ILO says 70% of women, 66% of men prefer paid working women

A report prepared jointly by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the global performance-management consulting firm, Gallup, entitled “Towards a better future for women and work: Voices of women and men” has shown that nearly 70% of women and 66% of men prefer that women work in paid jobs. Based on a world poll targeting some 149 thousand men and women in 142 countries, the report has indicated that while around 28% of men prefer women in their families to work at paid jobs, 29% prefer to see them devoted to household work and 38% would like them to be able to both work and care for their families. Internationally, the above report revealed that full time female workers (more than 30 working hours per week according to Gallup) prefer to reconcile work and family. Citing respondents’ opinions, the report pointed out that said reconciliation constituted a major challenge for working women across the globe. To name some of these snags, the report mentioned abuse and unfair treatment of women, sexual harassment at the workplace, inadequacy of well-paid jobs and unequal pay. Commenting on the above study, ILO director-general, Buy Ryder, clarified that the report clearly shows a preference by the majority of men and women workers for women working at paid jobs. The recipe for gender equality at the workplace, he stated, is the development of family-supportive policies that promote the resilience of working women and inspire men to share fairly the parenting chores with their spouses. For full report please check: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_546256.pdf ) (Al Hayat, March 8, 2017)