Enhancing Job Opportunities for Women Notes from LAC Bill Maloney LCRCE

3 Quick issues Why are women so informal? Is globalization good for women? Discrimination or comparative advantage?

1. Why are so many women Informal? Sectoral allocation by gender, marital and parental status in Mexico. Source: Cunningham 2001.

Transition matrices similar with a few key exceptions Transitions between informal self employment and OLF by gender Source: Bosch and Maloney (2007)

Motivations differ by gender Reported Reasons to Be Informal Self-employed in Mexico

Motivations differ by gender Reported Reasons to Be Informal Self-employed in Brazil

2. Trade opening and gender comparative advantage In LAC, women have tended to benefit from new types of jobs: maquilas, tourism, non-traditional agricultural products Maquilas MX began 80% female now decline to ~50% MX employers prefer women- “dextrous and docile” reliable, responsible drinkers (Tiano 2004) Women prefer maquila work- combination of relative security and flexibility. High turnover a result of voluntary exits, weekends free. (Fussell 2000) Allows allocation of time between home and market (Chant 1991, Sargent and Matthew 1999) Better benefits, onsite nurse, transportation etc. Masculinization: not crowding out- just ran out of women- Guadalara-can’t find domestic help

New Agricultural products Tourism: extension of many household tasks but… less mobility and visibility (Chant 1990) NTAE Wages in NTAE higher than other rurla areas Women in Ecuadoral flower export sector in Ecuador 40%,more than comparable jobs Chile vegetables- 59% more (Jarvis 2003)

Collateral effects Ecuador flowers: Changing roles in household Lower domestic violence Greater sharing of household tasks Newman (2000) Chile 13% of women cite importance of having an independent wage MX maquilas- greater independence (de la Rocha)

Gender Discrimination in Latin America Latinobarometer: Perceptions: “economic factors” are considered more important than “social factors”. The most Discriminated-Against group is the ‘Poor’. ‘Women’ are in the 12 th position. Bravo, Sahueza and Urzua (2006a): Sent resumes of fictitious applicants to job postings in Chile. No systematic differences in callbacks rates by gender. Bravo, Sahueza and Urzua (2006b): Studied gender gap in the labor market among U graduates. Evidence of unjustified gender differences in earning only in the law profession. Moreno et al. (2004): Field experiment to detect discrimination in hiring in Lima. No significant differences across groups. However, significant gender difference between the expected wage at the same positions controlling for observable characteristics.

Gender Discrimination in Latin America Castillo, Petrie and Torero (2007): Experiment using a repeated public goods game where the outcomes depended on the individuals’ decisions and on of their peers. People showed evidence of stereotyping in favor of woman and tall and white-looking people when choosing partners. Details in “Outsiders” Interamerican Development Bank annual report

Figure 2.5 Absolute Mean duration by labor force status

Table 2.9 Reported Reasons to Be Informal Salaried in Brazil percent

Chile- low rates of labor participation and very low informal sector