Achieving workplace gender equality may take another two centuries – ILO report
By Ukpono Ukpong
At the current pace of progress, the new International Labour Organization (ILO), report has revealed that achieving full gender equality in employment may take nearly 200 years.
This was contained in the brief, titled Women and the Economy: 30 Years After the Beijing Declaration, released to mark International Women’s Day and highlights persistent barriers preventing women from fully participating in the workforce.
According to the report, despite some progress in narrowing the employment gap, women’s workforce participation remains significantly lower than men’s.
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It noted that while the global employment rate for working-age women in 2024 stands at 46.4 percent, for men it stood at 69.5 percent. Adding that since 1991, the employment gap has only decreased from 27.1 to 23.1 percentage points, indicating a slow trajectory toward equality.
The report notes that although more young women are enrolling in education and training programs, this has not translated into substantial labour market gains.
It further noted that women still occupy just 30 percent of managerial positions worldwide, with only modest improvements recorded over the past two decades.
Women also remain concentrated in traditionally low-paying sectors such as nursing and childcare, while men continue to dominate industries like transport and mechanics. Additionally, women earn lower wages on average, work fewer paid hours, and are disproportionately represented in informal employment, particularly in low- and lower-middle-income countries.
The Director of the ILO Conditions of Work and Equality Department, Sukti Dasgupta, stressed the need for urgent policy changes to address these disparities.
“Urgent reforms are needed to address unequal care responsibilities, wage gaps between women and men, and violence and harassment in the world of work,” she said.
While the report acknowledges some progress, it underscores that wage gaps remain a significant challenge. In 2024, employed women, both salaried and self-employed, earned an average of 77.4 cents for every dollar earned by men. This represents an improvement from 70.1 cents in 2004 but still reflects a substantial earnings gap.
“Three decades since world leaders gathered in Beijing and pledged to advance the rights of women worldwide, significant challenges remain in fulfilling the Beijing Declaration,” Dasgupta explained.
“While progress has been made, millions of women still face persistent barriers to entering, remaining, and advancing in decent work. Urgent reforms are needed to address unequal care responsibilities, wage gaps between women and men, and violence and harassment in the world of work, factors which continue to make workplaces more unequal and less safe for women,” she added.
The brief highlights systemic obstacles to women’s employment, including structural inequalities, discriminatory social norms, and economic policies that fail to accommodate gender-specific needs. It also points out that factors such as migration status and disability often exacerbate these challenges.
As global economies undergo digital, environmental, and demographic transformations, the Beijing Platform for Action remains a crucial framework for gender equality. The report calls for stronger policies and legislative measures to accelerate progress and ensure that the vision of workplace equality becomes a reality far sooner than two centuries from now.
