December 1, 2023 | Lima, Peru
A team of local PEP researchers held a national policy conference to share their findings on how to overcome the barriers that women face in accessing decent work.
December 1, 2022 – A team of local PEP researchers held a national policy conference to share their findings on the barriers that are preventing women in Peru from accessing decent work.
Recognising the critical role that decent work plays in advancing gender equity and economic growth, the project team brought together almost 40 policymakers and stakeholders for a discussion on how to help women overcome these barriers.
Key policy stakeholders in attendance included representatives from the Ministries of Women and Vulnerable Populations (MIMP), of Labor and Promotion of Employment (MTPE), of Economy and Finance (MEF), and of Development and Social Inclusion (MIDIS), as well as from the National Civil Service Authority (SERVIR), National Program Cuna Más, Central Reserve Bank of Peru (BCRP), World Bank and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
Team leader Dr. Lorena Alcazar presented the findings and recommendations from the team’s PEP project on Addressing context-specific barriers to female labour force participation in decent work in Peru.
She explained how gender stereotypes and a lack of available care services are the main barriers to women accessing decent jobs. She shared the team’s findings that gender norms and stereotypes result in women, almost exclusively, assuming the household and care duties within their families, which severely limits the time women have available to access decent work.
Based on the project team’s analysis, Dr. Alcazar explained how government involvement to expand public daycare would be a key action to immediately improve women’s access to decent work in Peru. Additionally, creating awareness programs in school and communities would be important for parents to change gender norms in the longer term.
Lucía Espezúa, the Director for the Promotion of Employment and Self-Employment at the Ministry of Labor and Social Inclusion, highlighted and agreed with the project team’s policy recommendation to enhance the Wiñay Warmi program, which is part of her program portfolio. The program addresses key barriers that limit women’s access to decent work by connecting public employment services with other services that cater to women's needs, such as daycare services. Ms. Espezúa said that the Wiñay Warmi program performed poorly in a recent evaluation, but the PEP team’s findings have prompted the Ministry to recognize the need to enhance the program, rather than terminating it.
A key portion of the floor discussion focused on the Cuna Más, the primary public daycare service in the country. Milagros Castillo, program specialist at Cuna Más, acknowledged the crucial need to expand the availability of daycare services to support mothers striving to re-enter the labor market. She stated that Cuna Más plans to expand its coverage and implement a pilot program for extended-schedule daycares, aiming to enhance women’s opportunities to secure decent jobs.
Ms. Castillo also expressed concern that the PEP team’s recommendation to expand public daycare could compromise the program's primary goal of promoting the comprehensive development of children in vulnerable conditions. The panel acknowledged the validity of the concern but emphasized that a community-based care service, while not as ideal as Cuna Más, would enable mothers to work and provide better care for their children.
As well as a productive discussion with key stakeholders, the Director General for Employment Promotion and the Director for the Promotion of Employment and Self-Employment expressed their interest in exploring future policy research collaborations with the PEP project team. Other institutions including the World Bank, UNDP and the Canadian Embassy approached the research team after the event, expressing their interest in establishing collaborations.
The research team organized the event with financial and advisory support from PEP.
