| RAJYA SABHA |
The main sources for poverty statistics are income and expenditure data collected through national household surveys. Such information is inadequate for measuring gender differences, because it concerns entire household rather than individuals. As a result, poverty data is not disaggregated by sex, making it difficult to estimate poverty among women that work. The main findings in Global Employment Trends for Women Brief, March 2007 are given below:
· In absolute numbers, more women than ever before are participating in labour markets worldwide. They are either in work or actively looking for a job.
· During the past ten years, the labour force participation rate (the share of working-age women who work or are seeking work) stopped growing, with many regions registering declines. This reversal is notable, even though it partially reflects greater participation of young women in education.
· More women than ever before are actually in work. The female share of total employment stayed almost unchanged at 40 percent in 2006 (from 39.7 per cent 10 years ago)
· At the same time, more women than ever before are unemployed, with the rate of women’s unemployment (6.6 per cent) higher than that of men (6.1 per cent).
· Women are more likely to work in low productivity jobs in agriculture and services. Women’s share in industrial employment is much smaller than men and has decreased over the last ten years.
· The poorer the region, the greater the likelihood that women work as unpaid contributing family members or low-income own-account workers. Female contributing family workers, in particular, are not likely to be economically independent.
· The step from unpaid contributing family workers or low-paid own-account worker to wage and salaried employment is a major step toward freedom and self-determination for many women. The share of women in wage and salaried work grew during the past ten years from 42.9 per cent in 1996 to 47.9 per cent in 2006. However, especially in the world’s poorest regions, this share is till smaller for women than for men.
· Young women are more likely to be able to read and write than 10 years ago. But there is still a gap between female and male education levels. And there is considerable doubt that women get the same chance as men to develop their skills throughout their working lives.In India, as per last two quinquennial rounds of surveys conducted by National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) on employment and unemployment, overall unemployment rate on Current Daily Status basis for the female increased from 7.44 percent in 1999-2000 (55th round) to 9.37 percent in 2004-05 (61st round). During this period, employment opportunities for female in agriculture sector increased from 61.00 million to 66.94 million.
The Report on Global Employment Trends for Women Brief, March 2007 does not mention anything specific to India and findings are generic in nature. However, various programmes have been taken up by the Government about India for increasing the women participation rate, such as National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana (PMRY), Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) and Sampoorna Grameeen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY).
This information was given by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment Shri Oscar Fernandes (Independent Charge) in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.
VBA/BS