Issues of Women in Vulnerable Industries & Lines of Work

Among the global workforce, women are over-represented in informal and vulnerable lines of work and jobs. Current estimates show that at least 57% of women are in vulnerable employment such as part-time, low wage, seasonal, and “unprotected” work in which women are not given access to basic protections like decent working conditions, standard labor practices, and proper safety equipment. Additionally, women in these industries are paid less than their male counterparts.

Vulnerable employment and definitions of “vulnerability” all have overlapping characterizations of dangerous health and safety hazards, inequities in worker status, inadequate earnings/low pay, difficult conditions of work, less predictability, no or limited eligibility for employer-sponsored benefits, limited or no eligibility for employment and anti-discrimination protections, instability, difficult work conditions, and lack of “voice” through effective representation.

In addition to women, young or older people, migrants, disabled people, and ethnic minorities are often over-represented as vulnerable workers. Aside from traditional work arrangements - which have varying risk of vulnerability - alternative work arrangements such as contingent workers, on-call or day workers, gig-economy workers, contract workers, and temp agency workers, all have increased risk of vulnerability.

Women comprise over 60% of the service sector, making them particularly vulnerable to exploitation due to gendered and service expectations that jobs require them to maintain. However, women are also fighting back to change these conditions and stand up for themselves. In Seattle, FNS Workers United (Food and nutrition service workers at UW Medical Center-Montlake) are speaking out against how neoliberal economic policy has impacted workers in the food department at the hospital and demanding that changes be made to counter the negative impacts of the hospital’s “Mission Forward” policy. MPOP Seattle (Massage Parlor Outreach Project) works with massage parlor workers, majority of whom are migrant Asian women, to inform them of their rights as workers and supports their ability to organize for justice in their workplaces. You can learn more about them on Instagram at @fnsworkersunited and @mpop_sea.

References

Biu, O. July 25 2022. “Defining Job Vulnerability Using an Equity Lens.” Research on WORKER VOICE, REPRESENTATION, AND POWER.

OECD, Database on Immigrants in OECD Countries. 2009. Available at http://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?lang=en.

UNDP, Human Development Report, Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and development. 2009. Available from: http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/reports/269/hdr_2009_en_complete.pdf