Global working women on the rise

More women are in work, but this work is often precarious with few prospects

The world's working women are on the rise, says the International Labour Organization, but many find it hard to get jobs and endure poor conditions.

The number of employed women grew by almost 200 million over the last decade, to reach 1.2 billion in 2007. This compares with 1.8 billion men.

The female unemployment rate stood at 6.4%, against the male rate of 5.7%.

Services have overtaken agriculture as the main female employer, the report on employment trends for women found.

In 2007, 36.1% of women worked in agriculture and 46.3% in services.

"Access to labour markets and to decent employment is crucial to achieving gender equality," said Evy Messell, director of the ILO's Bureau for Gender Equality.

"Yet women have to overcome many discriminatory obstacles when seeking jobs. Societies cannot afford to ignore the potential of female labour in reducing poverty," she added.

Vulnerable work

Women make up 40% of the world's employed population, a share that has not changed over the last 10 years.

For many women, the move into the workforce represents progress, but often the work they do is precarious.

The share of women in waged and salaried work grew during the last 10 years from 41.8% to 46.4%, while the share in vulnerable employment decreased from 56.1% to 51.7%.

Even though more women are finding salaried work, "the burden of vulnerability is still greater for women than men, especially in the world's poorest regions," the report said.

Employment alone is not enough to pull people out of poverty, the report said.

Women in sub-Saharan Africa have one of the highest labour activity rates in the world, second only to East Asia.

But poverty remains widespread, with "decent and productive employment" the exception rather than the rule, the report found.