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CENTRAL AMERICA: Women Eke Out a
Living in Informal Economy
By Danilo Valladares
GUATEMALA CITY (IPS) - "I've been working in the streets
since I was a girl. My parents didn't send me to school,
so it's really hard for me to find a job," says Carol
Orozco, 31, who forms part of the veritable army of
vendors hawking their wares on the streets of Central
America.
Weaving between the cars at a stoplight in downtown
Guatemala City, trying to sell candy to drivers, Orozco
told IPS that she had four children to support, "because
their father doesn't do anything for them."
Street vendors like Orozco make up a large part of the
informal economy in Central America, a sector where
women far outnumber men
According to the third regional report on the labour
market in Central America and the Dominican Republic
produced by the International Labour Organisation (ILO)
and the Central American Integration System (SICA), 64
percent of women in the labour force in the region work
in the informal sector, compared to 50 percent of men in
the workforce.
Orozco would love to have social security coverage, a
regular wage and labour benefits, because the roughly
200 dollars she earns a month barely covers the costs of
food, clothing, education and health care for her
children.
"I work here, without a toilet or water, from seven in
the morning to eight at night, in the sunshine, rain or
cold," says the street vendor, who approaches cars when
the stoplight turns red, with her packets of candy
strapped around her neck.
She says she got a formal sector job once, selling
funeral insurance. "They offered me 900 'quetzals' (107
dollars) every two weeks. But after I sold insurance to
several customers, when I went to ask for my paycheck,
they didn't pay me," she recalls, with disappointment
still in her voice.
Now she works at an intersection in a busy office
district in the capital, where she competes with 11
other street vendors.
Of the women in the workforce in Guatemala, 73 percent
are in the informal economy, compared to 64 percent in
El Salvador and 45 percent in Costa Rica, according to
the ILO/SICA study, which defines the informal sector as
including the self-employed, domestic workers and
unregulated microenterprise.
Although the number of women in the labour force has
been growing faster than the number of men since 2001,
poverty, lack of education and discrimination complicate
the employment outlook for women in Central America,
says the study, which was released in October 2009.
"You can't take your kids to work with you" in a formal
sector job, 32-year-old Paulina Mazariegos tells IPS as
she hawks fresh fruit from a basket while caring for her
two-year-old son Erick near a bus stop in the capital.
She says she earns just 3.50 dollars a day, because she
keeps only part of what she takes in; the rest goes to
the owner of the small business that provides her with
the merchandise.
Mazariegos realises that her labour situation is
precarious in large part due to the fact that she never
went to school, because "parents didn't used to send
their kids to school."
She has eked out a living working as a domestic or
selling food on the streets.
In Central America, over 38 percent of the workforce
have not completed primary school and 73 percent have
less than a complete secondary school education, says
the ILO/SICA report. Of the 20 million people in the
labour force in the region, 60 percent are unskilled, it
adds.
This region of 43 million people is one of the most
unequal areas in the world, with half of the population
living in poverty, according to international bodies.
And against that backdrop of inequality, women face
fewer employment opportunities than men, earn less than
men in every area, especially manufacturing, and have
higher unemployment rates than men.
Salvadoran Labour Minister Victoria Velásquez pointed
out that two out of five people in the workforce are
women, which means governments should adopt policies
aimed at "greater inclusion" of women in order to keep
them from being trapped in the lowest-paying, most
precarious jobs.
The 20 million-strong labour force in Central America
and the Dominican Republic - a Spanish-speaking
Caribbean nation that is grouped in the subregion by the
ILO - is made up of 62 percent men and 38 percent women,
while 60 percent are in the informal sector of the
economy.
The key to improving the situation lies in education.
Nearly 70 percent of women with some level of higher
education are employed, while under 35 percent of those
with little or no schooling are economically active.
Women's participation in the labour force is highest in
Guatemala (44.7 percent), followed by Panama (43.3
percent), Costa Rica (41.6 percent), El Salvador (41.3
percent), Nicaragua (38.5 percent) and Honduras (36
percent).
Otto Navarro, with the U.S.-based Global Fairness
Initiative (GFI), told IPS that informal labour is
growing in the region, as indicated by a 2009 study
carried out by that not-for-profit institution in
Guatemala and Nicaragua.
And as part of that phenomenon, women's participation in
street vending, craftsmaking and agricultural labour
particularly stands out.
Labour discrimination is a repetitive theme in the
countries of Central America. "I came to set up my
clothing stall and the other vendors told me I couldn't,
so I had to switch products, and now I'm selling
accessories," Ada Ortiz, 33, commented to IPS.
To complement her low salary as a pulmonary therapist,
Ortiz was forced to open a stall in a Guatemala City
market, to support her two children.
Luis Felipe Linares, a former Guatemalan labour minister
who is now with the Association for Social Research and
Studies (ASIES), an independent research centre and
think tank, told IPS that women have a strong presence
in the informal market, despite persistent gender
discrimination.
"Women report lower earnings for the same activities
that men perform. Men also have greater access to
capital to set up larger businesses, which enables them
to earn higher incomes," the expert said.
The biggest obstacle to the generation of formal jobs in
Central America lies in the negotiations between
business and labour, because "they are negotiations
between unequals," said Linares.
"Labour issues are worked out on the basis of
negotiations. But in order for that dialogue to be
beneficial for the majority of the population, the
playing ground must be more level. And there must be a
good arbitrator with influence and a capacity to set
forth proposals," he said.
Irma Montes, a leader of the Confederación de Unidad
Sindical de Guatemala trade union federation, told IPS
that the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)
with the United States and the global economic crisis
have fuelled the incorporation of women in the labour
force.
"Women have even been coming up with new ways to sell in
the markets and on the streets. For example, we just saw
the formal creation of a union of food vendors who use
three-wheeled vehicles," said the trade unionist.
But keeping a business going is no easy task. "Sometimes
they (the authorities) don't let them sell, and
confiscate their merchandise because they have no permit
or are selling in prohibited areas," said Montes,
describing the mistreatment often faced by street
hawkers.
"These women take risks every day because they have to
survive and raise their families, who they generally
support on their own," said the trade unionist. |
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