Introduction
Women in Peru often spend more time taking care of the home. Their primary roles include taking care of the kids and elderly family members, performing cleaning, and going grocery shopping, among other things. Nonetheless, the nation is one of the few that has demonstrated a solid commitment to social inclusion through gender equality and women’s economic empowerment. This pledge has been implemented through efforts to include women in rural and urban land titling programs, easing the requirements for registering a business and obtaining financing. The government and other groups have programs to support women’s participation in employment. Women in Peru are still facilitated to break free from societal constraints and create businesses and occupations that will provide for their families while contributing to the country’s economic growth.
Benefits of Women in the Workforce
A higher gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is generally correlated with greater gender equality in the workforce. Increased female employment and income generation contribute to economic progress and affect society. Equal access to land and other agricultural inputs is one of the numerous ways women can be empowered (Christopherson et al., 2022). In the corporate world, organizations with more women in senior positions, such as directors or top managers, realize more productivity than those without them.
Peru Reforms Supporting Women and Their Roles
Peru has demonstrated its determination to profit from these advantages by implementing measures that effectively promote a rise in female labor force participation and financial inclusion. Christopherson et al. (2022) indicate that the process began more than 30 years ago when the nation changed its customary rules, which were remarkably regarded by the indigenous and rural communities and heavily relied upon. The outdated rules restricted women’s ability to own and inherit property, access banking and financial services, and work. In the ten years following the adoption of these reforms, women’s formal labor force participation rose by 15% due to the narrowing gender participation gap (Christopherson et al., 2022).
As a result of the massive increase in the rate at which women participate in the labor market, Peru’s economy has continued to thrive. The country’s poverty has reduced as an increased number of women entered the workforce and helped to supplement Peru’s production of goods and services. With these advances, Peru now boasts one of the fastest-growing economies in Latin America.
Challenges Women in Peru Face
Economic, social, and cultural factors are the major factors that constrain women’s employment options. Christopherson et al. (2022) state that the inequitable load of household duties further restricts women’s ability to engage in the economy fully. In Peruvian society, women are expected to take care of most household duties, a significant barrier to their participation in business, professions, and the workforce.
Women in Peru frequently work in lower-paying professions, such as teaching and nursing. They also spend more time providing unpaid care, often seen in underprivileged, rural, and indigenous populations. To survive, women unable to find employment in the official sector usually run small and medium-sized businesses. Christopherson et al. (2022) state that most of these businesses are informal and have few employees. Most of these women-owned firms stick within the informal sector and may only expand within the scope of microenterprises.
Even through the businesses run by women help in growing the Peruvian economy, the enterprises are more susceptible to market risks. The government rules do not offer sufficient protection to the businesses given that only 15% of the more than 60% of women who work in the informal sector have access to health insurance, and only 4% have access to retirement benefits (Christopherson et al., 2022). Despite the country’s ninety-eight-day maternity leave legislation and other attempts to support working mothers, the services are not available to women who work in the informal economy. Developing the financial literacy necessary to grow their enterprises or bring them into the formal economy may be challenging for many women who run their businesses.
The mining industry is crucial to the expansion of the Peruvian economy. Even though the sector generates close to 10% of GDP and employs close to 200,000 people, just 5.4% of the workforce in the mining industry is made up of women (Christopherson et al., 2022). More specifically, these numbers show that 49% of women work in administrative positions, 30% in general operations, 17% as plant employees, and only 4% in management (Christopherson et al., 2022). The figures highlight the critical need to keep raising the percentage of women in the workforce and to increase the number of women who work in manufacturing facilities and at the highest levels of management.
Initiatives to Promote Women’s Employment Rate
Women in Mining Peru (WiM Peru) is one initiative that has been used to encourage more women to enter the workforce. According to Vaccaro (2022), WiM Peru was formed in September 2016 as a civil society body under the London-based International Women in Mining (IWiM). The association, representing more than 10,000 women working in the mining industry globally, seeks to highlight the contribution of women to the mining industry in Peru (Christopherson et al., 2022). It also encourages best corporate practices, aids in thorough training for women, supports sharing experiences, and motivates other women to work in the field. WiM Peru is certain that men and women should have equal access to opportunities and fair treatment when making decisions based on the qualifications of various professionals. Peru has a large pool of female talent that can adequately meet the demands and goals of the nation’s mining sector.
Peru’s government offers another example of promoting increased female employment. The administration appreciates that women’s participation in the workforce is caused by unequal distribution of family obligations and the lack of child and elder care services. Work-life balance is promoted through programs such as those run by the Ministry of Labor and Promotion of Employment (MTPE) (Christopherson et al., 2022).
Jose (2019) indicates that MTPE has supported women in Peru by creating the Guide of Good Practices in Reconciling Work and Family and Personal Life. The body is tasked with promoting laws, voluntary agreements, and practices to establish work-life balance and increase productivity. As a sign of growing awareness that Peru’s workplace needs to be more flexible to accommodate working parents, the government also provides employers training to allow employees to work remotely.
Conclusion
In Peru, women play a significant role in the work force in employment and through businesses from which they support their families and advance the nation’s economy. The country has implemented significant reforms to increase the participation of women in employment. The measures have enabled the country to realize reduced poverty levels and enhanced economic growth. However, women’s participation is more concentrated in the informal sector and the performance of unpaid work.
Additional measures have been implemented, such as WiM Peru and actions of the MTPE. The nation is one of the more entrepreneurial in Latin America and is regarded as having one of the best business climates for women on the continent. It excels in the accessibility of capacity and skills training, financial accessibility, and the female entrepreneurs’ hard work, determination, and drive. Through increased production and decreased poverty levels, women will continue to help spur the country’s economic development.
Reference
Christopherson, K., Yiadom, A., Johnson, J., Fernando, F., Hanan Yazid, & Thiemann, C. (2022). Tackling legal impediments to women’s economic empowerment. International Monetary Fund. Web.
Jose, M. (2019). What influence do empowered women have? Land and the reality of women’s relative power in Peru. Review of Economics of the Household, 17(4), 1225–1255. Web.
Vaccaro, G. (2022). Women and the mine of the future: A gendered analysis of employment and skills in the large-scale mining sector – Peru. Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metal and Sustainable Development. Web.