D
uring the last few decades the proportion of economically
active women has increased dramatically in both developing
and developed countries. According to World Bank estimates,
from 1960 to 1997, women have increased their numbers in the global
labour force by 126% (World Bank, 2001). Today, women make up
about 42% of the estimated global working population, making them
indispensable as contributors to national and global economies (ILO,
2000a; WHO, 1999).
However, women have moved into specific niches in the labour force
(Anker, 2001; östlin, 2002a). An examination of data for 200 occupations
(1970 to 1990) shows that one third of all workers in Finland, Norway and
Sweden would have to change occupations to eliminate occupational
segregation by sex (Melkas and Anker, 2001), and a similar figure has
been found in the United States of America (USA) (Tomaskovic-Devey,
1993). In paid work in the developing countries, women and men work
at different tasks in agriculture (London et al., 2002; Kisting in WHO,
2005), mining, manufacturing and services (Acevedo, 2002; Parra
Garrido, 2002). Women are more likely to work in the informal economy
sector and they do specific types of informal work, such as domestic
work, street vending and sex work (Acevedo, 2002, p. 84; Bumiller, 1990:
Chapter 6; Shivdas in WHO, 2005). They may work from their homes, in
which case their work is invisible and may not be considered as work
even by the women themselves (Acevedo, 2002 :76-77).
Today, women
make up
about 42%
of the estimated
global working
population,
making them
indispensable
as contributors
to national and
global economies
2. The sexual division
of labour:
"Women's" work
and "men's" work