‘Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow’ the theme for International Women’s Day 2022 is more relevant in the post-COVID context as women have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic according to official figures. Hence, as of 2021, Sri Lanka ranks 116 out of 156 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index mainly due to the lack of women’s economic participation and political empowerment. However, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) is committed to ensuring Decent Work for all and a human-centred recovery from the pandemic.  In view of IWD, the Daily Mirror Life spoke to ILO Country Director Simrin Singh who shed light on challenges faced during the pandemic, the ‘glass ceiling’ and ‘sticky floor’ phenomena faced by women in decision-making positions, ILO’s interventions in terms of post-COVID recovery and how Sri Lanka should capitalise on entrepreneurship. 

Excerpts :

What challenges were you faced within your capacity as ILO Country Director at the onset of the COVID pandemic?

There was a myriad of challenges ranging from ensuring the safety and well being of my staff, to managing office operations virtually overnight, to very importantly responding to the needs of the working people of the country who suddenly faced unemployment. Women and youth were particularly hard hit, especially since many were informal sector workers who ran micro and small enterprises in the apparel, tourism and food and accommodation services sectors. They were in dire need of financial access and security, knowledge of how to operate their workplaces in a safe and healthy manner, and support in the care responsibilities in their households. Together with our longstanding partners and our constituents – Government, workers and employers – solutions had to be found and rapidly activated to respond to the unprecedented employment-related challenge facing the workforce.

Q Women are now adjusting to male-dominated professions. Do you think there’s space for women to be appointed to more decision-making positions? What more needs to be done in order to make these environments more women-friendly?

As of 2021, Sri Lanka ranked 116 out of 156 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index. The lack of women’s economic participation and women’s limited political empowerment are two leading causes for the country to be lagging in global gender equality indicators. Although the percentage of women enrolled in tertiary educational institutions exceeds that of men at over 60%, these numbers do not materialise in the country’s formal economy, as women’s labour force participation in Sri Lanka has never exceeded 36 per cent in over two decades.

Moreover, as of February 2022, only 5.4% of seats in parliament are held by women. Even within the cooperatives or the private sectors, there is a significant gap for women to obtain decision making positions. While there are several women in leadership and decision-making positions in Sri Lanka, a vast majority of women out there are struggling to reach such positions. We have heard of the “glass ceiling”, but we also have a “sticky floor” phenomenon where gendered societal and cultural norms relegate care responsibilities on women that keep women from staying in the workforce or moving up. In instances where women are in a decision-making position, owing to both their minority status and cultural norms, they often struggle to have their voices heard.

Bottom line is that in addition to systemic and structural changes, there needs to be a socio-cultural shift away from traditional gender norms that discourage women from pursuing positions of leadership and decision-making. This needs to be a collective effort across all stakeholders, government and non-government alike. 

Q Statistics show that women were more affected due to the COVID pandemic as they faced nearly 54% job losses when compared to men. How is the ILO ensuring that women are more secure in terms of employment in the post-COVID context?

Indeed, women have been disproportionately affected by job losses as up to 60% of women engaged in employment work in the informal economy (care work, daily-wage labour, own account worker) and in micro-small enterprises, which was seriously hit by the lockdown restrictions, supply chain disruptions and health consequences of the pandemic. This was coupled with women being the first to leave their jobs to take care of children and elders due to the gendered care responsibilities.

The ILO is committed to ensuring decent work for all and a human-centred recovery from the pandemic. We have actively lobbied Government and non-governmental sectors alike for the following:

• Recognising women’s work including unpaid care work, and working towards women receiving equal pay for work of equal value
• Enabling structural changes such as maternity/paternity benefits, and provision of childcare/daycare facilities
• Ensuring Flexible working hours 
• Consciously ensuring gender equality at workplaces with measures that include solid systems for upward mobility/promotion/career development 
• Strong anti-harassment policies

In addition, the ILO ran programmes to facilitate access to finances and to ensure safe and healthy workplaces in areas of the country with large concentrations of micro-small enterprises in the informal sector that were especially hard hit. Women-owned enterprises and enterprises with a majority of women employees were prioritised for support to ensure that women would not fall victim to job losses. Returnee migrant workers have also received support to socio-economically reintegrate and start businesses. We also worked on developing an income support social protection scheme tied to active labour market policies for the tourism sector and one for other sectors in the economy.

Q The pandemic also encouraged home-grown businesses to emerge and many of them have now become successful business ventures headed by women. How does the emergence of entrepreneurs affect the labour market?

For the most part, in Sri Lanka, being an entrepreneur is still viewed as a high-risk, unstable career option, with preferences leaning towards employment in the public sector. This holds true, especially for young women. The result of which is an entrepreneurial culture characterized by ‘push’ factors, with individuals forced to turn towards entrepreneurship out of necessity, rather than the motivation to take advantage of an opportunity. From an economic point of view, entrepreneurship provides new job opportunities in the short and long term, while entrepreneurs boost economic growth by introducing innovative technologies, products, and services.

While we have seen some successful and innovative business ventures emerge from the pandemic, Sri Lanka is yet to capitalize on the full potential of entrepreneurship, especially female and young entrepreneurs. This situation is not due to a dearth of innovative ideas, or lack of passion among women and youth, but rather a result of a less than ideal entrepreneurship eco-system. COVID-19 has highlighted the need for innovative thinking and an accelerated need for new business solutions and services, especially opportunities in the digital economy. To drive entrepreneurship, we need to ramp up efforts across the board in providing women and especially young women with the necessary access, resources, and skills, alongside shifting mindsets and creating support systems.