According to the ILO, women earn 17% less than men per hour worked in Latin America and the Caribbean
A report released on August 27 by the International Labour Organization illustrates the gap that still exists between men and women when it comes to receiving equal pay for equal work.
Between 2012 and 2017 – the period covered by the study – women earned 17% less in hourly income than men in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“This document warns that gender differences constitute one of the forms of inequality that are unjustifiable today,” said Juan Hunt, ILO Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The investigationWomen in the world of work. Outstanding challenges towards effective equality in Latin America and the Caribbean”, he highlighted the need for Latin American and Caribbean countries to adopt “A series of transformative measures to address employment policy challenges such as 'unobservable' factors that contribute to widening gender pay and opportunity gaps.”
The report highlights that women's labor income is, on average, 17% lower than that of men of the same age, education, presence of children and other income earners in the household per hour worked, and indicates that the gendered division of domestic tasks "It is still overwhelmingly unequal, as women carry out 80% of domestic tasks, which restricts their participation in the workforce."
Regarding labor income gaps, the research confirms that they are higher in the lowest income percentiles, while non-compliance with minimum wages disproportionately affects women, especially in informal jobs.
“In other words, there are important links between three of the region’s biggest challenges: gender equality, the fight against poverty, and informality,” the document states.
It also argues that the persistence of wage gaps occurs despite long-term trends showing significant progress, for example in education, where the number of women with tertiary education exceeds that of men.
“Among those born in 1990, 40% of working women have tertiary education, compared to 25% of men,” the document reveals.
