WTO bring job opportunities but income still low for rural women

 The situation was highlighted in research by the Institute for Labor and Social Sciences which blames the problem o­n a lack of skills.

The information was taken from interviews with 250 women in the northern province of Hai Duong and southern province of Dong Thap.

According to the research, two years after joining the WTO, the expansion of industrial zones (IZs) in the two provinces have created many more job opportunities for women because most factories are seafood and food processing, garments and footwear, which prefer female workers.

Up to 80-90 percent of workers in these sectors are women. However, job opportunities are mostly available for women below the age of 35, who are secondary and high school graduates.

The research says IZs also attract many migrant female workers from neighbouring provinces. Women between the ages of 17-25 account for over 80 percent of the total migrant workers. Up to 90 percent of migrant female workers say their income has risen.

The income for rural women is still low because they mainly do unskilled tasks. Female workers in the electronics sector earn the highest monthly income, around 2 million dong. The figure drops to between 1.2 and 1.5 million for workers in garment, footwear and seafood processing enterprises.

According to the Institute for Labor and Social Sciences these levels of income are two to three times higher than agricultural production but rural female workers can save o­nly 200,000-400,000 per month after paying for rented rooms and meals.

Moreover, working conditions in most of enterprises are not good. Simple and repetitive tasks for over ten hours a day are very boring for most workers.

Based o­n the research, the institute proposed 18 recommendations to local and central governments to combine gender into their policies.