Development. Encouraging women entrepreneurs for jobs and development. 31 Women at work. Trends 2016. Geneva: ILO, 2016.32 Women in business and management: Gaining momentum in Asia and the Pacific. Bangkok: ILO, 2015.33 Zahidi, S.; Schwaab, K. 2011. Corporate Gender Gap Report, World Economic Forum. Available at: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GenderGap_CorporateReport_2010.pdf 34 ILO, 2015. Women in Business and Management: Gaining momentum. Global Report. Geneva: ILO, 2015. Available at: http://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/forthcoming-publications/WCMS_316450/lang--en/index.htm 35 Gladman, Kimberly and Michelle Lamb. 2013. GMI Ratings’ 2013 Women on Boards Survey. VI. Appendix: Data Tables, p. 20-21. Available at: http://www.calstrs.com/sites/main/files/file-attachments/gmiratings_wob_042013-1.pdf 36 Women in business and management: Gaining momentum in Asia and the Pacific. Bangkok: ILO, 2015.37 The companies that responded to the survey are found in 39 countries in Africa, Asia and Pacific, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin American and the Caribbean and Middle East and North Africa. The Philippines is the only APEC member that is included.38 All but two APEC member economies were included in this data. The two APEC economies that were not included are Chinese Taipei and Papua New Guinea. In addition, Brunei Darussalam and China did not respond. Source: ISCO 88 and ISCO 08 – legislators, senior officials, directors and chief executives, ILO statistical database, June 2014. In: ILO, 2015. Women in Business and Management: Gaining momentum. Global Report. Geneva: ILO, 2015. 39 Key Indicators of the Labour Market (KILM), ILO, 2016.40 Krogstad, J.M. 2014. More women than men earn the federal minimum wage. Washington, DC, PewResearch Centre. Available at: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/05/05/more-womenthan-men-earn-the-federal-minimum-wage/ 41 ILO, 2015. Global Wage Report 2014/2015. Geneva: ILO, 2015. Available at: http://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/WCMS_324678/lang--en/index.htm 42 ILO, 2016. World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2016. Geneva: ILO, 2016. 43 Global Wage Report 2014/15 Asia and the Pacific Supplement. Bangkok: ILO ROAP Regional Economic and Social Analysis Unit (RESA), p.4-5.44 ILO, 2015. Global Wage Report 2014/2015. Geneva: ILO, 2015.45 Global Wage Report 2014/15 Asia and the Pacific Supplement. Bangkok: ILO ROAP Regional Economic and Social Analysis Unit (RESA).46 Women at work. Trends 2016. Geneva: ILO, 2016.

47 The APEC Women and The Economy Dashboard 2015. APEC Policy Support Unit. Available at: http://publications.apec.org/publication-detail.php?pub_id=1656 48 APEC Women and the Economy Dashboard – Introduction and Analysis. APEC Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy (PPWE). U.S.-APEC Technical Assistance to Advance Regional Integration (US-ATAARI). Available at: http://mddb.apec.org/Documents/2015/PPWE/PPWE1/15_ppwe_019.pdf 49 ILO, 2016. What works: Active labour market policies in Latin America and the Caribbean. International Labour Office. Geneva: ILO, 2016. Available at: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_492373.pdf 50 Oelz, M.; Olney, S.; Tomei, M. 2013. Equal Pay: An Introductory Guide. Geneva: ILO, 2013. Available at: http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1304&context=intl51 Oelz, M.; Olney, S.; Tomei, M. 2013. Equal Pay: An Introductory Guide. Geneva: ILO, 2013.52 Women at work. Trends 2016. Geneva: ILO, 2016.53 ILO, 2014. Women’s entrepreneurship development: Encouraging women entrepreneurs for jobs and development. Geneva: ILO, 2014.54 ILO, 2016. Women’s Entrepreneurship Development: Encouraging women entrepreneurs for jobs and development. Geneva: ILO, 2016, p. 2-3. Available at: http://www.ilo.org/empent/areas/womens-entrepreneurship-development-wed/WCMS_430885/lang--en/index.htm 55 World Economic Forum, 2016. The Global Gender Gap Report 2016. Available at: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GGGR16/WEF_Global_Gender_Gap_Report_2016.pdf 56 The donor partners of the Better Work programme are: Australia (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, DFAT); Denmark (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Danida); Netherlands (Ministry of Foreign Affairs); Switzerland (State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, SECO); and the United States (US Department of Labor, USDOL).57 The countries in which the Better Work Programme is active are: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Haiti, Indonesia, Jordan, Nicaragua and Viet Nam.58 ILO, 2016. Progress and potential: How Better Work is improving garment workers’ lives and boosting factory competitiveness: A summary of an independent assessment of the Better Work programme. International Labour Office. Geneva: ILO, 2016. Available at: http://betterwork.org/blog/portfolio/impact-assessment/ 59 ILO, 2014. Policy Brief, Maternity and paternity at work: Law and practice across the world. Available at: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_242615.pdf 60 Japan’s leave entitlements to fathers are of a duration of 12 months paid at 67 per cent of previous earnings up to a ceiling for the first 180 days, and at 50 per cent for the remainder.61 Women at work. Trends 2016. Geneva: ILO, 2016.62 Women at work. Trends 2016. Geneva: ILO, 2016.63 17 out of the 21 APEC economies have ratified C100: Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, The Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam (Brunei Darussalam, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei and the United States have not ratified C100).64 13 out of the 21 APEC economies have ratified C111: Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Indonesia, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, The Philippines, Russia, and Viet Nam (Brunei Darussalam, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand and the United States have not ratified C111).65 Oelz, M.; Olney, S.; Tomei, M. 2013. Equal Pay: An Introductory Guide. Geneva: ILO, 2013. Women at work. Trends 2016. Geneva: ILO, 2016.