Gender and employment

Gender and employment

Gender and employment

17 March–11 April 2025
The course is available in English
Introduction to the course

Despite notable advances in gender equality at work over the past decades, employment trends continue to point towards deficiencies in decent work opportunities for women. Women's rights to work and rights at work are not guaranteed, even in the most advanced economies. Gender pay gaps; sectoral and occupational segregation; a lack of access to good quality care services, and the unequal sharing of care responsibilities between women and men persist and have in some cases exacerbated. To address these challenges, gender-responsive and integrated employment policies are needed. Gender-responsive employment policies are those that explicitly address gender inequalities through the creation of full, productive and freely chosen employment for all. The ILO argues for taking a comprehensive and integrated policy approach towards employment promotion, based on a recognition that employment outcomes depend on a wide array of factors, and that markets alone might not be able to create enough decent employment opportunities, especially for women. Gender equality objectives help in overcoming the structural challenges that hold women back in the labour market. Recognizing the crucial link between gender and employment, the Employment Policy and Analysis Programme of the ITCILO in collaboration with the Gender Group (EMPLAB) in Employment Policy Department of the ILO organize this training. This online course offers the opportunity to learn how to address gender inequalities in the labour market through gender-responsive and integrated approaches, with an emphasis in demand-side challenges. The objective of this course is to equip participants with a comprehensive understanding of key concepts and analytical frameworks related to gender and employment. This course highlights the impacts and challenges of gender-responsive employment policies, including macroeconomic policies, sectoral policies, and National Employment Policies (NEPs) policies. This training also provides practical guidance on designing and implementing gender-responsive employment policies and programs that promote decent work for all.

Who attends this course?

This course is designed for: Policy makers, policy advisors, planners, technical officials and other technical experts from institutions working in the areas of employment and of gender; Government officials from Ministries of Labour and other line ministries, including Ministries of Economy, Finance, Planning and Central Banks; Representatives of workers' and employers' organizations; Staff from international and regional organizations as well as donor agencies and academic institutions working on employment and gender issues

Methodology

The course will follow the ITCILO participatory approach and will facilitate discussions between experts, current policy experts and practitioners of the ILO and other partners. This course is offered online through the ITCILO eCampus platform.  Each module will have a webinar at 2PM (CET) on Wednesday during the weeks of the course, and the participants are required to attend these webinars actively.

Dates of the live webinars:

  • Webinar 1: 19th March
  • Webinar 2: 26th March
  • Webinar 3: 2nd April
  • Webinar 4: 9th April
Working languages

The training will be held in English.

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