Even within those sectors, women find themselves clustered at the lower echelons. A very high percentage of women in developing countries work in the informal sector. These jobs do not provide the benefits of full-time work in the formal sector including steady wages, adequate occupational health and safety conditions, job security and social protection. In the absence of policy measures to improve earning and employment opportunities for women, there is little evidence that the situation will improve soon. Child care and work in the home are the other main factors.
Men dominate the highest corporate and institutional positions everywhere in the world.
The ILO estimates that, at the present rate of progress world-wide, it would take 475 years for parity to be achieved between men and women in top level managerial and administrative positions. Despite the many obstacles they face, most women need and want to work. Statistics fail entirely to reflect the amount of work women perform for no wages at all. World-wide, women work much longer hours than men when work at home is added. In Southeast Asia, women who gained access to jobs in export-led manufacturing industries are paid significantly less than men.