Globalization and Its Impact on Gender Work Participation

Globalization has fundamentally reshaped the world of work – and its effects on women have been anything but uniform. On one hand, the expansion of global trade and the relocation of industries to developing economies created millions of new jobs for women who previously had limited access to paid employment. On the other hand, many of those jobs came with poor conditions, low wages, and little security. Understanding this dual reality is essential to addressing one of the most persistent challenges in the global economy: gender inequality in the labor market.

How globalization opened doors for women in the workforce
The persistent inequalities that globalization has not resolved
The employment and unemployment gap
The prevalence of informal and precarious employment
The gender wage gap
The glass ceiling in managerial and professional roles
Why these inequalities persist: structural and social factors
Strategies to improve labor market outcomes for women
Education and skills development
Policy and legal reform
Formalizing women’s work

How globalization opened doors for women in the workforce

The movement of labor-intensive manufacturing from high-income economies to lower-income developing countries created significant new employment opportunities for women. According to the United Nations, the relocation of these industries over the past two decades increased women’s employment rates considerably in receiving economies, with a notable positive effect on their economic well-being and that of their families.

Globally, around half of all women worldwide are now participating in the labor force – either working or actively seeking employment. While this figure masks wide regional differences, the trend reflects a meaningful shift over the past century. In some regions such as East Asia and Latin America, women’s entry into export-oriented sectors like garment manufacturing, electronics assembly, and data services was directly tied to global trade expansion.

Research published in a peer-reviewed study using data from 41 countries confirms a positive relationship between globalization and the likelihood of women entering the labor force. The expansion of services – from banking to tourism to offshore back-office work – also drew women into professional occupations they had previously been largely excluded from.

Beyond raw numbers, research examining 190 countries over five decades found that globalization is positively associated with the share of women working in the formal sector, and that increased employment opportunities appear to strengthen women’s bargaining power to advocate for improved legal rights.

The persistent inequalities that globalization has not resolved

Despite these gains, globalization has not delivered equal outcomes for women. Several structural inequalities remain deeply entrenched in labor markets around the world.

The employment and unemployment gap

Women continue to participate in the labor market at far lower rates than men. UN Women reports that the gender gap in labor force participation has hovered at around 30 percentage points since 1990, with men’s participation at roughly 80 percent and women’s at 50 percent. For prime-age women (25-54) with a child under six, participation drops further – from 61.4 percent to 53.1 percent – a phenomenon known as the motherhood penalty.

Women are also more likely to be unemployed. The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2023 notes that historically, women have faced higher unemployment rates than men across most regions, with the disparity particularly acute in the Middle East and North Africa, where the female-to-male unemployment parity ratio stands at 2.69.

Importantly, standard unemployment figures actually undercount the problem. The ILO’s “Jobs Gap” indicator – which captures all people without employment who want to work – shows that 15 percent of working-age women globally would like to work but don’t have a job, compared with 10.5 percent of men. This gap has remained almost unchanged for two decades.

The prevalence of informal and precarious employment

One of the most significant ways globalization has fallen short for women is through the growth of informal employment. While globalization expanded formal sector jobs, it also deepened what researchers call the feminization of informal labor – the concentration of women in jobs without contracts, social protection, or stable income.

ILO data shows that in developing countries, 92 percent of women workers are informally employed, compared to 87 percent of men. In sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Southern Asia, informal employment is a greater source of work for women than men. Women are also far more likely to be contributing family workers – working in a family business without a written contract or legal protections. In developing countries, 42 percent of women’s employment falls into this category, compared to 20 percent for men.

This concentration in informal work has direct consequences. UN Women estimates that approximately 73.5 percent of women in wage employment globally lack access to social protection such as pensions or unemployment benefits.

The gender wage gap

Even when women do find employment, they earn substantially less than men. ILO data reveals a stark disparity: for every dollar of labor income men earn, women earn only 51 cents globally. In low- and lower-middle-income countries, the gap is even worse – women earn just 33 and 29 cents respectively for every dollar earned by men.

The ILO’s analysis of wage inequality identifies several interconnected causes: occupational segregation that pushes women into lower-paid sectors, the motherhood pay gap, glass ceilings that limit career progression, and the fact that women are more likely to work in part-time, temporary, or micro-enterprise settings. Critically, the ILO’s Global Wage Report 2024-25 highlights that women, especially in lower-middle-income countries, remain disproportionately affected by wage inequality due to their concentration in informal, precarious, and low-paid work.

The glass ceiling in managerial and professional roles

Globalization has increased women’s access to employment broadly, but it has not translated into equal access to high-quality or high-status jobs. Research by Roll, Semyonov, and Mandel using data from 47 countries found that while globalization raises women’s odds of entering the workforce, it actually reduces women’s relative odds of securing lucrative managerial and professional positions. Men appear to benefit more than women when it comes to high-paying roles in more globalized economies.

ILOSTAT data from 2023 confirms that women hold only 30 percent of managerial positions globally – a figure that, despite modest improvement over two decades, highlights how far labor markets remain from parity at the top.

The gap between men and women in the labor market is not simply a matter of individual choices – it is rooted in structural and social barriers that globalization alone cannot dissolve.

Unpaid care work remains one of the largest obstacles. Women globally shoulder a disproportionate burden of household and care responsibilities, limiting their ability to participate in the formal labor market or meet the availability requirements to even be classified as “unemployed.” Research on Latin America’s experience with globalization shows that while the early phase of trade liberalization benefited women by facilitating their entry into formal paid work, subsequent changes in job quality and employment availability led to increased precariousness – particularly for women in export processing zones.

Gender norms and discrimination also play a defining role. The IMF estimates that discriminatory laws and social practices reduce women’s years of schooling by 16 percent and decrease labor force participation by 12 percent – resulting in a global income loss equivalent to 7.5 percent of global GDP. These are not just social costs; they are measurable economic losses.

Strategies to improve labor market outcomes for women

Addressing gender inequality in work requires action on multiple fronts simultaneously – from education and skills development to legal reform and policy design.

Education and skills development

Education is one of the most powerful levers for improving women’s economic outcomes. UN Women identifies education, upskilling, and reskilling as critical to women’s income-generating opportunities and their participation in the formal labor market – especially as technological change transforms the types of jobs available.

Research on gender-sensitive education policies shows that countries with higher female enrollment rates at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels also have a higher proportion of women in top management positions. Closing the literacy gender gap in low-income countries – where men’s literacy averages around 70 percent compared to 54 percent for women – raises women’s productivity and opens pathways into more skilled sectors.

Beyond formal education, research from the International Growth Centre shows that access to soft skills training, microfinance, and safe transportation can all meaningfully increase women’s labor force participation, particularly in developing economies. Programs that integrate childcare services and accessible training locations tend to reach women who would otherwise be excluded.

Policy and legal reform

Legal and institutional reforms are a prerequisite for change, but implementation matters just as much as legislation. The World Bank finds that training and mentorship programs help bridge the skills gap and reduce occupational segregation, but these must be paired with gender-smart design – including childcare provision and safe learning environments – to ensure women can actually access them.

On the fiscal side, the IMF highlights that investments in labor-saving infrastructure (such as clean water access), individual-based tax structures, and paid parental leave all create stronger incentives for women to enter and stay in paid employment. Most of these measures pay for themselves over time through increased economic activity and tax revenues.

Internationally, frameworks such as the ILO Equal Remuneration Convention (C100) and the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC) provide tools for governments and employers to close the gender pay gap. The ILO also points to pay transparency measures and anti-discrimination legislation as essential components of any effective equal pay strategy.

Formalizing women’s work

Transitioning women from informal to formal employment is central to reducing vulnerability. The World Economic Forum identifies inadequate care systems as one of the largest structural roadblocks to closing labor market gender gaps globally. Expanding access to affordable childcare, extending social protection coverage to informal workers, and enforcing labor standards in subcontracting chains are all necessary steps.

Policymakers also need to address the occupational barriers that keep women out of better-paying fields. Research on globalization and occupational inequality argues that normative barriers discouraging women from pursuing traditionally male-dominated roles – such as STEM – must be actively dismantled to prevent globalization from widening, rather than closing, the gap in high-status employment.

What do you think? Globalization has created more jobs for women in many parts of the world, yet deep inequalities in pay, job quality, and access to leadership roles persist. Does economic growth alone have the power to close the gender gap in work – or does meaningful change require deliberate social and policy transformation first? And given that unpaid care work remains one of the biggest barriers to women’s full economic participation, how should societies revalue and redistribute that labor?

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Table of Contents

How globalization opened doors for women in the workforce 🔗

The persistent inequalities that globalization has not resolved 🔗

The employment and unemployment gap 🔗

The prevalence of informal and precarious employment 🔗

The gender wage gap 🔗

The glass ceiling in managerial and professional roles 🔗

Why these inequalities persist: structural and social factors 🔗

Strategies to improve labor market outcomes for women 🔗

Education and skills development 🔗

Policy and legal reform 🔗

Formalizing women’s work 🔗