When Can Work Performed by Women Become a Factor in Their Empowerment?

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of Development SYNTHESES OF AFD STUDIES AND RESEARCH

Women’s access to quality employment in Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey

The employment of women in Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey is not necessarily equated with financial, social and/or political empowerment. Though the three countries share striking similarities as regards the unfavourable professional situation of women within them, significant regional differences exist. Backing the efforts towards women’s empowerment requires analysis of the individual contexts and their related social conditions, in addition to reflection on the commoditization of work and women’s access to quality employment.

When Can Work Performed by Women Become a Factor in Their Empowerment?

A significant amount of work performed by women is “invisible” Employment rates for women in North Africa and the Middle East are among the lowest in the world. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the rates of employment for women between the ages of 15 and 64 are 23.7% in Morocco, 27.2% in Tunisia, and 26.3% in Turkey. Yet claiming that three working-age woman in four is neither employed nor looking for work does not mean that she is not spending her time working. In each of the three countries, surveys show that women provide more than five hours per day of unpaid care in the home, in contrast to an average of forty minutes per day for men. A significant part of this work, which is often referred to as “reproductive” labour, is informal, unrecognized, and un- (or under-) remunerated.

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Work status of women and men in Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey

Morocco

Tunisia

Turkey

Women

Men

Women

Men

Women

Men

Employment rate for working-age

23.7 %

69.2 %

27.2 %

75.2 %

26.3 %

64.7 %

Total unemployment rate

9.9 %

8.7 %

14.3 %

12.3 %

10.7 %

8.6 %

Time spent on unpaid domestic care

5:17

-

5:16

0:39

5:17

0:51

citizens (15–64 years old)

and home-based work (hours/day) Source: BIT (2012) et Moisseron et al. (2014) http://librairie.afd.fr/filtres/?terms=1085

Referred to here as "reproductive" labour is the ensemble of maintenance tasks in the home (cleaning, meal preparation, water collection, daily purchases) and the care provided to members of the family (child care, health care, and the like). By contrast, "productive" labour is work that enables the production of goods and/or services for consumption or for trade, whether or not it is remunerated (as salaried labour, in most cases).

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Marked differences between urban and rural life

Inadequate working conditions in factories and in rural areas

The traditional family model, according to which women enter the workforce early, leave their jobs when they get married and then go back to work once their children have grown up, is not necessarily followed in each of the three countries. Due to rising education rates today, women between 24 and 34 years of age are able to maintain high levels of employment.

Nonetheless, urban and rural lifestyles differ. In Morocco for example, the traditional model is not the norm in rural areas.

There, a progressive increase in employment rates according to age occurs, with the highest levels of employment belonging to the 45–59 year old cohort. In urban areas this upsurge occurs between the ages of 25–34. In rural Morocco, being married and having children are not synonymous with leaving the paid workforce. The correlation between education level and workforce insertion also differs according to urban or rural geographic location. In urban areas, women’s levels of employment increase with education. Nonetheless, unemployment rates also increase with education levels. In rural areas, this trend is different: participation in the workforce first decreases according to levels of qualification, then increases with the highest levels of qualification.

In a number of textile and agro-food factories in Morocco, working conditions do not qualify as decent (definition provided below). Women are often employed without contracts, without overtime pay, and without benefits or social protection. Harassment claims (to the extent that working conditions are affected) are not uncommon. The absence of public funds for periodic labour inspections, combined with low levels of participation in workers’ unions, account for such a situation. In rural areas, the problem is the demanding nature of labour performed by women within family agricultural establishments. In such a context, the work they do often remains “invisible”, because it is considered to be domestic labour. Very few opportunities for advancement and personal development exist for women who have limited access to education systems, and who live in areas where infrastructure and public transportation are non-existent.

Quality employment opportunities: a way to promote women’s empowerment

A highly segmented job market

Making reproductive work publicly visible is a difficult task.

“Commoditizing” labour is a way to ensure that it receives recognition—first in the economic sphere, then in the social sphere. When reviewing the conditions under which the commoditization of work performed by women can play a role in their financial, social, and political empowerment, it is particularly useful to consider the notion of “quality employment”.

For the ILO, “decent” work is characterized by the ability to perform appropriately remunerated, productive work, with safe on-site working conditions, and social benefits for workers and their families. Empowerment also requires integrating collective labour law on a horizontal level (such as the ability to assemble in non-profit organizations and/or workers’ unions) with political power on a vertical level (such as the ability to stake claims and make a difference in political life in the country). In that sense, quality employment has a direct impact on the empowerment of workers—both women and men—by enforcing: 1. Willingness (by way of internal power, and self-confidence); 2. Possession (by way of remuneration and the command of resources that follows from it); 3. Knowledge (by way of fundamental and practical knowledge, and its recognition); 4. Power (by way of peer support and collective defense that comes from working together).

Women’s labour markets in Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey are characterized by significant levels of segmentation: both horizontal (in terms of employment sector), and vertical (in terms of corporate hierarchies). From their entry into the school system onwards, young women tend to choose traditionally “feminine” occupations whose basis is often social, literary, or legal. This vocational grouping effectively reduces the number of opportunities for women to aspire to fields that are economically advantageous (such as those whose basis is technical, scientific, or financial). In Morocco, women are particularly present in the textile industry (49.2%) and in positions of administration, while they are nearly absent from construction and public works-based occupations (0.7%). In Tunisia, young women hardly occupy positions in the technical and professional domains, while they are over-represented in the domains of medical care (67.9%) and homemaking (95.2%). Such segmentation has a direct impact on the integration of women in the workforce, leading them to enter and remain in less-than-promising industries with low levels of remuneration. Discrimination in recruitment and career development is also prevalent. Income disparity between women and men is 27% in Morocco, 18% in Tunisia, and 20% in Turkey.

woman makes more money than her husband, it will likely cause problems" 39% of respondents in Morocco, 43% in Tunisia, and 47% in Turkey claim to "agree" with this statement

"If a

Source: World Values Survey, 2010-2014

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Above and beyond equal rights: commoditization of reproductive labour

that the importance of the added value of reproductive labour to the development and economic growth of the country must be acknowledged.

Analysis of the stumbling blocks and obstacles that women encounter in their efforts to access and maintain quality employment does not end at an examination of their legal rights. It is also necessary to revise the social conditions under which a conversion of invisible and non-income generating work performed by women—ostensibly “reproductive” labour—into visible, commoditized, and remunerated work—ostensibly “productive” labour—can take place.

Commoditization of work is a way of converting reproductive labour into productive labour. If reproductive labour is made visible (meaning, that it is recognized by society), in can be a source of empowerment. Such recognition is possible on two conditions, however: the first being that the tasks associated with reproductive labour in the home must be more equally shared between women and men, and that they must not be the result of a sexual division of labour; and the second being

On the contrary, invisible reproductive labour in a domestic context (which goes unnoticed by society) can be experienced as ungratifying. Likewise, productive labour that is not “quality employment” can be experienced as alienating, while “quality employment” is a source of empowerment. The issue is about how to make reproductive labour visible as a contribution to the productivity of a country, and to reinforce the “quality” of productive labour. Work performed by women can be a factor in their empowerment if it is recognized by society—be it in the form of visible reproductive labour or quality employment.

The relation between reproductive labour, productive labour, commoditization of work, quality employment, and empowerment can be clarified by use of a diagram (see Diagram 1).

Commoditization of labour: a possible source of empowerment

Commoditization of labour

→

Domestic

Non-domestic

Visible

Substandard

Possible empowerment

Doctor in sociology, regional coordinator for Laos and Cambodia at AFD

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JEAN-YVES MOISSERON

Doctor in economics, project manager in Education, professional development and employment at AFD

Doctor and researcher in economics at the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD).

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Quality

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Pauline Chabbert

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Invisible

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Productive labour

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Reproductive labour

a Question

of Development

Support women's access to and maintenance of quality employment

professional development counselling enables diversity in career orientation for young women.

Endeavoring for women's access to and maintenance of quality employment is only worthwhile if the work is a source of empowerment. Change levers can be designed to support the establishment of public policy at the regional level.

4) Support female entrepreneurship and the transition to mid-sized companies

1) Target interventions and facilitate the production of gender-specific data Women's labour status differs according to locality. In the three countries studied, women had more opportunities and better access to quality employment in highly populated coastal regions. Unequal access to education is particularly a problem in agricultural and disadvantaged regions in semi-arid climate zones. Education initiatives, and efforts to improve the quality of employment for women, must be organized geographically. This type of targeting requires support for the generation of national and regional data sets for the production of gendered statistics.

2) Lighten the load of domestic labour performed by women via the creation of day care programs In the three countries studied, women spend between six and eight times as many hours on non-remunerated domestic tasks, yet this time spent is one of the most significant stumbling blocks to the empowerment of women. Projects that result in the more equitable repartition of reproductive labour, and particularly, strategies for the implementation of nursery and day care programs, can significantly improve the daily living conditions of women and their role in society.

3) Promote diversity in career orientation and professional development Vocational segregation begins with people's initial choice of career orientation. Gender stereotypes in schools, and gender imbalances in the workplace, must be confronted.

Along with the identification of appropriate career choices, Bibliographic References Destremau B. (2009), Femmes, travail et politiques publiques dans le monde arabe: réflexions sur les ingrédients du changement social dansRT6 Protection sociale, politiques sociales et solidarités Troisième congrès de l’AFS 2009.

Gillot G., A. Martinez, L. El Mahdati et K. Oubejja (2014), Ouvrières marocaines : fragments de vie quotidienne et stratégies d’autonomisation, in Rahni, Férié, Dupret (dir.), Maroc au présent.

Sindbad, Actes Sud. KEIG (2013), Women Labor and Employement in Turkey, Problem Area and Policy Suggestions

Key issues in each of the three countries are women's access to financial assistance and entrepreneurship opportunities.

Accompanying the transition from self-employment to the creation of official (small) companies can encourage a context of entrepreneurial pursuit led by women, taking their social needs into account. Programs that promote the creation of very small companies run by women, supported by multistakeholder initiatives, and the installation of a network of drop-in-centres within existing institutional spaces, could provide a significant level of added value.

5) Facilitate women's access to transportation networks and education infrastructure in rural areas There is a strong link between the lack of transportation infrastructure, low levels of school attendance, and women's access to quality employment. Supporting the development of roads and public transportation, such as providing school buses and safe shuttle buses in rural areas, can have a direct impact on school attendance statistics and the improvement of working conditions for women.

6) Uphold efforts to formalize work practices and provide access to social protection In each of the three countries studied, women are particularly vulnerable to the difficulties associated with informal work and the absence of social protection, in particular for jobs in the home, in factories, and on farms. Formalizing employment contracts, enabling access to contracts for nonseasonal employment, payment for hours worked overtime, and the fight against discrimination in all of its forms, can significantly increase both the working and living conditions for the abovementioned women.

O rganisation internationale du travail and I nstitut international d ’ études sociales (2011), « Tunisie, un nouveau contrat social pour une croissance juste et équitable » in Etude sur la croissance et l’équité, Geneva.

Talahite F. (2013), Genre et marché du travail au Moyen-Orient et en Afrique du Nord, in Travail et genre dans le monde. L’état des savoirs, La Découverte, Paris.

World values survey (2010-2014), Crossings by Country Study (906-WVS2010) (http://www. worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSDocumentationWV6.jsp)

Lourdes B. (2010), Travail rémunéré, non rémunéré et mondialisation de la reproduction », in Le sexe de la mondialisation ; Genre, classe, race et nouvelle division du travail, Jules Falquet, Helena Hirata, SciencesPo, Paris.

Moisseron J.Y., P. Chabbert, G. Gillot, P. De la Cruz, D. De Facci, C. Groppo, K. Kateb, H. Pécoult et F. Guérin (2014), L’accès et le maintien des femmes à des emplois de qualité au Maroc, en Tunisie et en Turquie, report for the Département de la Recherche de l’AFD.

A QUESTION OF DEVELOPMENT is an AFD Research Department publication which presents syntheses of studies and research initiated or supported by AFD. This series aims to summarize the questioning, the approach, the lessons and the prospects of the study presented. Thus, it intends to open new avenues for action and thinking. The analyses and conclusions of this document are formulated under the responsibility of its author(s). They do not necessarily reflect the point of view of AFD or its partner institutions • Publication director: Anne PAUGAM • Editorial director: Gaël GIRAUD • Agence Française de Développement: 5, rue Roland Barthes - 75598 Paris Cedex 12 • Copyright: June 2015 • ISSN: 2271-7404 • Conception: • Layout: Elsa MURAT • Translation: Dupont and Smith