adminNgoni Dapira Business Correspondent
WORKERS rights in the informal sector are being infringed countrywide, the International Labour Organisation has said. This was highlighted on Monday during a three-day ILO sensitisation workshop on the gender equality conventions held in Mutare with technocrats from various Government line ministries. ILO senior specialist on employer activities, Ms Rose Anang said the ILO was currently driving the agenda to tackle issues concerning workers rights in the informal sector with its member states.
“In June this year at the 2015 International Labour Conference held in Geneva Recommendation 204 was made concerning the transition from the informal to formal economy and it was adopted by all member states at the conference including Zimbabwe. This is however still being aligned with policies in most countries which is also why we are hosting this workshop to create awareness on such issues to our various key stakeholders,” said Ms Anang.
She said among the recommendations was for Governments to acknowledge informality had multiple causes and the need for pragmatic public policies to speed up the process of transition to the formal economy in a context of social dialogue.
ILO senior specialist in workers activities, Mrs Inviolata Chinyangarara, however added that the major concern in the informal sector has also been women, who often are not equally remunerated and subjugated in the workplace. According to the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations, 67 percent of this fast growing sector is women.
“The informal sector is sustaining the country’s economy and more than half of the people in the sector are women. It means women are driving the country’s economy. “However, worldwide despite the fact that women earn approximately 77 percent of what men earn, they continue be primarily responsible for household chores and family responsibilities,” said Mrs Chinyangarara.
Mrs Chinyangarara added that many women in Zimbabwe were in the informal sector as unpaid family workers. Research shows that this sector is sustaining the country and according to a Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency report of November 2012, Zimbabwe’s majority is now employed in the informal economy.
ILO country director for Zimbabwe, Ms Hopolang Phororo in her opening remarks read on her behalf by Ms Gamuchirayi Mandangu-Bakasa, said despite progress in areas such as education and maternal mortality, the world still fell short in bringing women’s employment, earnings and working conditions in line with those of men.
She said women are under-represented in decision making positions at work citing that while women manage over 30 percent of all businesses, this tended to be concentrated in micro and small enterprises with only 19 percent of women sitting on boards of larger companies. “Only five percent or less of chief executive officers of the world’s largest corporation are women. There is still much to be done and ILO is taking a leading role in guiding the transformation to gender equality in the workplace across the world and in Zimbabwe,” said Ms Phororo.
Speaking on the sidelines on Wednesday, economic analyst Mr Tendai Mukarakati said government should look into the challenges the informal sector is facing instead of aiming to milk the sector through the current tax drive. “The Government should create a conducive environment for informal traders, especially women to work on before they talk about tax,” said Mr Mukarakati
He added that there has never been significant engagement and consultation of informal economy workers on the National Economic Forum and hopefully that will change through the recent ILO agenda.
“It is, therefore, important that they create lobby and advocacy teams to engage Government and other stakeholders on inclusive and consultative policy formulation processes, which regulate and recognise the informal economy. The Government should also protect the informal sector through provision of decent areas of trade and operating systems pragmatic to the unique sector,” said Mr Mukarakati.
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