Global: Gap widening between rich and poor women

The current financial crisis is likely to affect women particularly severely. In many developing countries where women work in export-led factories, or in countries where migrant women workers are the backbone of service industries, women’s jobs have taken the greatest hit. The International Labour Organisation estimates that the economic downturn could lead to 22 million more unemployed women in 2009, jeopardising the gains made in the last few decades in women’s empowerment. In many countries, however, the impact goes far beyond the loss of formal jobs, as the majority of women tend to work in the informal sector.