Furthering womens empowerment through abour force participation 2016 41p

October 2016
Furthering women’s empowerment through
labour force participation
Margarita Beneke de Sanfeliú, Dolores Polanco, Lidia Vásquez and Lissette Calderón

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© 2016 Overseas Development Institute,
Southern Voice on Post-MDG International
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Cover image: Agricultural worker in El
Salvador. © FUSADES.

Contents
Headline findings 5
Acknowledgements 5
Acronyms 5
Abstract 7
1. Introduction 8
2. Methodology and approach 10
3. Current progress and limitations 12
3.1 Disparities in labour force participation 15
3.2 Disparities in quality of employment 16
3.3 Disparities in pay 19
3.4 Who is being left behind? 19
4. Research findings: factors associated with female labour force participation 20
4.1 Education 20
4.2 Cultural norms: gender roles, time constraints and occupation choices 20
4.3 Workplace discrimination: age, gender and race 26
4.4 Other factors: household income and macroeconomic conditions 27
4.5 Considerations 27
5. Research findings: survey of public policies 30
5.1 Relaxing constraints on women’s time 30
5.2 Reducing barriers to labour market entry 31
5.3 Considerations 34
6. Priority actions for the first 1,000 days 35
7. Concluding thoughts 37
References 38
Furthering women’s empowerment through labour force participation 3

List of tables, figures and boxes
Tables
Table 1. Characteristics of selected Latin American countries 10
Table 2. Average years of education completed (adults, by years old) 13
Table 3. Female labour force participation (%) and female/male ratio (25- to 64-year-olds) 14
Table 4. Percentage of youth (15- to 24-year-olds) not in education, employment or training (NEETs) 15
Table 5. Percentage youths (15- to 19-year-olds) ever married and adolescent birth rates (births per 1,000 women) 15
Table 6. Distribution of labour relationships by employed individuals (% to total employment) 16
Table 7. Informality: Share of salaried workers in informal jobs (by two definitions, 25- to 64- year-olds) 17
Table 8. Average wage for women as % of men´s, by age group (men=100%) 17
Table 9. Distribution of employment sector (% in each type of activity to total employment) 18
Table 10. Summary of factors associated with labour force participation 21
Table 11. Factors associated with advantageous labour market employment 23
Table 12. Factors associated with the change in female labour force participation from 1990 to 2010 and to
recent stagnation (25- to 54-year-olds) 24
Table 13. Is it better that women stay at home and men go to work? 25
Table 14. Perceptions of the consequences of women working (% who agree and strongly agree) 26
Table 15 Perceived difficulties faced by women in the labour market,2015 (% of women who mentioned each factor) 27
Table 16. Perception that men are better political leaders than women (% who agree and strongly agree) 28
Table 17. Gaps between indigenous and similar non-indigenous households or individuals 29
Table 18. Survey of selected regulations available in Latin America 33
Figures
Figure 1. Labour force participation in different regions 8
Figure 2. Women´s participation in the labour force 12
4 Development Progress Commissioned Paper

Headline findings
•• Latin America (LA) has seen an increase in female
labour force participation, however rapid progress seen
in the 1990s was followed by stagnation from 2000. In
2014, 58% of women participated in the labour market,
compared to 84% of men.
•• Participation varies among countries and across society.
It is lower among poorer rural women, those with fewer
skills, older women (over 54 years old) and the young (18-
to 24-year-olds).
•• Regulatory frameworks in LA do not impede gender
equality. Insufficient education and training, and time
constraints, are the main obstacles to women joining the
labour market.
•• Cultural norms regarding women’s roles as caregivers
and their household responsibilities are also important.
Advocacy is needed to change social norms around co-
responsibilities at home and the workplace.
•• Programmes and policies that aim for universal access
to early-childhood care and pre-primary education, and
increase the availability of childcare and support for
the elderly and disabled, should be rapidly expanded.
Programmes should address the needs of different
groups of women, giving priority to vulnerable groups.
Acknowledgements
The authors are researchers at the Salvadoran Foundation for
Social and Economic Development (FUSADES), El Salvador.
This research was supported by the Overseas
Development Institute (ODI) and Southern Voice on Post-
MDG International Development Goals (SV), through their
initiative ‘Off to a strong start: putting the Sustainable
Development Goals into practice’.
We are grateful to Emma Samman, Andrea Ordoñez,
Paula Lucci and an anonymous reviewer for their
comments, which have greatly enhanced this report. We
thank our colleagues from the International Development
Research Center (IDRC) funded project ‘Enhancing
women’s economic empowerment through better policies
in Latin America’, who provided many of the unpublished
sources used in this research.
Special thanks go to Alejandra Olivares and Marcela
López, students from Escuela Superior de Economía y
Negocios, for their careful research assistance.
Acronyms
CCT Conditional Cash Transfer
CEDLAS Center for Distributive, Labour and Social
Studies, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas,
Universidad de La Plata, Argentina
CIEDUR Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios sobre el
Desarrollo, Uruguay
FIDEG Fundación Internacional para el Desafío
Económico Global, Nicaragua
FUSADES Salvadoran Foundation for Economic and Social
Development
GENDERNET Network on Gender Equality (OECD DAC)
ICRW International Center for Research on Women
IDRC International Development Research Center,
Canada
IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development
ILO International Labor Organization
IMF International Monetary Fund
LABLAC Base de Datos Laborales para America Latina y
el Caribe (CEDLAS and the World Bank)
LA Latin America
LAC Latin America and the Caribbean
LFP Labour force participation
MDG Millennium Development Goals
NEET Not in employment, education or training
NGO Non-governmental organisation
ODI Overseas Development Institute

OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development
OECD DAC Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development, Development Assistance
Committee
SDG Sustainable Development Goals
SEDLAC Socio-Economic Database for Latin America and
the Caribbean (CEDLAS and the World Bank)
STEP Skills Towards Employability and Productivity
SV Southern Voice on Post-MDG International
Development Goals
UN United Nations
UNDP nited Nations Development Program
WDI World Development Indicators
WEF World Economic Forum

Latin America has experienced rapid progress in female
labour force participation (LFP) over the past three
decades. LFP increased rapidly in the 1990s, but has
stagnated since 2000. In 2014, 58% of women participated
in the labour market, compared to 84% of men (World
Development Indicators). Participation rates and trends
vary widely across countries and amongst groups of
women. Participation is lower among poorer groups
(who are often rural and indigenous), the less skilled,
older women (over 54 years old) and the young (18- to
24-year-olds). If the goal of ‘leaving no one behind’ is to be
achieved, special attention needs to be given to the needs of
these vulnerable groups.
Regulatory frameworks identified in Latin American
(LA) countries do not impede gender equality in the labour
force. The observed differences are likely to result from
other restrictions, including cultural norms regarding
women’s roles as caregivers, household responsibilities and
discriminatory practices.
Insufficient education and training, as well as time
limitations, are the main obstacles that women face
in joining the labour market. These factors are more
constraining for vulnerable groups.
Programmes and policies should aim to reduce barriers
to labour market participation, especially through active
market interventions. Programmes tend to be most
effective when they tackle more than one restriction
faced by participants; coordination and communication
among actors (e.g. different government agencies, service
providers, local and international non-governmental
organisations (NGOs), etc.) are required to avoid
duplication of effort and to achieve greater synergies.
Priority – as well as subsidies and incentives – should be
given to vulnerable groups.
Programmes and policies should be rapidly expanded
to reduce constraints on women’s time. This includes: a)
aiming for universal access to initial childhood care and
pre-primary education, and b) increasing the availability
of community-based childcare facilities and supporting
caregivers for the elderly and disabled. Governments
should incentivise the supply of care services, and should
subsidise users who cannot cover costs.
The launch of the new Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) has generated heightened awareness regarding
women’s economic empowerment. Early actions that
reduce the constraints women face in the workforce can
help achieve these SDGs.
Abstract

Women’s economic empowerment – understood as
the capacity of women to make their own economic
decisions (agency) and their ability to improve their
economic situation (economic advancement) (Golla et
al., 2011) – increases women’s access to resources and
opportunities, including jobs, financial services, property
and other productive assets, skills development and market
information (GENDERNET, 2012). Accordingly, choosing
to seek employment, and having the chance to do so, is
in itself an act of agency. By participating in the labour
market, men – and particularly women – may augment
their ability to make choices in their domestic life (Golla
et al., 2011), to negotiate within a household, to take
control of their resources and profits, and to learn new
skills and build new networks (Morton et al., 2014). In
this way, being employed increases women’s economic
empowerment (Kabeer, 2012).
Globally, female participation in the labour market is
around 55%. Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has a
similar average rate (58%), which places it above the Middle
East and North Africa (25%) and South East Asia (30%),
but behind other regions (Figure 1). The gender gap in LAC
remains high, as male LFP is among the highest (84%) in the
world (World Development Indicators (WDI), World Bank).
Despite progress, women continue to lag behind men
in terms of poverty, labour market and wages, as well as
participation in private and public decision-making (United
Nations, 2015). This signals notable unfinished business
1. Introduction
‘The empowerment of the world’s women is a global imperative, yet despite important
progress in promoting gender equality, there remains an urgent need to address
structural barriers to women’s economic empowerment and full inclusion in economic
activity. If the world is to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, we need a
quantum leap in women’s economic empowerment.’
Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General
Figure 1: Labour force participation in different regions (% of total population of 15-64 year olds, 2014, modelled ILO
estimates)
Source: World Development Indicators (WDI) (World Bank).

from the era of the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs), in which MDG 3 specifically set out to ‘Promote
gender equality and empower women’. (In fact, the original
MDGs lacked a cross-cutting approach to gender equity
at all and, in response to critics, target 1b – ‘Full and
productive employment and decent work for all, including
for women and young people’ – was added in 2005 to
MDG 1 to ‘eradicate extreme poverty and hunger’.)
Not only are women less likely than men to participate
in the labour market, but when they do, they tend to earn
less and mostly join the informal sector. In the context of
the SDGs, ‘leaving no one behind’ requires tracking and
understanding the difference among countries and, more
importantly, what generates gender gaps within countries
in terms of participation in the labour force and access to
full and productive employment in equal conditions.
On 21 January 2016, the United Nations (UN)
Secretary-General announced the first High-Level Panel
on Women’s Economic Empowerment to provide thought
leadership and mobilise concrete actions aimed at closing
economic gender gaps that persist around the world. The
panel will recommend key actions and policy directives
to be taken by governments, the private sector, the UN
system and other stakeholders in order to achieve the new
SDG targets and indicators that call for the economic
empowerment of women. The panel is backed by the World
Bank Group, UN Women, the International Monetary
Fund (IMF), the International Labour Organisation
(ILO), with support from United Kingdom Department
of International Development, and the participation of a
range of eminent gender and equality actors, economics
experts, academics, trade union leaders, and business and
government representatives from all regions.
As the result of collaboration between UN Women and
the UN Global Compact, the ‘Women’s Empowerment
Principles’ have also been introduced to provide a gender
perspective on the ten principles of the Global Compact.
Through this initiative more than 8,000 corporate and
4,000 non-business signatories in at least 135 countries
will seek to align their business strategies and operations
with universally accepted principles of human rights,
labour, the environment and the fight against corruption
(UN Global Compact, 2015).
Women’s economic empowerment has been included in
SDG Goal 5 to ‘Achieve gender equality and empower all
women and girls’ and in Goal 8 to achieve ‘Decent work and
economic growth’. This is, therefore, a prime time to reflect
on how to empower all women paying particular attention
to the key principle of the SDGs of leaving no one behind.
In this report we focus on the economic pillar of the
SDGs, specifically on women´s empowerment through
labour market participation. We examine Target 5c to
‘Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable
legislation for the promotion of gender equality and
the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels’,
and Target 8e. ‘By 2030, achieve full and productive
employment and decent work for all women and men,
including for young people and persons with disabilities,
and equal pay for work of equal value’.
We look beyond regional and country averages. We
attempt to uncover the needs of different groups of
women who lag in critical aspects that restrict their full
and productive labour force participation and, thus,
their economic empowerment. Furthermore, we identify
obstacles than can be addressed by policy or legal changes,
as well as by engaging the private sector and local and
international NGOs. Overcoming these impediments is a
priority for early actions on the SDGs.
The main research questions that this report seeks to
answer are the following:
•• What countries or population groups show less progress
in terms of labour force participation, both in gender
gap or gaps within groups of women? Which groups are
being left behind?
•• What factors could explain different rates of female
participation in the labour market? What factors could
explain trends in such participation?
•• What are the current constraints to active LFP? Which
of these constraints can be addressed by policy or legal
changes that may be proposed as early actions in the
first 1000 days of the SDGs?
In section 2 of this report we describe our methodology
and the approach we used to answer the above research
questions. In section 3, we show the evolution of selected
indicators of female participation in the labour force for a
sample of Latin American countries; here we highlight the
need to look beyond regional or even national averages. In
section 4 we describe and explain factors associated with
participation in the labour force, and of doing so in decent
jobs; in section 5 we discuss public policies to promote
female labour force participation. In section 6, we discuss
a series of priority actions for the first 1000 days of the
SDGs. Finally, in section 7, we present our concluding
remarks.

This report aims to identify critical issues that could affect
the ability of women to join the labour force in Latin
America.
We used a regional lens for two reasons. First, the
availability of comparable data from sources such as
the Socio-Economic Database for Latin America and
the Caribbean (SEDLAC) allows us to explore country
differences. Second, we can draw on recent quantitative
and qualitative studies exploring women’s economic
empowerment through better public policies,1
that shed
light on the possible causes of trends in female labour force
participation. Table 1 outlines the eight countries that
are the focus of our study. We will now describe how we
conducted our research.
We used data available in international databases
such as SEDLAC (CEDLAS and World Bank), the World
Development Indicators and Key Indicators of the Labor
Market (ILO, 2016) to compare the trajectory and
current situation of countries that have achieved greater
progress than those with a poorer performance. To assess
perceptions about cultural norms, we used data from
several waves of the World Values Survey (World Values
Survey Association, 2015) and the Latinobarómetro Survey
(Corporación Latinobarómetro, 2015).
We reviewed current policy and academic literature
to identify what factors might have affected female
labour force participation in Latin America, focusing
on regulatory frameworks, public policies and possible
changes in the business environment. We included relevant
work by organisations such as UN Women (including the
UN Global Compact), the World Economic Forum, the
United Nations Development Program (UNDP), ODI,
the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW)
and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD).
2. Methodology and
approach
1 Part of the project ‘Enhancing women’s economic empowerment through better policies in Latin America’, a joint initiative coordinated by CIEDUR and
CEDLAS with support of IDRC, completed in eight countries with different characteristics and levels of development.
Table 1. Characteristics of selected Latin American countries
Argentina Uruguay Chile Bolivia Ecuador El Salvador Nicaragua Mexico
Population Million 43.0 3.42 17.8 10.6 15.9 6.1 6.0 125.4
GDP per capita
(2014)
US$ current 12,509.5 16,806.77 14,528.3 3,124.1 6,345.8 4,120.0 1,963.1 10,325.7
Rural population % total 8.4 4.8 10.6 31.9 36.5 33.7 41.5 21.0
Indigenous
population
% total 2.4 n.a. 4.6 41.0 7.0 0.2 6.0 15.0
Poverty head
count ratio
(US$4.0-a-day
poverty line,
2005 PPP)
% of total
population
10.9 7.8 6.8 27.2 26.1 31.8 52.2 27.6
% of rural
population
n.a. 4.5 8.6 51.4 37.3 47.6 70.0 48.1
% of
indigenous
population
n.a. n.a. 35 52 79 49 62 46
Development
level
High income High income High
income
Lower
middle
income
Upper
middle
income
Lower middle
income
Lower
middle
income
Upper middle
income
Note: n.a. means not available.
Source: WDI (World Bank, 2014) and SEDLAC (CEDLAS and World Bank). Data related to World Bank Group (2015).

We identied factors that enhance or hinder the
likelihood of women participating in the labour market,
and, once they do, the likelihood of accessing a decent job.
We synthesised a set of papers from the project ‘Enhancing
womenss economic empowerment through better policies
in Latin America’, a joint initiative coordinated by
Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios sobre el Desarrollo
(CIEDUR) and the Center for Distributive, Labor
and Social Studies (CEDLAS), with support of IDRC.
Specifically, the inputs for identifying factors included:
•• A set of reports about quantitative exercises conducted
by country research teams in Argentina, Uruguay, Chile,
Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador and Nicaragua.2
Most
countries used cross-sectional data from household
surveys from their national statistics institution for
2012 or 2013; analysis is restricted to working age
population.3
•• Documents mapping and describing laws, regulations
and programmes relating to female labour force
participation in the seven countries mentioned above
plus Mexico. Our research complements that of Vezza
(2015), who provides a framework for analysis and a
regional perspective. The focus was to identify possible
policy changes (or lack of) that might have influenced
the labour participation trajectories followed by
different countries.
•• Unpublished country qualitative work4
that aimed to
build upon the quantitative work to better understand
factors that help working women improve their
circumstances. The specific methodology varied from
country to country, but included in-depth interviews
of women in different types of occupation (formal and
informal salary-employed, self-employed and business
owners) and complementary focus groups with the same
target population.5
To complement the qualitative component just
described, we also utilised data from two other projects
recently conducted by FUSADES that examine labour
market participation of women. These specifically analyse
the situation of women by more detailed age groups
(18-24; 25-45; 46-65) and geographical area (urban and
rural). We included 32 interviews and 3 focus groups
that we conducted with women as part of the qualitative
component6
of the impact evaluation of the Temporary
Income Support Program (a public works programme).
As these sources all focus on urban areas we also draw
on qualitative work we conducted as part of the project
‘Conditional Cash Transfers and Rural Development’.7
We paid special attention to El Salvador, where the
increase in women’s participation has been slower than
average, drawing on data from the national household
survey. In addition, we used data collected in 2013 as part
of the STEP Skills Measurement Program (STEP) (World
Bank, 2014) in which FUSADES conducted a nationwide
urban household survey, to provide policy-relevant
data to enable a better understanding of labour market
participation. The survey collected data on household
characteristics, educational attainment, training, health,
employment history and family background. In total 2,335
observations were collected (1,442 women and 893 men).
2 The quantitative work by FUSADES and Fundación Internacional para el Desafío Económico Global (FIDEG) in El Salvador and Nicaragua were
completed under a separate project, also financed by IDRC, and later added to the regional project.
3 Bolivia analyses from 1999 to 2012; El Salvador used a panel data set constructed by FUSADES using the national household surveys for 2008-2012;
Nicaragua used a household panel data conducted by FIDEG including data for 2009 to 2012. To model the probability of participation most countries
used a logit model, except Nicaragua and El Salvador which used a multinomial logistic model. The variables used depend on the availability of the data,
though all countries measure more or less the same factors or dimensions. Each country reports either odds ratio and/or the marginal effects.
4 Argentina (Sanchís and Binstock, 2015), Bolivia (Marco Navarro, 2015), El Salvador (Vásquez et al., 2016), Mexico (Salazar Ramírez and Salazar
Ramírez, 2015), Ecuador (Bermúdez Lenis et al., 2015), Chile (Todaro et al., 2015), Nicaragua (Alaniz et al., 2015a) and Uruguay (Filardo et al., 2015).
5 Uruguay used only focus groups.
6 Comissioned by the World Bank.
7 A six-country regional project coordinated by Universidad de los Andes, Colombia, financed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD).

3. Current progress and
limitations
Figure 2. Women’s participation in the labour force (% 15- to 64-year-old women who are economically active (modelled ILO
estimate))
Note: Dotted line is LA average; vertical line indicates launch of MDGs.
Source: WDI (World Bank).

In the last three decades LAC has experienced a dramatic
increase in the proportion of women participating in the
labour force. Female labour supply has increased by almost
10% over this period, despite deceleration in the second
half of the 2000s (Busso and Romero Fonseca, 2015). This
has been a significant contributor to falls in both inequality
and poverty in the region (World Bank, 2015).
However, not all LA countries have experienced the
same trend (Figure 2). While on average there was an
increase in female LFP from 43% in 1990 to 58% in
2014 (15% increase, with 6.8% since 2000), El Salvador
(which started with a rate of 42.5%, similar to the regional
average), saw an increase of only 8.9% (with only 3.8%
since 2000), finishing at around 51% in 2014. On the
contrary, Chile, which started notably below the average
(35%), has experienced an accelerated increase to 55.6%,
close to the regional average (20.4 points in the whole
period and 16.3 since 2000). Despite progress, countries
that started with female LFP below the regional average
(i.e. Mexico and Nicaragua) remain below average, while
those that started with rates above average remain above
(i.e. Bolivia and Uruguay).
It is important to look beyond regional and even national
averages, however. Below, we explore differences in female
LFP relative to that of men, and in the type of employment
they can access. We also explore the difference among
groups of women to uncover who is being left behind.
Table 2. Average years of education completed (adults, by years old)
Argentina Uruguay Chile Bolivia Ecuador El Salvador Nicaragua Mexico
2014 2014 2013 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014
Women
21-30 12.3 11.0 12.9 11.5 10.9 9.7 9.1 10.9
31-40 12.1 10.7 12.1 9.6 9.9 8.1 7.8 9.7
41-50 11.3 10.2 10.9 8.0 9.0 6.7 6.6 8.9
25-65 11.5 10.2 11.1 8.6 9.3 7.2 7.3 9.0
Urban (25-65) 11.5 10.3 11.4 10.4 10.2 8.6 8.9 9.7
Rural (25-65) n.a. 8.2 8.5 4.4 6.8 4.5 4.3 6.1
Men
21-30 11.5 10.1 12.6 11.8 10.9 9.6 8.2 10.8
31-40 11.5 9.7 12.1 10.8 9.8 8.5 6.6 9.7
41-50 11.0 9.4 10.9 9.2 9.1 7.4 6.8 9.3
25-65 11.1 9.5 11.2 9.9 9.4 7.9 6.8 9.4
Urban (25-65) 11.1 9.6 11.7 11.5 10.4 9.4 8.6 10.2
Rural (25-65) n.a. 7.3 8.4 6.4 7.1 5.1 4.2 6.4
Female/male ratio
21-30 1.07 1.09 1.02 0.97 1.01 1.02 1.12 1.01
31-40 1.05 1.09 1.00 0.89 1.01 0.96 1.19 0.99
41-50 1.03 1.08 1.00 0.88 0.99 0.91 0.97 0.96
25-65 1.04 1.08 0.99 0.87 0.99 0.91 1.07 0.96
Urban (25-65) 1.04 1.07 0.98 0.90 0.98 0.91 1.03 0.95
Rural (25-65) n.a. 1.13 1.02 0.68 0.96 0.88 1.02 0.96
Women: group ratios
41-50/21-30 0.92 0.93 0.85 0.70 0.83 0.69 0.73 0.82
Rural/Urban n.a. 0.79 0.75 0.42 0.67 0.52 0.49 0.63
Note: n.a. means not available.
Source: SEDLAC (CEDLAS and World Bank).

Table 3. Female labour force participation (%) and female/male ratio (25- to 64-year-olds)
Group Argentina
2013
(urban)
Uruguay
2013
(urban)
Chile
2013
Bolivia
2013
Ecuador
2013
El Salvador
2013
Nicaragua
2009
Mexico
2012
Participation (%)
All women 59.13 72.52 55.09 65.73 54.51 55.12 50.08 56.31
18-24 years 41.13 62.85 38.40 45.05 38.55 39.19 36.80 48.54
25-54 years 68.26 80.72 64.11 72.85 60.45 62.57 57.43 61.57
55-64 years 44.26 52.75 41.24 66.22 48.68 45.92 37.96 43.31
Extreme poor 35.84 56.35 28.79 75.01 47.03 30.52 33.21 43.23
Poor 37.58 57.56 32.44 68.65 43.60 37.36 39.02 45.62
Vulnerable 45.93 64.78 43.75 61.67 49.26 57.00 57.35 54.85
Middle class 68.85 76.83 62.70 68.27 68.01 71.50 65.72 65.74
Unskilled 36.39 43.43 36.76 76.08 48.87 49.24 40.69 51.87
Low skilled 47.12 68.21 44.05 65.80 49.61 53.03 49.65 52.62
Skilled 67.74 81.63 62.63 61.87 60.91 65.80 63.81 63.90
Urban (25-64 years) 63.87 75.03 59.77 70.95 62.49 66.08 64.24 59.70
Rural (25-64 years) n.a. 66.86 38.42 75.28 53.28 43.66 39.66 54.21
Female/male ratio
All women 0.69 0.81 0.67 0.74 0.62 0.64 0.55 0.63
18-24 years 0.63 0.80 0.71 0.70 0.59 0.56 0.45 0.63
25-54 years 0.72 0.84 0.69 0.75 0.63 0.67 0.60 0.64
55-64 years 0.56 0.70 0.50 0.72 0.56 0.56 0.44 0.54
Extreme poor 0.49 0.65 0.51 0.79 0.53 0.36 0.36 0.50
Poor 0.49 0.65 0.52 0.75 0.50 0.44 0.42 0.51
Vulnerable 0.56 0.73 0.57 0.69 0.56 0.66 0.63 0.60
Middle class 0.78 0.86 0.73 0.77 0.77 0.83 0.74 0.75
Unskilled* 0.48 0.61 0.47 0.78 0.55 0.55 0.43 0.58
Low skilled* 0.55 0.75 0.52 0.69 0.54 0.63 0.54 0.56
Skilled* 0.78 0.92 0.76 0.73 0.71 0.79 0.75 0.76
Women:group
ratios
Extra poor/middle
class
0.52 0.73 0.46 1.10 0.69 0.43 0.51 0.66
Unskilled/ skilled 0.54 0.53 0.59 1.23 0.80 0.75 0.64 0.81
Rural/ urban n.a. 0.89 0.64 1.06 0.85 0.66 0.62 0.91
Note: *Unskilled, with less than 9 years of education; low skilled (between 9 and 13 years of education) and skilled (more than 13); n.a. Not
available.
Source: LAC Equity Lab tabulations of SEDLAC (CEDLAS and the World Bank) and WDI (World Bank).

3.1 Disparities in labour force participation
The LA region has reduced several gender disparities – a very
important one is education. Average schooling varies among
the sample countries: it is higher in the South American
countries and Mexico, and lower in Nicaragua and El
Salvador; in general, schooling is higher among younger
cohorts and the gender gap in years of schooling has closed
for individuals under 30 years old (Table 2). Considering
individuals aged 25-65, urban populations achieve higher
levels of education than rural populations in all countries.
Despite progress in education, the gap in LFP between
women and men remains wide. Women are less likely to
participate in the labour market than men, regardless of
their education level, but – with the exception of Bolivia –
the gap widens in the case of unskilled individuals (Table 3).
At the same time, LFP is lower among poorer rural, and
both older (over 54 years old) and younger women (18- to
24-year-olds). Again, the exception is Bolivia where the
participation rate of unskilled and poorer women is higher
than the other groups.
In general, as seen in Table 3, youth participation in the
labour force is lower than for the next age group (25- to
54-year-olds); one possible explanation is they are still
in school or training. However, an important segment of
these youth are not in employment nor in education or
training (NEETs). The proportion of NEETs has decreased
in the last decades, with larger reductions for women;
the percentage of female youth in this category fell from
33% in 2000 to 26% in 2010, whilst the share of males
increased from 11% to 13% (de Hoyos et al., 2015).
Despite this trajectory, women still remain overly
represented in the NEETs. This is especially prevalent in
Central American countries, as shown in Table 4, where
levels are as high as 42% in Nicaragua and 35% in El
Salvador, followed by Mexico and Ecuador. Even in
countries where the proportion of NEETs is lower, the
ratio of females to males remains close to 3 – except in
Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, where it is less than 2.
This ratio of female to male NEETs may be because one
of the most common reasons for leaving school is early
pregnancy and marriage, and the main reason for not
being employed is household responsibilities. Childbearing
in adolescence is closely tied to early marriage (including
consensual unions) (UN, 2013), which is more prevalent
among teenage women than among men (Table 5). Ever-
married rates for women are higher in Nicaragua and
Ecuador, followed by El Salvador and Mexico. At the same
Table 4. Percentage of youth 15-24 years not in education, employment or training (NEETs)
Group Argentina
(urban)
2013
Uruguay
(urban)
2013
Chile
2013
Bolivia
2013
Ecuador
2013
El Salvador
2013
Nicaragua
2009
Mexico
2012
All 19.69 17.31 17.17 12.47 17.93 23.73 27.62 18.95
Women 24.6 20.4 21.4 18.7 27.4 35.4 42.0 29.4
Men 14.9 14.3 13.0 5.9 9.4 12.0 13.5 8.7
Ratio females/males 1.7 1.4 1.7 3.2 2.9 2.9 3.1 3.4
Source: Cross tabulations from LAC Equity Lab with data from SEDLAC (CEDLAS and World Bank), based on the methodology of ‘Out of
School and Out of Work: A Diagnostic of Ninis in Latin America’.
Table 5. Percentage of youth (15- to 19-year-olds) ever married and adolescent birth rates (births per 1,000 women)
Indicator Argentina
2010
Uruguay
2011
Chile
2011
Bolivia
2008
Ecuador
2010
El Salvador
2007
Nicaragua
2005
Mexico
2010
YOUTH EVER MARRIED
WOMEN 12.9 5.9 12.6 11.9 21.9 17.0 28.4 17
MALE 6.00 3.2 3.7 4.6 6.6 5.7 7.8 6.4
MALE/FEMALE RATIO 2.15 1.84 3.41 2.59 3.32 2.98 3.64 2.66
BIRTH RATE (2005-2010) 56.9 58.5 61.1 78.2 83.5 82.7 112.7 69.3
Source: Marriage data from UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2015). World Marriage Data 2015 (POP/
DB/Marr/Rev2015); birth rates data from United Nations (2013).

time, adolescent fertility8
is higher in Nicaragua, with 113
births per 1,000 women, but is also high in Ecuador and El
Salvador, with rates of about 80. Fertility rates in the rest
of the sampled countries are lower, but they are still in the
upper mid-level range.
3.2 Disparities in quality of employment
There are also gender gaps in terms of access to full and
productive employment.
Besides showing that LFP varies by country, Figure
2 also shows what appear to be similar trajectories. For
example Uruguay and Bolivia: even though the two
countries appear to be similar in their female LFP, in
reality, the structure of their workforce is very different.
Both have increasing participation rates above the regional
average, but, as will be discussed later, the percentages of
women who are contributing (unpaid) family labourers are
1.91% and 26.97%, respectively. A similar situation can
be observed between Argentina and Ecuador (0.8% and
16.7%, respectively). See Table 6.
In Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Mexico, the majority
of women are wage earners. Even though participation is
higher among poorer and less skilled women in countries
like Bolivia, they work under less favorable conditions:
more than 60% of women are either self-employed or
contributing family workers. In Ecuador, El Salvador and
Nicaragua too, about half of women are in vulnerable
employment. In contrast with the other sample countries,
in El Salvador and Nicaragua women are less likely to
undertake unpaid work than men; this is mainly because a
high proportion of men work in agriculture, a sector with
fewer women, as will be discussed later.
In general, rural women and men face higher levels
of informality than their urban counterparts; this is true
when informality is measured as an absence of social
security rights, or when it includes workers’ small firms,
non-professional self-employment and contributing
family workers (Table 7). When measured with the latter
definition, the proportion of women in informal jobs is
10% to 30% higher than men’s, a ratio that is similar in
all of the sample countries. However, when informality
8 Adolescent fertility, measured as births per 1,000 women, is considered high if the rate is above 80, and medium level if it is between 18 and 80 (UN,
2013).
Table 6. Distribution of labour relationships by employed individuals (% of total employment)
Labour relationship Argentina
2013
Uruguay
2012
Chile
2011
Bolivia
2012
Ecuador
2012
El Salvador
2012
Nicaragua
2009
Mexico
2012
FEMALE
Entrepreneurs 2.57 2.89 1.62 3.75 2.23 3.04 0.56 9.15
Wage earners 80.33 75.44 78.50 34.30 47.29 50.67 49.25 63.36
Vulnerable employment 17.10 21.67 19.88 61.95 50.49 46.29 50.19 27.49
Self-employed 16.18 19.76 19.29 34.98 33.77 36.25 40.24 19.15
Contributing family worker 0.92 1.91 0.59 26.97 16.72 10.04 9.95 8.35
MALE
Entrepreneurs 4.80 6.18 2.09 8.55 4.70 4.77 1.26 11.48
Wage earners 73.55 70.55 76.67 42.56 57.51 60.45 47.50 71.24
Self-employed 21.22 22.54 20.96 37.52 32.08 23.45 35.26 11.93
FEMALE/MALE RATIO
Entrepreneurs 0.53 0.47 0.78 0.44 0.47 0.64 0.45 0.80
Wage earners 1.09 1.07 1.02 0.81 0.82 0.84 1.04 0.89
Self-employed 0.76 0.88 0.92 0.93 1.05 1.55 1.14 1.60

Table 7. Informality: Share of salaried workers in informal jobs (by two definitions, 25- to 64-year-olds)
Argentina
2013
Uruguay
2012
Chile
2011
Bolivia
2012
Ecuador
2012
El Salvador
2012
Nicaragua
2005
Mexico 2012
A.Absence of social security rights
TOTAL 28.5 10.5 15.4 52.7 40.1 47.4 59.8 60.5
WOMEN 12.5 19.6 50.8 31.9 44.2 50.1 61.0
Urban 32.2 12.4 18.7 51.3 26.0 37.5 44.1 58.3
Rural n.a. 15.2 30.1 46.5 59.7 72.9 72.2 82.2
MEN 8.6 12.4 53.9 44.8 49.4 65.6 60.2
Urban 25.4 8.5 11.1 51.5 33.5 40.1 55.6 56.2
Rural n.a. 10.9 22.0 64.8 71.4 70.9 85.4 80.6
WOMEN/MEN RATIO
Total 1.5 1.6 0.9 0.7 0.9 0.8 1.0
Urban 1.3 1.5 1.7 1.0 0.8 0.9 0.8 1.0
Rural n.a. 1.4 1.4 0.7 0.8 1.0 0.8 1.0
B.Workers in small firms, non-professional self-employment and contributing family workers
TOTAL 37.0 33.7 33.4 60.6 55.8 53.7 60.6 43.7
WOMEN 37.4 38.1 67.6 61.1 62.0 64.2 51.0
Urban 40.2 36.1 37.5 57.9 53.5 57.0 58.1 47.2
Rural n.a. 59.0 44.5 87.8 82.1 77.8 79.8 66.6
MEN 30.5 29.9 55.2 52.1 47.1 58.2 38.6
Urban 34.5 28.7 27.7 46.8 44.4 39.1 45.1 35.8
Rural n.a. 53.2 44.2 73.7 68.6 61.8 73.9 48.6
WOMEN/MEN RATIO
Total 1.2 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.3 1.1 1.3
Urban 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.2 1.2 1.5 1.3 1.3
Rural n.a. 1.1 1.0 1.2 1.2 1.3 1.1 1.4
Note: n.a. Not available.
Table 8. Average wage* for women as % of men’s, by age group (men=100%)
Age group Argentina
2010
Uruguay
2010
Chile
2009
Bolivia
2007
Ecuador
2010
El Salvador
2010
Nicaragua
2005
Mexico
2010
15 – 24 79.6 80.4 88.6 86.3 97.0 101.5 92.5 84.4
25-34 77.8 77.4 86.9 73.1 83.8 97.8 80.0 75.9
35-44 70.6 58.7 73.9 57.6 73.5 81.5 87.0 71.5
45-54 68.0 67.2 74.5 74.2 72.5 92.3 52.8 68.4
55 and older 53.3 61.5 80.4 56.3 73.0 87.4 64.3 67.2
Note: *Includes income from salaries and net income from self-employment.
Source: CEPAL et al, 2013

Table 9. Distribution of employment sector (% in each type of activity to total employment)
Sector of employment Argentina
2013
Uruguay
2012
Chile
2011
Bolivia
2012
Ecuador
2012
El Salvador
2012
Nicaragua
2009
Mexico
2012
FEMALE
Primary activities 0.52 4.16 6.44 30.43 21.53 5.35 11.17 10.20
Industry - low tech 5.62 6.34 4.62 9.06 8.59 15.21 13.14 8.95
Industry - high tech 3.15 2.85 2.59 1.41 2.70 1.79 5.33
Construction 0.60 0.48 1.04 0.68 0.83 0.24 0.29 0.49
Commerce 21.30 23.46 29.95 32.76 35.10 41.96 34.19 38.05
Utilities and transportation 2.41 3.20 3.80 2.04 1.96 1.51 0.96 0.79
Skilled services 10.29 8.75 8.76 3.42 5.43 4.19 2.91 5.95
Public administration 8.37 5.85 4.22 3.45 2.82 3.30 3.69 4.00
Education and health 30.44 28.85 24.25 12.72 16.56 16.09 20.19 15.59
Domestic servants 17.28 16.06 14.31 5.44 5.78 9.46 11.66 10.65
MALE
Construction 15.00 10.95 15.15 12.61 9.71 8.20 6.16 12.24
Commerce 23.52 23.04 22.51 14.40 19.21 18.70 15.48 24.70
FEMALE/,MALE RATIO
Construction 0.04 0.04 0.07 0.05 0.09 0.03 0.05 0.04
Commerce 0.91 1.02 1.33 2.27 1.83 2.24 2.21 1.54

is measured as the absence of social security rights, the
proportion of women employed in informal jobs tends
to be lower or similar than that of men in countries with
higher levels of overall informality; the opposite is true
in those countries with lower informality. One possible
explanation is that labour market regulations might be
more constraining for women where formality is higher.
3.3 Disparities in pay
In Latin America, gender disparities in pay are currently
less than they were 30 years ago, but they are still a
characteristic of female LFP. In 1990, women earned on
average 59% of that of men; the gap narrowed to 67%
in 2000 and to 78% in 2010 (CEPAL et al., 2013).
Of course the gender gap varies among countries, and
groups of women within a country. The gap gets larger as
women get older; in general, 25- to 34-year-old women
tend to earn closer to their male counterparts than older
women, starting with 35- to 44-year-olds (Table 8, page
17). While entry-level earnings are relatively similar, they
tend to diverge as men seem to have more opportunities to
progress in their work life (ibid.).
A higher proportion of women than men tend to be
self-employed; the gender gap for this segment is large,
as women earn close to 57% of males on average (ibid.).
At the same time, part of the wage difference between
men and women can be associated with sector or type of
occupation (Blau and Kahn, 2016). Women are twice as
likely as men to be employed in commerce and services
related to education and health, and also in low-tech
industries in countries such as El Salvador and Nicaragua
(Table 9). Domestic servants are almost exclusively women.
In Bolivia and Ecuador women also find employment in
primary activities, including agriculture; in El Salvador and
Nicaragua the proportion of women in the primary sector
is much lower, and a similar or even higher proportion of
men work in these sectors in Bolivia and Ecuador.
3.4 Who is being left behind?
While 70% of skilled women participate in the labour
market in the region, only 50% of the unskilled do;
similarly, less than 48% of poor women participate, almost
22% less than the middle class. Participation tends to be
higher for women aged 25 to 54 years (67%), and lower
for older (43%) and younger women (53%). In addition,
26% of all women aged 15 to 24 years are considered
NEET, a phenomenon that affects women more than men
(13%) (de Hoyos et al., 2015).
Identity-based inequality intersects with other forms
of inequality to define social exclusion (Kabeer, 2010).
Its intersection with economic inequalities – the fact that
socially excluded groups face particular barriers in gaining
access to resources and opportunities – means that those
most likely to be left behind are disproportionately drawn
from racially disadvantaged groups. Women and girls from
these groups are frequently at a greater disadvantage. In
Latin America, those belonging to indigenous groups often
have less education, participate in the labour market at a
disadvantage, have fewer resources, and receive less income
than their non-indigenous counterparts (World Bank, 2015).
In general, women as a group – regardless of their
characteristics – lag behind men in participation and in
access to quality employment and equal pay. We must look
beyond regional and country averages in order to uncover
and ease the constraints of those population groups that
lag even more in critical aspects. To achieve the goal of
‘leaving no one behind’, the restrictions faced by the
unskilled, poorer (usually rural and indigenous) and older
women need to be addressed. Special consideration needs
to be given to vulnerable younger women to help them
remain in or return to school: without education they will
struggle to participate in and access decent jobs.

In this section we summarise results from several studies
that form part of the project ‘Enhancing women’s
economic empowerment through better policies in Latin
America’.9
Factors that have been found to be associated
with participation in the labour market regardless of the
type of employment are summarised in Table 10. Factors
associated with being in more favourable employment
are presented in Table 11, page 24. Our analysis is
complemented by Busso and Romero Fonseca (2015),
who explore the evolution of factors that explain the rapid
increase in women’s LFP from 1990 to 2000, and the
stagnation that followed. The results are summarised in
Table 12., page 24
4.1 Education
One of the factors that is strongly associated with labour
market participation is education. Having more years
of education is associated with increased female labour
participation for all countries (see Table 10), and with
increased access to formal wage employment (see Table
11). Its association with advantageous self-employment is
not as clear: for Uruguay and Ecuador, the coefficient is not
significant, and for Bolivia, it is negative. Education levels
have increased in Latin America, making it an important
factor associated with the increase in female labour supply
seen in the last two decades (Busso and Romero Fonseca,
2015). These results are consistent with the fact that
groups with lower levels of education, such as older and
rural women (see Table 2 in the previous section), also tend
to participate less in the labour force (Table 3).
Higher levels of education also have other positive
effects, with research suggesting that it can increase the
likelihood of remaining employed in times of economic
hardship (OECD, 2011).
4.2 Cultural norms: gender roles, time
constraints and occupation choices
Cultural norms and beliefs intervene in labour market
decisions and outcomes. Traditional gender roles prescribe
women as being responsible for household work, including
childcare and caring for the elderly, which imposes time
constraints. Women spend between 1.7 and 10 weeks more
per year on unpaid activities than men (Samman et al., 2016).
Being married or cohabiting is associated with reduced
entry into the labour force; this is true for all countries
except Uruguay (see Table 10). Women who are the head
of households or living in a single-parent family are more
likely to be in the labour market, but are likely to be
self-employed (see Table 11). As expected, women with
small children or the elderly in their household are less
likely to participate in the labour force, except in Ecuador
(Table 10). At the same time, this makes it less likely for
women to be in advantageous employment in Argentina
and Nicaragua (see Table 11).
The fact that women who are the head of their household
or have small children or the elderly in their household tend
to be self-employed might be because ‘self-employment can
provide flexibility in terms of hours worked that allows
women to provide domestic care and obtain income in the
labour market’ (Beneke de Sanfeliú et al., 2015).
Receiving support with housework (unpaid, usually
provided by other female family members, or paid,
provided by domestic servants) and access to early
childhood services increases the probability of women
4. Research findings: factors
associated with female
labour force participation
9 See Sanchíz and Katzkowicz (2014), Hernani-Limarino and Mena (2014), Espinosa Uquillas and Vásconez Rodríguez (2014), Espino and Sauval (2014),
Espino et al. (2014), Alaniz et al. (2015b), Beneke de Sanfeliú et al. (2015).
‘Luckily, slowly, or rapidly, it is changing.
As women are encouraging themselves to
do much more. I see it in my daughters,
I am in my sixties, and they are around
forty years old, and they encourage
themselves, they do things on their
own. For us it was much harder.’ - Older
woman, Uruguay (Filardo et al., 2015)

Table 10. Summary of factors associated with labour force participation
Factors Argentina Uruguay Chile Boliviaa
Ecuador Nicaraguaab
El Salvadorb
Women
Age + + + + + + +
Age-squaredc
- - - - - - -
Education + + + + + + +
Head of household + + + + + + +
Married or with partner - + - - - - -
Single parent family + + + +
Small children in household - - - + - -
School-age children in household - + n.s. +
Elderly in household - n.s. -
Support with housework (paid or unpaid) + + +
Access to early childhood services + + + +
Availability of electricity, potable water + +
Income from other sources
Remittances and cash transfers - - - - -
Other Income in the household - n.s. - -
Income level of household + + + +
Area (urban or metropolitan) + + - n.s. +
Race and ethnicity (indigeneous) + +* +**
Married or with partner (only effects different from above are reported)
Age
Age-squared
Educationc
Head of household
Small children the household
School-age children in household + n.s.
Elderly in household n.s.
Support with housework (paid or unpaid)
Access to early childhood services
Availability of electricity, potable water
Remittances and cash transfers
Other Income in household
Area (urban or metropolitan area)
Race and ethnicity (indigeneous)
Partner´s education - - +
Partner in formal employment - - - -
Partner's income + - - -
Notes: n.s.= not significant; *Being indigenous, as well as being mestizo (of dual descent), increases the probability of LFP; **Being Montubio
(Ecuadoran ethnicity) decreases the probability of LFP; a) Bolivia and Nicaragua do not run a model for cohabitating or married women; b) For
Nicaragua and El Salvador, the model estimates the probability of being in a state other than inactivity due to domestic reasons; (continued overleaf)

being in the labour force and of being in advantageous
employment (see Tables 10 and 11). Care work is more
constraining to poorer women, who cannot afford to pay
for childcare services or domestic help.
In Latin America, traditional gender roles present men
as breadwinners and women as being responsible for
household work, including caring for children and the
elderly. Recently, social norms and culture have become
more favourable, however, with gender discrimination
in the workplace decreasing slightly (Busso and Romero
Fonseca, 2015).
The 2015 round of the Latinobarometro Survey
(Corporación Latinobarómetro, 2015) asked women if
they agree or disagree that it is better that women stay at
home and men work. Results show that the majority of
women and men disagree or strongly disagree with this
statement, with disagreement higher among women and
those in high-income countries. Table 13 presents results by
age group; disagreement is higher among women and men
under 25 years of age than among adults 51 to 60 years
old, which shows an evolution in perceptions regarding
traditional gender roles.
Similarly, results from several waves of the World Values
Survey show that the proportion of women and men
that agree that a child suffers when the mother is in paid
employment has declined in the periods 1989-1993 and
2010-2014. Nonetheless, the proportion remains at around
60% in Ecuador, 40% in Chile and Mexico, and 35% in
Uruguay. Men are also more at ease with the idea of women
earning more than men. In Argentina and Mexico the
change is more evident as the proportion decreased by half.
However, around half of women in this country believe
that it is almost certain to cause problems if a woman earns
more money than her husband (see Table 14).
Cultural norms also influence career and occupation
choices for women, resulting in reduced participation in
certain types of jobs and sectors which are usually better
paid (Blau and Kahn, 2016). For example, women’s
‘Luckily, slowly, or rapidly, it is changing.
As women are encouraging themselves to
do much more. I see it in my daughters,
I am in my sixties, and they are around
forty years old, and they encourage
themselves, they do things on their own.
For us it was much harder.’ – Older
woman, Uruguay (Filardo et al., 2015)
‘Children’s education is not men’s
responsibility. It is ours, and it will
continue to be ours in the future.’ –
Woman, 40+ years old, Mexico (Salazar,
2015)
(continued from previous page) c) When a relationship is not linear, as with ‘age’, it is necessary to include a higher order term in the equation;
in this case, ‘age squared’. The fact that this term is significant and negative indicates that there is a given age, where labor participation begins
to go down.
Source: Authors’ own elaboration based on regression results of studies from the project ‘Enhancing Women’s Economic Empowerment through
Better Policies in Latin America’. Quantitative results from a similar IDRC-funded project in Nicaragua and El Salvador were later incorporated
in this project. Argentina: Sanchíz and Katzkowicz (2014); Bolivia: Hernani-Limarino and Mena (2014); Ecuador: Espinosa Uquillas and
Vásconez Rodríguez (2014); Chile: Espino and Sauval (2014); Uruguay: Espino et al. (2014); Nicaragua: Alaniz et al. (2015a); El Salvador:
Beneke de Sanfeliú et al. (2015).
‘I wouldn’t be able to give them their
time, I would get home tired, who knows,
right to bed, and, like, my children are
little I would let them grow up like that,
at random, right? I would abandon them.
I mean, except if the money is enough,
enough to pay for someone else to take
care of them, do you see? I can’t, I can’t
think like that, with a cold head, while
my children are little…’ – Self-employed
woman, Bolivia (Marco Navarro, 2015)
‘My mother-in-law took care of him, or
my mother.’
‘I used to live with my cousin, who was in
charge of caring for my girl, because my
mother always had a job.’
‘When I could hire a maid, a maid
[provided childcare]; but then there was
a time when my mother was taking care
of the children.’ – Interviews with three
women, El Salvador

Factors Argentina Uruguaya
Chile Boliviab
Ecuador El Salvador Nicaraguab
All women
Age A: - /B: + + A: + /B: - + + +
Education + A: + / B:
n.s.
+ A: + /B: - A: + / B: n.s + +
Head of household + A: - / B:
n.s.
A: -/ B: + A: n.s.
/B: +
A: n.s.
/B: +
+ A: n.s. /B: +
Married or with partner A: + /B: - A: - /B: n.s. A: -/ B: + + A: - /B: n.s. A: - /B: + A: - /B: +
Single parent household -
Small children in the household + A: n.s. /B: - A: -/ B: + A: - /B: n.s. A: n.s. / B: -
School-age kids in household A: + /B: - A: n.s. /B: - A: + /B: - A: - /B: + -
Elderly in the household - n.s. -
Support with housework (paid or unpaid) A: - /B: + A: n.s.
/B: +
A: - /B: n.s.
Access to early childhood services A: - /B: + n.s. A: +/ B: - A: + /B:
n.s.
Home (electricity, potable water) + +
Remittances and cash transfers - - - A: - /B: n.s.
Other Income in the household A: + /B: - n.s. + A: - /B: +
Income level - + + A: - /B: +
Area (urban or metropolitan) A: - /B: + A: + /B: - A: + /B: - A: n.s.
/B: +
+ +
Race and ethnicity (indigeneous) A: n.s./ B: - A: - /B: +
Married or with partner (only effects different from above are reported)
Age A: - /B: +
Education A: - /B:+
Small children in the household -
School age kids in the household n.s.
Elderly in the household A: n.s. /B: - .
Support with housework (paid or unpaid) + .
Access to early childhood services n.s.
Home (electricity, potable water) A: n.s. /B: +
Remittances and cash transfers A:+ /-
Other Income in the household A: - /B: +
Income level +
Area (urban or metropolitan) - A: +/ B: n.s.
Race and ethnicity (indigenous) -
Education of partner A: +/ B: - A: + /B: -
Formal occupation of partner A: -/B: + + +
Partner’s income A: + /B: - A: - /B: +
Notes: n.s.: not significant; *For Nicaragua and El Salvador, advantageous self-employment is defined as those self-employed with income above
minimum wage. For the rest of the countries, the definition covers those self-employed with hired labour; a) Uruguay’s results are not reported
for the probability of cohabitating or married women being in each labour state model; b) Bolivia and Nicaragua do not run models for women
cohabitating or married.
Source: Ibid.
Table 11. Factors associated with advantageous labour market employment – A: Wage employment, B: Advantageous
self-employment*

Factors Change in Latin
America between 1990
and 2010
Contributor to long-
term (1950-2010)
increase in female
labour supply
Contributor to
long-term (1990-
2010) increase
in female labour
supply
Contributor to
convergence
between
advantaged and
disadvantaged
group
Contributor
to recent
stagnation
Education Increased Likely Likely Likely Unlikely
Marriage Stable Unlikely Unlikely Unlikely Unlikely
Fertility Decreased Likely Likely Likely Unlikely
Technology
Health (contraceptives, formula) Increase Likely Likely Unknown Unlikely
Home (appliances, electricity) Increase Likely Unlikely Likely Unlikely
Work (telework) Probably stable Unlikely Unlikely Unlikely Unlikely
Labour returns
Gender discrimination Slight decrease,
stagnated in 2000s
Unlikely Likely Likely Likely
Macroeconomic conditions Unlikely Unlikely Unlikely Likely
Policies
Labour regulations Stable Unlikely Unlikely Unlikely Unlikely
Taxation Stable (slight
improvement in 2000s)
Unlikely Unlikely Unlikely Unlikely
Conditional Cash Transfers Large increase since
mid-1990
Unlikely Unlikely Unlikely Likely
Childcare Large increase Likely Likely Likely Unlikely
Culture Better for women Likely Likely Likely Unlikely
Table 12. Factors associated with the change in female labour force participation from 1990 to 2010 and to recent stagnation
(25- to 54-year-olds)
Student in rural Argentina. Photo: © Nahuel Berger for the World Bank.

involvement in science, technology, engineering and
mathematics has been very low traditionally; of all
individuals holding a degree in engineering in El Salvador,
only 7.7% were women. On the other hand, women
represented 82.3% of those with degrees in health sciences,
and 88.9% with certificates relating to administrative work
(as estimated using data from the STEP Skills Measurement
Program, World Bank, 2014).
Education also has a role in changing women’s attitudes
towards work, their career and family, as well as shaping
social norms that define women’s roles inside and outside
the household (Gasparini and Marchionni, 2015).
‘…the father of my children, even
when he tries hard… I mean, regarding
affection, regarding tenderness, social
development of a child is given much
more by the mother. There are things we
can’t really give up as much as we would
want to.’ – 40 year-old woman, Mexico
(Salazar, 2015)
Table 13. Is it better that women stay at home and men go to work? (% who disagree or strongly disagree, 2015)
Age group Argentina Uruguay Chile Bolivia Ecuador El Salvador Nicaragua Mexico
WOMEN
All women 74.0 79.6 79.3 65.4 55.4 57.6 58.6 69.2
25 years 79.9 87.3 86.2 73.9 54.4 58.1 57.7 78.8
26-40 73.6 84.3 83.4 67.0 59.3 61.4 57.3 72.0
51-60 75.0 83.4 80.0 58.9 51.3 55.0 64.8 70.1
61+ 66.7 67.6 67.2 52.9 54.5 52.9 52.3 47.6
MEN
All men 66.8 72.0 70.5 56.2 56.1 55.9 48.8 61.8
25 years 68.1 74.2 87.8 58.3 62.0 59.6 49.7 71.0
26-40 76.6 78.9 74.2 59.0 52.7 61.6 51.7 68.3
51-60 63.7 73.3 65.7 51.4 56.6 49.6 47.7 57.6
61+ 55.7 58.4 56.6 53.9 52.6 47.1 36.1 40.8
RATIO (25 (/(51-60)
Women 1.06 1.05 1.08 1.25 1.06 1.06 0.89 1.13
Men 1.07 1.01 1.33 1.14 1.10 1.20 1.04 1.23
Source: Corporación Latinobarómetro (2015).
‘It occurred to me to study, after I entered my last job; I took the courage and entered
Law School to study labour relations. My children were skipping classes in high
school. Thinking about that stage: the mother is studying and the kids were failing
high school. I passed my classes with good grades; the school principal called to tell
me my son had low grades; it was very tragic for me. In that moment, my partner told
me:“well, my love, if you have problems with your children, maybe what you have to
do is quit studying”.’ - Middle-class woman, Uruguay (Filardo et al., 2015)

4.3 Workplace discrimination: age, gender and
race
As discussed in the previous section, getting older makes
it more likely for women to be active in the labour market
and, for most countries, being older is also associated with
a better type of employment (see Table 11). The results
suggest that women with more experience are more likely to
be in advantageous work. Age is a variable with diminishing
returns, however: the results show that after around 30- to
35-years-old this probability reduces (see Table 10).
Results from the 2015 round of the Latinobarometro
Survey provide some evidence for the plausibility of
this explanation. Labour regulations tend to reduce the
flexibility that some women need to balance their job with
household responsibilities. In addition, employers perceive
that workplace protection for women (such as maternity
leave) increases the cost of hiring younger women relative
to men (Cerise et al., 2013). The 2015 round of the survey
asked respondents what they perceived to be the greatest
difficulties that women face in the labour market (responses
are shown in Table 15). In Argentina, Uruguay and Chile,
where formality is higher, the most common response
related to discrimination towards women of fertile age or
with children, as well as the flexibility of schedules.
Data from the World Values Survey shows that both
men and women perceive men to be better suited for
leadership positions than women. However, this perception
has decreased over time, especially when considering
political leadership. The change in the perception of
leadership in the business arena has been considerably
more modest (see Table 16).
In general terms, being indigenous increases the
likelihood of a woman participating in the labour force
(see Table 10). However, they are usually employed in
‘… they do not give you a chance
anymore… When you turn 35 it is even
harder … I went to an interview at the
Town Hall, the person told me:“no,
because of your age, you can only work
at a maquila [clothing factory]”…’ –
Interview with woman in El Salvador
Table 14. Perceptions of the consequences of women working (% who agree and strongly agree)
Argentina Uruguay Chile Ecuador Mexico
When a mother is in paid employment the children
suffer
Women
1989-1993 0.766 0.819 0.757
2010-2014 0.395 0.354 0.612 0.447
Men
1989-1993 0.786 0.824 0.797
2010-2014 0.350 0.403 0.583 0.432
If a woman earns more money than her husband, it is
almost certain to cause problems
Women
1994-1998 0.501 0.427 0.615 0.605
2010-2014 0.243 0.308 0.323 0.396 0.498
Men
1994-1998 0.387 0.350 0.519 0.618
2010-2014 0.160 0.217 0.378 0.310 0.373
Source: World Values Survey Association.
‘I believe that after a certain age your
options are diluted, right? It is not the
same if you find yourself out of a job, for
any reason, when you are 25 than when
you are 40. At 40 there are no companies
that will take you, unless it is for
housekeeping or caregiving.’ – Woman in
Uruguay (Filardo et al., 2015)

lower-salaried jobs, and the income they generate is
usually lower than that of similar non-indigenous women
(World Bank Group, 2015). Being indigenous reduces the
probability of completing secondary or higher education
from 5 to 17 points; in Bolivia, it increases the chance of
being in informal employment by almost 7 points (see
Table 17).
4.4 Other factors: Household income and
macroeconomic conditions
Having higher total household income is associated with
more women participating in the labour force, although
the probability decreases if women live in a household that
receives remittances or if there are other income earners
in the household (see Table 10). Evidence from some
countries (e.g. Argentina, Chile and El Salvador) suggests an
association between having additional income and women’s
increased access to better jobs (see Table 11). For example,
access to remittances and other income could provide capital
for self-employment (Beneke de Sanfeliú et al., 2015).
Other factors that can explain the recent stagnation
in the rate of females joining the labour force include: a)
macroeconomic conditions with lower unemployment and
higher income of other earners in the household (mostly,
the male partner), b) increased social assistance (like
cash transfers), which may have reduced the urgency of
vulnerable women to take low quality jobs.
4.5 Considerations
Insufficient education (usually less than complete secondary
education) and time constraints are the main difficulties
that women face in joining the labour market. Social
norms and discrimination also present obstacles to women
achieving full and productive employment with equal pay.
These factors affect women in general, but they are more
constraining for certain groups of women, including poorer,
older, rural and indigenous populations, as well as for young
people not in employment, education or training (NEET).
Laws and regulations, public policies and programmes
should recognise issues that affect women in general, and
give special emphasis and provision to support vulnerable
groups.
‘Men, for instance. If you want to have
a career in a place, they ask you not to
miss work. There is a difference, because
… as a woman or as a mother, you are
always going to miss work; in some
moment, you are going to miss work,
whether you can give notice or not. But
not a man, because in general, he does
not have the obligation to be with his
child”. – Woman, Uruguay (Filardo et al.,
2015)
Table 15 Perceived difficulties faced by women in the labour market, 2015 (% of women who mentioned each factor)
Difficulty Argentina Uruguay Chile Bolivia Ecuador El Salvador Nicaragua Mexico
Lack of required education/training 26.6 41.8 17.9 27.3 19.5 41.7 38.2 36.0
Ensuring children have good attendance 43.7 59.1 58.5 42.0 44.3 28.3 41.3 36.8
The need for a flexible schedule 21.8 42.9 41.7 20.7 22.6 17.2 23.5 25.8
Discrimination for being of fertile age 24.2 39.5 52.6 32.0 23.7 23.6 30.8 26.4
Businesses do not hire women with children 42.5 47.2 47.6 51.3 33.4 32.5 35.0 38.6
Note: Figures do not add up to 100% due to the selection of multiple answers and because not all choices of response are shown.
Source: Authors’ own calculations using data from Latinobarómetro 2015 (Corporación Latinobarómetro, 2015).
‘If there is a job available, and there is
a woman that is applying for that job,
and she is qualified for that, the man
gets it. Because the woman is going to
miss work if she has children, she will
miss work if she is menstruating; she is
going to miss work if she gets pregnant.
Because, it is known, people see this as
natural, that the woman is weaker and
more sensible, etc., etc. People see this
as natural.’ – Salaried woman,Argentina
(Sanchís and Binstock, 2015)

Table 16. Perception that men are better political leaders than women (% who agree and strongly agree)
Argentina Uruguay Chile Ecuador Mexico
Men are better political leaders
Women
1994-1998 0.338 0.332 0.364 0.385
2005-2009 0.228 0.162 0.339 0.244
2010-2014 0.214 0.076 0.181 0.231 0.198
Men
1994-1998 0.428 0.438 0.491 0.483
2005-2009 0.426 0.258 0.574 0.319
2010-2014 0.347 0.109 0.386 0.310 0.267
Men are better business leaders
Women
2005-2009 0.171 0.161 0.204 0.195
2010-2014 0.164 0.132 0.121 0.200 0.178
Men
2005-2009 0.313 0.226 0.429 0.259
2010-2014 0.296 0.208 0.271 0.266 0.234
Source: World Values Survey Association (2015-04-18: current official release).

Table 17. Gaps between indigenous and similar non-indigenous households or individuals
Bolivia Ecuador Mexico
If indigenous… 2011 2012 2010
Change in probability of being poor
(All households)
$1.25 pp 6.1 8.4 2.3
$2.50 pp 9.7 15.5 6.7
$4.00 pp 11.4 13.1 9
(Among female headed households)
$1.25 pp --- --- 2.51
$2.50 pp 2.16 4.53 3.3
$4.00 pp 3.56 5.81 ---
(Among female rural households)
$1.25 pp 17.0 12.0 5.0
$2.50 pp 25.0 25.0 15.0
$4.00 pp 25.0 25.0 17.0
Change in probability of completing…1
Primary or higher education --- -2.4 -2.6
Secondary or higher education -4.8 -16.7 -8
Change in probability of informal work 6.87 n.a. n.a.
Change in individual income
Urban -9.1 --- -11.8
Rural -12.7 -11.4 -14.1
Note: Marginal probabilities estimated using an OLS regression, controlling for ethnicity, area (urban/rural), gender of household head, marital
status, educational attainment and age, number of children (compared with the median number of children in the country), and local region size
(defined by population). Values shown are significant (at least p0.1). 1) Includes only individuals 15-25 years for primary or higher, and 30-35
years for secondary or higher. n.a. Not available.
Source: World Bank Group (2015).

In this section we present a survey of laws, regulations,
public policies and programmes that relate to female
labour force outcomes, the objective being to identify
possible differences in the type of policies or programmes
that might explain observed differences among countries.
We complement the analysis by exploring the experiences
and perceptions of women with different characteristics
(age-group, education level and labour status) who
participated in the qualitative studies referred to in section
2. Public policies in the region vary widely, but it is
apparent that there are more active labour market policies
than those related to care support or advocacy.10
5.1 Relaxing constraints on women´s time
Two factors that make it difficult for women to participate
in the labour market are a lack of flexibility in the
workplace and good quality childcare (see Table 15); both
of these relate to competing roles at the household level
that place constraints on women’s time. This is consistent
with results discussed in the previous section. Having small
children or the elderly in the household is associated with
fewer women being economically active; poorer women
tend to be more constrained by these factors because they
lack enough resources to afford to hire domestic help or to
pay for childcare services.
Public policy should recognise that the needs and
dynamics of providing care go beyond the domestic
sphere and should promote co-responsibility within the
household, government, family, community and labour
market (Salvador, 2015).
Early childhood and pre-primary education helps to
increase opportunities for mothers to work outside the
home by providing a safe place for their children. For most
countries, mandatory education includes one or two years
of pre-primary education, except in El Salvador, where
the starting age for mandatory education is 7 (Table 18).
However, even when mandatory, universal coverage is
not assured and quality can be an issue. In addition, such
services do not solve the matter completely as operating
hours are usually shorter than a typical workday.
Through interviews and focus group discussions it
became clear that the existence of childcare services relaxes
women’s time constraints, however this is not enough.
Poorer women struggle to meet the cost associated with
taking their children to centres, which may not be close to
their homes or workplace (Vásquez et al., 2016). Also, in
many cases, operating hours are not convenient to their
work schedule.
It is recognised that any type of subsidy or public
childcare programme is a subsidy to work (Garcia-Moran,
2010). Subsidies can be given directly to parents to cover
the cost of childcare or through funding centres. For
instance, Mexico’s Estancias Infantiles promotes a network
of care centres and provides support in three ways: a) giving
a subsidy to parents; b) giving an economic incentive to
individuals interested in the creation of new centres; and c)
giving monetary support to existing centres if they join the
network. The programme provides training to individuals –
mostly women – who are in charge of the centres.
The promotion of such organised initiatives at the
community level is another example of practices that facilitate
women’s participation in the labour market. The Peruvian
programme Wawa Wasi (‘House of children’) provides
comprehensive early-childhood care in poor communities by
mobilising community volunteers (both men and women)
to provide care in community centres while parents go to
work (Cueto et al., 2009). This type of programme could be
appropriate for both urban and rural communities.
5. Research findings: survey
of public policies
10 As identified by reviewing a series of documents mapping and describing laws, regulations and programmes related to labour force participation:
(Arriagada Acuña, 2015), (Álvarez Vijil, 2015), (Bianchi, 2015), (Cuba Villarroel, 2014) (Foti Sanchís, 2014), (Salazar Ramírez and Salazar Ramírez,
2015), (Vásconez Rodríguez, 2015), (Vásquez, 2015), (Vezza, 2015), plus additional work undertaken for this study.
‘… because of my child I could not go out to work… You do the math… you estimate
how much you can earn and how much you have to spend if you are not in the house
[…] Even now, I have considered it [going back to work], but … because of the level
of studies, thinking about that too, right?, because it is a very low wage you could
earn, then… it is not very convenient.’ – Interview with woman, El Salvador

Care support for the elderly and disabled is rarely
available and coverage is extremely limited, however
there are some initiatives. For example, Argentina has a
programme based on the professionalisation of care labour,
which provides training and intermediation between
caregivers and those in need of care (Bianchi, 2015). In
Uruguay, a programme gives government subsidies for
families to hire a personal assistant to care for people with
disabilities (Foti and Sanchís, 2014).
5.2 Reducing barriers to labour market entry
Having reviewed the background studies, we are able to
group LA policies that seek to reduce barriers to women’s
labour participation into three categories: 1) active labour
market policies, 2) labour laws and 3) advocacy.
Active labour market policies
The coverage of active labour market policies and
programmes is varied; they include training, employment
services, temporary employment and entrepreneurship.
Some programmes incentivise employers to hire men and
women in targeted populations – often the incentive is
larger if they hire a woman.
Some Latin American countries implement a diverse
set of programmes in order to target different segments
of the female population. For example, Chile, where
female labour market participation has grown sharply
since the early 2000s, has specific programmes focused
on female employability: female head of households are
targeted through Mujer trabajadora y jefa de hogar; the
most vulnerable (women belonging to the poorer 30%)
are targeted through an employment subsidy Subsidio
al empleo de la mujer del ingreso ético familiar; female
entrepreneurs through a coordinating network of service
providers (Mujer Emprende); those with low education
and unstable or irregular jobs are targeted through
Ellas buscan trabajo, which provides digital literacy,
training and labour intermediation; opportunity-driven
entrepreneurs with need of capital are targeted through
Capital Abeja.11
Giving attention to the needs of each
group is important to reduce the particular barriers that
they face in entering the labour market.
Uruguay’s PROIMUJER provides vocational
training for women with different profiles, including
entrepreneurship training and support for the creation
and formalisation of small businesses (e.g. help with tax
compliance). It also offers labour opportunities to women
above 40 years of age who are seeking a job for the first
time, or who have been out of the labour market for more
than two years. Bolivia’s Proyecto de Alianzas Rurales has
helped small rural producers from indigenous towns, rural
communities and women creating productive cooperatives
and providing technical assistance to these groups.
We find that countries with active market policies that
tackle more than one obstacle to LFP tend to fare
better. For instance, policies in Argentina and Ecuador
include formal and/or technical education, and/or help
to access formal jobs. Argentina’s PRO.EMPL.AR, a
programme seeking to employ the young, provides help
to complete formal education, incentives to employ
programme participants, and promotion of formal hiring
modalities. Ecuador’s Red Socio Empleo acts as a labour
intermediation service and offers technical training with a
public-private partnership (PPP).
A key common element of those countries with better
female labour market participation seems to be the
complementarity of their different policies. For example,
young participants of the Argentinian programme Jóvenes
con más y mejores trabajos, which provides them with
complementary education, labour intermediation and
economic help, may access other programmes that enable
them to get an internship, a new job in a business or work
in public projects.
Training, entrepreneurship, micro-finance and other
active labour market programmes are not only provided
by public institutions. In all countries studied, we found a
wide variety of programmes being implemented by local
and international NGOs and foundations, with funding
from international donors or the private sector.
Laws and regulations
All countries in the region have a clause on equality in their
constitutions, at the very least. The regulatory framework
of Latin American countries, as stated in legal codes, does
not impede gender equality in the labour force, particularly
regarding equality of earnings and non-discrimination
within the workplace. It also establishes equal access to
housing, land and business assets (World Bank Group,
2016). Married and unmarried (single or cohabitating)
women have the same rights and obligations as married
and unmarried men.
11 Capital Abeja is a competitive fund aimed exclusively at women to promote the creation of new business or to strengthen companies that are at an early
stage (Arriagada Acuña, 2015).
‘… the institution where I work gave us a childcare subsidy. We choose the daycare
centre and they pay 85% of the monthly cost … because both of our mothers work
and we did not want to leave [our child] at home, afraid that because he is so little
anything could happen to him.’ – Interview with young woman, El Salvador

Regarding property rights, most countries in Latin
America allow the same rights to women and men,
regardless of marital status. The exceptions are Chile
and Ecuador (Almodóvar-Reteguis et al., 2012). In all
LA countries, women and men are equally capable of
signing contracts, registering businesses and opening bank
accounts (World Bank Group, 2016).
Some regulations, with a protectionist intention,
present a limitation for women. For instance, women are
prohibited to work night hours in Bolivia. In El Salvador
and Argentina, some occupations are prohibited to women:
those that include work with hazardous materials or are
considered as exposing women to danger, such as greasing
and cleaning moving machinery (ibid.).
Pregnancy and maternity leave are protected in all
countries,12
however paternity leave has only been
implemented since 2010, and is limited to a few days
(see Table 18). Social policies designed to protect
female workers and promote workplace equality have
controversial effects on labour market outcomes. Working-
hour restrictions and mandated maternity benefits help to
safeguard women’s family responsibilities and ensure their
physical security, but these regulations can raise the cost to
firms of hiring women relative to men (Rodgers, 1999). For
this reason, it is important to continue promoting measures
that increase shared responsibility by fathers through
family leave or part-time arrangements.
Preventing women’s discrimination in the workplace is
not only a matter of legislation, but also of reducing the
direct cost of maternity leave to employers (ILO, 2012).
In 90% of LAC countries, governments fund maternity
leave subsidies at least in part; in 48% they are funded
completely by the respective governments (World Bank
Group, 2016). When employers fund at least part of the
direct cost of maternity leave, young women may be
discriminated against due to the perceived higher costs of
employing them (Cerise et al., 2013). The perceived costs
may change according to economic sector and business
sizes (Todaro et al., 2001). In addition, small and medium
enterprises (SMEs) also consider indirect costs of having to
find short-term, temporary workers to provide maternity
cover, putting additional pressure on existing staff, and
disrupting administrative and operational aspects, among
others (Equality and Human Rights Comission, 2015).
Part-time, flexible working arrangements are not
available in all countries. In the LAC region, these type of
arrangements are only available in Uruguay, and only since
2016. Here, the government provides a subsidy that lets one
parent reduce their labour schedule to part-time, in order to
care for the child for up to six months after maternity leave
is over (Instituto de Seguridad Social, Uruguay).
Legislation against discrimination is an important signal
of state commitment to social justice. However, more
positive action may also be necessary. Affirmative action may
take the form of reserved places in economic, political and
educational systems (Kabeer, 2010). At present there are no
quotas for corporate boards. Similarly, there are no quotas
for female representatives in parliament or local governments
as such, but there are for candidate lists for national or local
elections, which range from 30 to 50% (Table 18).
Advocacy: Increasing women’s agency
Prevalent social norms prescribe that women are primarily
responsible for caregiving and the home, yet advocacy for
co-responsibility in the home and workplace may help to
modify them (Gasparini et al., 2015). Within the region there
are several policies and programmes that have incorporated
elements of advocacy to promote women’s agency.
Even though most social protection programmes focus
on reducing poverty, they can be a vehicle to enhance
women’s access to the labour market, and to reinforce
or modify gender roles. Conditional Cash Transfer
12 Dismissal during pregnancy is prohibited to employers and all women working in formal salaried roles have the right to nursing breaks (World Bank
Group, 2016). Additional protection has been addressed by some countries: in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile it is considered unfair dismissal to dismiss
a woman within a determined period after giving birth (ranging from seven months after childbirth to twelve months after maternity leave). In other
countries, such as Mexico and El Salvador, women can be dismissed after maternity leave without the employer being penalised (Vezza, 2015).
‘I was able to take the three months off with the first of my two children. With the
second I only took two, because I did not want to leave the impression that being
pregnant is a disease, and I did not want that, under any circumstances, I would
be told that I neglected my job to take care of my children.’ - Woman, El Salvador
(Vásquez et al., 2016)
‘I am on the other side of the coin, I hire people. Then, even if one does not want to,
there is always that “what if she gets pregnant, she would leave me with three tough
months” – Small business owner, woman, El Salvador

programmes (CCTs) are common in Latin America;
even though their prime objective is to reduce poverty,
they also have an impact on women’s agency because
as mothers they are the principal recipients and are
responsible for complying with the conditions. Increasing
their empowerment in the domestic sphere can later lead
to participants being able to take advantage of other
programmes, such as small-scale agricultural projects
(Beneke de Sanfeliu et al., 2016). On the other hand,
participation in activities required by the CCT programmes
potentially poses an additional burden on women’s time,
and reinforces the idea that women are mainly responsible
for the care of their children and their homes (Gasparini
and Marchionni, 2015).
Some programmes that target women or are known to
have high female participation (for example CCT or those
for employability) take advantage of the presence of women
and include workshops about gender equality, women’s
rights and the prevention of domestic violence in the hope
of modifying social norms. Examples include El Salvador’s
CCT programme Comunidades Solidarias Rurales”,13
Nicaragua’s Hambre Cero and Chile’s Ellas buscan trabajo.
Among the programmes that promote employability
and entrepreneurship, it is our view that those that include
mentoring by other women and encourage networking are
have the potential to provide greater support for women’s
economic empowerment. One example is Vital Voices
Global Partnership, which works with female leaders in
the areas of economic empowerment, women's political
participation and human rights.
Advocacy to modify social norms must also be directed
at men, however. Promundo is a global programme, now
active in 22 countries, which promotes gender justice and
prevents violence by engaging men and boys in partnership
with women and girls. Among other activities, it promotes
caregiving by men and active fatherhood to encourage
equitable gender roles, prevent violence against women and
children, and contribute to positive maternal and child-
health outcomes.
Partners around the world offer positive messaging
through media and training classes, particularly for new
13 Comunidades Solidarias Rurales includes monthly workshops on topics such as gender equality, self-esteem and domestic violence. Research has shown
that by receiving these messages and having the opportunity to interact with other women outside their homes, their empowerment in the domestic sphere
is increased (Beneke de Sanfeliu et al., 2016).
Table 18. Survey of selected regulations available in Latin America
Type of policy Unit Argentina Uruguay Chile Bolivia Ecuador Nicaragua El
Salvador
Mexico
Coresponsibility at home
Maternity leave weeks 13 14 18 12 12 12 14 12
Paternity leave days 2 6 5 3 10 No 3 No
Part-time arrangements months No 6 No No No No No No
Care services
Mandatory starting age in formal
education
years 4 4 5 6 5 5 7 3
Quotas of women
representatives
Quota on candidate lists in
national elections
% 30 33 40 50 50 50 30 40
Quota on candidate lists in local
elections
% 30 33 No 50 50 50 30 50
Source: Authors’ own elaboration based on Vezza (2015) and World Bank Group (2016).
‘…I believed I was capable, I already received talks, training at [a Women’s NGO]
about the rights that one has as a woman. I began to feel courage …’ – Self-
employed woman, El Salvador (Vásquez et al., 2016)

fathers and couples; they also encourage campaigns and
activism to build community support, and advocate with
institutions and governments to adopt policies and scale
up programmes that reinforce personal and social change.
One such example is MenCare Latin America (part of the
Global Campaign MenCare), an initiative that promotes
fatherhood and men as caregivers which is present in eight
countries, and the ‘He for she’ campaign by UN Women.
Finally, social norms are also important within the
workplace. For example, as a form of advocacy, several
international organisations (e.g. the World Bank, UN
Women) and local NGOs promote certification of public
or private organisations that observe good labour practices
which seek to close gender gaps at the workplace (Vezza,
2015). This entails a commitment by the organisations to
revise their internal policies and practices to incorporate
a gender perspective and to organise affirmative actions
that lead to equality of women and men in the workspace.
There are three fundamental topics covered by this process:
a) human rights, b) gender equality, and c) worker’s quality
of life with an emphasis on gender co-responsibility.
Another example aimed at reducing gender gaps is the
Gender Parity Task Force Model, which is being piloted
by the World Economic Forum (2015a) in Mexico, Turkey,
Japan and Korea. The task force provides a space for
dialogue between stakeholders in business and government,
and serves as a neutral platform for new or existing
initiatives to accelerate progress through a data-driven
approach adapted to local realities. The WEF helps to
provide a common starting point for gap analysis and a
mechanism for tracking commitments and change. For
example, in Turkey it was determined that action is required
at every employment level; a ‘Declaration of Equality
of Work’ was developed, which set out 11 principles to
combat gender-based discrimination in the workplace and
a ‘Manual for Establishing Corporate Gender Equality’
was produced. In the first 18 months, more than half the
task force members (80 of the largest employers in the
country) reported having increased female employment at
all company levels (World Economic Forum, 2016).
5.3 Considerations
Based on our research, it is our view that regulatory
frameworks in Latin America do not impede gender
equality in the labour force, particularly regarding
earnings equality and preventing discrimination within
the workplace. However, some labour regulations tend to
reduce the flexibility needed to balance employment with
household responsibilities.
The types of programmes currently implemented to
reduce barriers to labour market participation are varied.
These usually target both men and women, with some
giving priority to the latter. Programmes that address more
than one restriction faced by participants tend to be more
effective. When different programmes coordinate with
each other, they avoid duplication of efforts and are more
effective in increasing participants’ capacities.
It is apparent, however, that there are more active
labour market policies and entrepreneurship and self-
employment programmes than those relating to care
support or advocacy to change cultural norms in the
workplace, households and society. More of the latter need
to be implemented.

Promoting women’s economic empowerment through
labour force participation will require actions that benefit
all women. However, there are significant gaps among
specfic groups of women: we have found that LFP is lower
among poorer women (often rural and indigenous), less
skilled and older women (over 54 years), as well as the
young (15- to 24-year-olds). If the aim of ‘leaving no one
behind’ is to be achieved, special attention needs to be
placed on easing the constraints faced by these vulnerable
groups.
Immediate actions
Advocate changing social norms. The launch of the new
SDGs has generated a high level of awareness around the
issue of women’s economic empowerment; this momentum
should be leveraged in order to change social norms. Civil
society organisations should:
•• Generate advocacy campaigns to:
ûû Promote shared responsibility at home between
women and men.
ûû Promote women’s agency in order to change
traditional gender roles, including career and
occupation choices.
ûû Increase awareness to reduce early marriage and
cohabitating, especially among rural and vulnerable
populations.
•• Identify and showcase global and local role models.
Recent research shows that having a role model
encourages girls and women to decide to enter the
labour force, to be in a non-traditional career, or to start
a business (Vasquez et al., 2016).
•• Direct advocacy efforts towards men; promote
caregiving by men and active fatherhood to encourage
equitable gender roles.
•• Involve a wide variety of actors in promoting and
funding these campaigns, including international bodies
such as UN Women, local and international NGOs,
think tanks and policy research institutions, business
associations, women’s associations, the advertising
industry and the media.
Expand efforts to promote good labour practices that
favour equality and balance between work and family.
Private sector organisations, including those related to
corporate social responsibility, should:
•• Promote certification of public or private organisations
that observe good practices (i.e. through Gender
Equality Certifications).
•• Expand awareness of initiatives such as the UN Global
Compact.
•• Engage international organisations to support private-
sector efforts, by providing funding, technical assistance
and opportunities to share lessons learned.
Expand programmes and policies to reduce constraints
on women’s time, especially those related to caregiving.
National and local governments should provide regulation
and supervision, as well as the required subsidies and
incentives to providers; individuals, local NGOs or
community organisations should complement public
providers to expand care services:
•• Progress rapidly to universal access to early childhood
care and pre-primary education. Increase the availability
of childcare facilities including community-based
initiatives. Provide incentives for the creation of new
centres and the expansion of existing ones.
•• Provide incentives to expand care support for the elderly
and disabled through home assistance, day centres, and
long-stay centres.
•• Ensure the design of early-education and care
programmes takes into consideration the needs of
caregivers (e.g. adapting schedules).
•• Subsidise vulnerable populations to facilitate access
and enrollment to care support; give subsidies
directly to families to cover the cost of care, including
transportation costs.
•• Encourage professionalisation of care labour for men
and women, by creating training and certification
programmes; specialisation should include caring for
small children, services for the elderly, and for people
with disabilities. Give priority to unemployed men and
women over 40 years old.
Mid-term actions (second year)
Reduce barriers to labour market participation, especially
through active labour market interventions. Public sector,
local and international NGOs, and private providers should:
•• Design programmes or sets of programmes to tackle
more than one restriction faced by participants,
especially those in vulnerable groups; this requires
6. Priority actions for the
first 1,000 days

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