The 8M feels in the pocket: in Argentina women earn 27.7% less than men

In Argentina, women have an income 24.5% inferior to men. On March 8, people are fighting, leaving, complaining, and many are still wondering why. Women lose a quarter of the money they could earn, invest, save, enjoy and distribute as women. Isn’t that a reason, 24.5% of reasons, more than enough?

The fight of women is not insignificant. Today, more women work and even more in factories, trains and positions that were previously reserved only for men. These achievements did not please, they were obtained by asking for more rights. And the right to earn the same is still one of the reasons why one of Ni Una Menos’ slogans is “the debt is with us”.

The wage gap in Argentina is 27.7%. If the percentage is not clear (and painful) enough, you have to think that if a man finishes working on December 31 and can take a vacation, a woman should work until January 8 with 10 overtime hours (8 days and 10 overtime) earn the same as them, only in one month.

Time, effort and money are not the same. “These inequalities are compounded in the case of informal workers. They perceive a 34.5% less than their male peers, so their income is the lowest in the whole economy”, warns the report “More women for Argentine development”, published in February 2023, the Table of economic policies with a gender and diversity of the Ministry of Economy of the Nation.

The informality of work is no less even though -always- women have suffered from it more than men. Now, employees without pension contributions or social work have reached the a 39.4% (nearly 4 out of 10 female workers) and, among men, it is also high, but in any case lower than that of employees without a salary receipt or proof of employment (35.7%), in the third quarter of 2022.

Inflation destroys claims to equality. Women are not participating, for the most part, although you can see more trade unionists and workers than there used to be exclusively men, in the jobs and unions where they fight and achieve the highest parities strong looking to tie the price mark-up. An example is industry.

Despite the fact that technology allows the entry of girls regardless of their strength (which has always been considered a male heritage), tradition weighs – with a few exceptions – and the Made In Argentina brand still has much to improve in gender equality productivity. Although, for example, the incorporation of women in Industria Guidi shows that, if you want to, you can.

“Production and industry are very masculine areas. Men have a greater participation in the most dynamic branches and in technical or decision-making positions, with higher incomes and levels of formality. According to data published in the 2nd quarter by the EPH-INDEC, only 36.0% of those participating in the sector are women. The wage gap is 30.1%, with an average income of 69,657.2 dollars for men compared to 48,692.7 dollars for women”, underlines the survey by the National Directorate of the Economy, the Equality and Gender (DNEIyG), prepared by Sol Prieto, Lucía Gutiérrez, María Eugenia Fernández Scarlato, Alan Mendoza, Luciana Kirjner and Celina Santellán.

Among the workers in private residences, women are in the majority (97.5%), but they are only 36% in the manufacturing industry and 38.1% in the knowledge industry. A private homeworker earned, on average, in 2022, 23,143 pesos and a man working in the knowledge industry earned $108,796.

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Inequality is not just about pay, but also about gender-specific jobs and the barriers that prevent young women from entering more profitable, traditionally male-dominated occupations. Equality does not fall by itself. We must open the doors so that girls can enter a more protected and better paid world of work.

The 8M is not made to throw flowers, but to claim more rights (and more money to obtain more independence and autonomy). But the advance of feminism in Argentina has generated an important step (even with the contradictions of a country that still feels bankrupt): women are working today more than ever in the country’s history. More have left their homes and returned without having to ask anyone to pay their bills.

The female employment rate, in the third quarter of 2022, was 47.1%. “However, gender gaps persist. Women continue to have higher levels of informality and continue to be inserted in the most precarious branches of activity. In the second quarter of 2022, almost 4 out of 10 women were employed in sectors related to the care and reproduction of life”, warns the DNEIyG.

Data from the International Labor Organization (ILO) shows that when measuring female unemployment, it is not well measured because there are women who want to work even if they do not say so (and n do not appear as unemployed). in the report New data sheds light on gender gaps in the labor market, We note that 15% of women want to work but do not have a job (the same is true for 10.5% of men).

progress? They owe us. “This gender gap has remained virtually unchanged for two decades (2005-2022). Instead, global unemployment rates for women and men are very similar because the criteria used to define unemployment tend to disproportionately exclude women.

In Argentina, unemployment among the under-29s was one of the biggest gender issues. This score has improved (and improvements do not rain down, they happen because they fight) but inequalities have increased: unemployment among young women is 16.6% (it reaches 25% in the suburbs of Buenos Aires) but it remains higher than that of boys (14.3%), in the third quarter of 2022, according to data processed by the Center for Argentine Political Economy (CEPA).

In CEPA’s report “The 8M in economic perspective: from gender gaps as a structural challenge, to budget tools as a way forward (2019-2022)”, they state: “Women earn less, have less wealth and allocate a greater percentage of their income to pay taxes through indirect – and regressive – taxes such as VAT.” Less money, but more losses This is not business.

The big reason women can’t (even) look for work (even if they want to work) is that they have to arrive at the school gate at times when no office is closing or a factory is going down. its blinds. Caring and working are sometimes impossible missions to combine in the same life and, at other times, they are a constant labyrinth in which women get lost or lose a good part of their life (or maternal or professional) by borrowing two paths that are difficult to combine.

But the problem is that all women work and those who care also work (although they do not receive a salary) while those who work outside and inside the house do a double labor (and lose, not gain, in monetary terms). However, its contribution is very important for national production.

“Unpaid domestic and care work (TDCNR) accounts for 15.9% of GDP and is the largest contributing sector in the overall economy, followed by industry (13.2%) and commerce (13%)”, indicates the report “Care, a strategic sector”. economic sector”, which was prepared by the Department of Economy, Equality and Gender, Ministry of Economy, in 2020.

The research points out: “Women perform more than 75% of unpaid domestic work. 88.9% of women participate in these tasks and spend an average of 6.4 hours a day on them. Meanwhile, only 57.9% of men participate in these jobs, in which they spend an average of 3.4 hours a day”.

However, if women get jobs, it does not mean they get the best job they can get for their will, talent and ability. Women believe they don’t have the same chance of promotion to leadership positions as men and are 1.4 times more likely to experience discrimination, harassment or microaggressions at work than men, according to a survey by the consulting firm Bain & Company on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I), among 5,000 people, in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Chile.

And a big part of the problem is that for men, it’s not a problem. More than 70% of respondents value inclusion when choosing a company to work for, but the group that places less importance on it are Argentine, white or heterosexual men. “It is the group that values ​​inclusion the least among the countries and cups analyzed,” reveals the consultant. Hazard. The 8M is needed to claim so they keep listening.

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