Every year on February 20th, the United Nations recognizes the World Day of Social Justice. A day with the goal of combating social injustices and bringing international communities together. Aspects of social injustice in which the UN has addressed includes poverty, unemployment, gender inequality and systemic racism.
A commemorative event is held by the UN every year, with the goal of standing up to social injustices and promoting practices that will benefit global communities.
This years theme is “Achieving social justice through formal employment” with a focus on reducing poverty and inequality internationally through the formalization of employment. More than 60 percent of the global workforce, over 2 billion people, are working in the informal economy (ILO 2022). What is the informal economy?
In the formal economy, employees benefit from social protections designed to maintain their welfare at the workplace, rights at work and decent working conditions. The informal economy lacks these protections and falls outside of government regulations.
A study from the International Labor Organization in 2019 found that in 56 percent of countries, more women are working in the informal economies than men. Why are women disproportionately working in the informal economy? There are many contributing factors to this, but the main reason is that in many low income countries, women are less likely to be formally educated so they have less opportunities to develop skills wanted in the formal market.
As well, in many countries, women spend twice as much time on housework and four times as much on child care than men (IWDA 2019). Their time spent on unpaid domestic work makes finding formal employment much more challenging as they are devoting large amounts of time to their other responsibilities.
While the UN is trying to shift the workforce towards the formal economy, the informal economy can benefit people as there is more flexibility which is vital to many. It also provides opportunities to some people, especially women, where the formal economy does not.
To make working safer for all, the informal economy should be protected by rules being continuously enforced by the government. This can help balance having a stream of income for many people while maintaining their dignity and protection in the workplace.
Contributors: Alexandra Lam