Ecuador: Women earn one-third less than men

Since the first International Women's Day was celebrated one hundred years ago women around the world have made great strides in seeking gender equality. Yet there is still much that can be done, as can be seen in the South American country of Ecuador.

Ecuadorian women earn 33% less than their male counterparts according to the country’s national statistic agency. Roughly one-third of Ecuadorian woman who are of legal working age have a job compared to 54% of men. In addition, the highest sector of female employment is self-employment, which employs about two out of every five working Ecuadorian women.

The sobering news on employment also extends itself to other areas where 13.7% of women have university-level education and a paltry one in 200 (0.5%) have post-graduate experience.

Interestingly enough, a median of women surveyed scored an eight out of a scale of ten when asked how satisfied they felt with their lives. But the data on jobs and education have some women’s rights representatives worried:

“It’s a lack of employment justice not only because women earn less for the same job but also since they have less opportunities to work due to motherhood and being responsible for the family”, said Fundación Desafío president Virginia Gómez de la Torre.

Image- TopNews.in
Online Sources- Terra Peru, El Universo, La Hora, Voice of America