Kathmandu, March 14:

More women are working than ever before, but they are also more likely than men to get low-productivity, low-paid and vulnerable jobs, with no social protection, basic rights nor voice at work, states a new report by the International Labour Office (ILO).

‘Global employment trends for women - 2008’, states that the number of employed women grew by almost 200 million over the last decade, to reach 1.2 billion in 2007 compared to 1.8 billion men. However, the number of unemployed wo-men also grew from 70.2 to 81.6 million over the same period.

The report states that only 15.5 per cent of South Asian women are waged or salaried compared to 24.4 per cent of men. Of 511 million working age women and 540 million men, only 174 million women have a job, compared to 422 million men.

Those women who enter the labour market face greater a risk of unemployment than men, the 2007 female unemployment rate was 5.8 per cent compared to 4.8 per cent for men. Agriculture still accounts for 60.5 per cent of women’s employment (42.9 per cent for men) in the region. But agricultural employment in South Asia is falling faster than anywhere else in the world — a fall of more than 13 percentage points in 10 years for women.

South Asia has an enormous deficit in decent work. But there are hopeful signs, unemployment remains low, women are moving into more productive sectors and increasing productivity can push earnings above the poverty threshold, states the report.

“Women continue to enter the world’s workforce in great numbers,” said ILO.