Enabling women's work

Women's work participation rates in South Asia, with the exception of Nepal, are low compared to other regions. Wider access to education and skills training, the emergence of new industries and new work opportunities, notably in the information technology (IT) sector, are changing the aspirations and work-related decisions of younger and educated women, but mediated by accepted normative behaviour. Social norms continue to influence work-seeking behaviour, resulting in persistent concentration of women workers in certain occupations and as home-based workers. A policy framework that would create more enabling conditions for women to take on paid work outside the home, and to do so in ways that are empowering and not exploitative, would have to apply a gender lens to macroeconomic policies and their gendered impact, address issues of job creation, and support processes that enable women to make considered choices. Among the core constituents of such a holistic framework would be measures to reduce the time and energy spent on home maintenance through investments in drinking water, sanitation, electricity and cooking fuel; ensuring access to, and completion of, education and skill development courses, career counselling, and forms of mentoring; ensuring facilities for childcare; ensuring safety in public spaces, and in the workplace; and putting in place strong monitoring and evaluation systems using gender-disaggregated information to assess and modify programmes and interventions as needed.

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