Having a Job Is Not the Same as Having Security
Thirty years ago, the Beijing Declaration set out an ambitious vision for women's economic equality. Since then, more women have entered the workforce, but the ILO's latest review shows how incomplete that progress remains. The global gender employment gap has narrowed by only four percentage points in three decades, while women remain overrepresented in informal work.
That distinction matters. Being employed does not automatically mean having a stable income, social protection, paid leave, or legal protection at work. A woman can participate in the economy every day and still remain largely outside the systems designed to protect workers.
This made me reconsider how we measure progress. Employment statistics can tell us whether women are working, but not necessarily whether their work gives them security or independence. If entering the workforce means accepting jobs without protection because safer opportunities remain inaccessible, higher employment alone is not the same as equality.
The Beijing Declaration asked the world to expand women's economic opportunities. Thirty years later, perhaps the question needs to go further.
It is not only whether women can work, but what kind of work they are able to enter, and what rights follow them when they do.
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