Issue VIII : April -June 2009
Editorial
As ILO signals, the global crisis could generate 22 million more unemployed women in 2009 and this would definitely hinder the progress towards gender equality. While inequalities in access to labour markets remain, women are in a disadvantaged position, yet we find that there are more women looking for jobs than their male counterparts. ILO says that 6.3 per cent of the world’s female labour force was looking for work in 2008 as compared to 5.9 percent of the males. It is in this line the 98th ILC called for the adoption of the “Global Jobs Pact” as the world seems to move towards the crisis in jobs and social protection in the coming years. This entails a commitment by the ILO tripartite constituency to make employment and social protection a central element of all economic and social policies and this ought to get translated into national policies and programs if we want a sustainable solution.
The next issue of the newsletter is another effort to bridge the existing gap between trade and gender amidst the crisis and the issue aptly comes up with a review of the article “Towards A Gender, Development and Climate sensitive framework for exploring solutions to the present Global Economic and Financial Crises”. Another interesting dimension is offered by the engendering piece where the impact of regional integration in the Caribbean economy is seen through a gender lens and a special article titled “Analysis of Gender Profile in Export Oriented Industries in
