The strength of women

Flavia Albuquerque

Reporter from Agência Brasil

The presence of women in the labor market in the metropolitan region of São Paulo increased in 2012 to 56,1%, a result slightly above the 55,4% registered in 2011. The female unemployment rate remained stable in 2012 (12,5%), while the male rate increased from 8,6% to 9,4% between 2011 and 2012. The data are from the research Women's Work, Changes and Continuities, released today (6) by the Seade Foundation, an economic analysis and research center of the São Paulo government.

According to the Seade Foundation, the drop in the female unemployment rate is due to economic growth and increased employment levels. It also reflects transformations in family relationships, in which the man is not necessarily the breadwinner. "Women have been the main beneficiaries of the economic growth since 2003, with more jobs and more formal employment, while their income has not grown as much," said Seade Foundation analyst Marcia Halben Guerra.

The data also shows that job creation among women was 1,8%, while among men it was 0,6%. Among sectors, those employing the most women are services, which increased from 68,3% to 69,8%; commerce, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (from 16,7% to 15,9%); manufacturing (from 13,5% to 12,9%); and domestic services, stable at 14,7%.

"Women are more involved in the service sector. Administrative services have grown, but this is because the area requires less qualification, such as cleaning and security services. The food service sector, which requires low qualification, has also increased," said the analyst.

According to research from 2012, the average income of employed women in the metropolitan region of São Paulo was R$ 1.363,00, and that of men was R$ 1.990,00. When referring to the hourly wage, women received R$ 8,24 per hour, 5,8% more than in 2011, and men received R$ 10,70, a value 5,2% higher than the previous year.

According to Marcia Guerra, "the pay gap reflects, to some extent, the fact that most jobs created for women are those that pay less and require less qualification."

She emphasized that all the research exposes the culture of society. "Not only in Brazil is there a culture that women are more responsible for the care of children, the home, and the elderly than men. So much so that, when comparing income, we look at it by the hour because women's working hours are slightly lower than men's, who last year worked 43 hours and women 39."