1.3 Apparel: The Most Important Manufacturing Industry for Female Jobs

BOX 1.3 Apparel: The Most Important Manufacturing Industry for Female Jobs International Labour Organization data from the seven sample countries confirm that apparel is the most important manufacturing employer of women (table B1.3.1).

Agriculture Sector Agriculture is the leading employer of women in Bangladesh and Pakistan, accounting for 60 and 66 percent of female employment, respectively. However, this is much less so in the other sample countries, where the agriculture sector’s share of total female employment ranges from a low of 28 percent in Turkey to a high of 42 percent in Vietnam.

Manufacturing Sector As with the global results across country income levels (later shown in chapter 3), the manufacturing sector overall accounts for the lowest share of female employment across the country cases. It accounts for the highest share in Sri Lanka (26 percent) and is insignificant in Egypt (6 percent). Within manufacturing, female employment is primarily in apparel (including textiles and leather) in Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Pakistan, whereas females work in a wider range of manufacturing industries in Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Vietnam. Among apparel, textiles, and leather, apparel is the most important employer of women across the case countries—ranging from 2 percent of all female employment in Egypt to 16 percent in Cambodia. Textiles come second but are especially significant in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Turkey, as are leather products (including footwear) in Vietnam. Apart from these segments, food product manufacturing matters in Sri Lanka, where it accounts for 5 percent of female employment.

Services Sector Services account for a significant share of female employment in Egypt (57 percent), Turkey (57 percent), and Sri Lanka (45 percent). Across these countries, higher-skill, domesticserving industries (such as education, human health services, and public administration) account for the largest shares, particularly in Egypt. In Cambodia and Vietnam, high-skill industries are not yet important employers of females, but the mid-level service industries of retail trade and food and beverage services, combined, employ a share of females similar to the manufacturing sector. In Bangladesh, female employment is primarily in low-skill industries. In Pakistan, women work in a mix of high- and low-skill services, driven by the education industry and households as employers of domestic personnel.

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