HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT FOR BRAZIL - 1996 |
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT FOR BRAZIL - 1996 |
Chapter 3 Woman and Human Development |
The Report on Human Development in Brazil shows that the work of the woman is valued less than that of the man. On average, women’s salaries are equivalent to 63% of men’s. In general they hold jobs with low salary and low prestige.
The Report goes on to say that the poverty of women does not necessarily reflect in numbers, because when the woman is married the calculation is made in terms of per capita income of the family—and in this case she is computed as having a larger income than that actually obtained from her work.
On the other hand, as the family is the unit of consumption, the woman may enjoy better housing, meals and health services to which other family members contribute. But she may not have autonomy to purchase clothing and other articles of personal use that are also part of her well-being.
The situation of women who are heads of families is worse. Firstly because in this situation 66% of families are of single parents, that is, headed by only one person, the woman. If the families are headed by black or brown women, the chances are 80% that they are single-parent families (as against 1% of single-parent families headed by men).
In the families headed by women, the chances of being poor are also greater. When dealing with a family composed of a woman with little schooling and with small children, the chances of her being very poor is very high. Data from 1989 indicate that those families headed by women with children below the age of 14 represented 58% of the families with up to half the monthly minimum salary per capita. (Amongst the families composed of a couple and children this percentage was 33%.)
In the families made up of a mother and children, the latter enter the labour market very early, with the result that they do not do well at school and there is a high repeat rate. Nearly all the children leave school very early and become working illiterates (tending to contribute to the maintenance of poverty).
Between 1980 and 1991, the population of from 0 to 17 years living in households headed by women increased from 9 to 13% of the total. In 1990, 39% of the women between 15 and 65 years of age already had paid employment (as against 33% in 1981). Amongst men this percentage is 75%.
In that year 30% of the total population of women was integrated in the category of Economically Active Population. The feminine population in this category rose between 1981 and 1990 from 3l to 35%.
This feminine workforce is considerably concentrated in the tertiary sector: 74% of the feminine EAP and 85% of the non-farming workers. The women comprise 48% of the labour force in the tertiary sector, 20% in farming and 20% in industry.
This strong participation in the tertiary sector is associated with the devaluation of feminine work. The women are directed towards employment of low prestige and lesser pay—the so-called women’s jobs, such as sewing (94% of the total labour force), primary grade teaching (90%), secretarial (89%), telephone/telegraph operators (86%) , nursing (84%), and reception (81%).
Half of the women are employed in occupations that use up less than 5% of masculine manpower. Half of the men work in jobs that use less than 5% of feminine labour.
According to the PNAD of 1990, half of the female workers was in the informal work market, where, because of the flexibility of hours and shorter working periods, it was more compatible with the domestic responsibilities of those who have to work inside and outside the household. Included in the informal activities is the work of the paid domestic servant, in which the women represent 92% of the work force.
The percentage of married women who make up the Economically Active Population is growing. The numbers of married women in the labour market grew from 20 to 38% between 1980 and 1981. The women heads of families who worked outside the household changed from 43 to 51%. Those single, from 27 to 36%.
The higher the schooling level, the greater probability for the married woman to have a paid job. Between those with schooling of up to 4 years, the percentage of workers was lower than the general percentage figure. In the bracket between 5 and 8 years of education, the rate of 39% was identical to the general rate. With 9 or more years of education, 64% had paid jobs.
Amongst female heads of families, 20% had 14 years of schooling. But these were precisely the heads of families whose salary gap was bigger in relation to that of men: their salaries were on the average 47% less, while female "non-head of families" and non-spouses of a family head earned 16% less than the men in these same circumstances.
