Volume 1 Cedric - revised luca Final - RUIG-GIAN

Factors for public sector preference• The public sector can symbolize prestige and grants women social standing;• working in the public sector offers women more effecient legal protection, as in theprivate sector regulations are rarely enforced and largely depend on employers’preferences;• the social stance towards women is different from one social class to another;• the civil service environment is traditionally the domain of economically activewomen, whereas the private sector and entrepreneurship remains a hostileenvironment; an underlying reason is not segregation of women, but rather theavoidance of the possibility of being singled out;• single women or women heads of household typically sense a stronger urge forfinancial stability than for initiative and risk-taking in the labour market. The outlookof a pension and a minimum fixed income both serve as major motivations for womento keep their civil service posts despite low earnings;• women seek more security in the workplace than men in volatile security conditions.The government has the responsability to provide protection to its civil servants attheir place of work; private sector enterprises on the other hand do not always havethis obligation or the means to carry it out. Security constraints are obviously evenmore severe in the case of self-employed women. Security risks, therefore, in anunstable context such as today’s Iraq, remain a major limitation for women’s economicempowerment.The table below summarises the factors that drive women to work in privateenterprise or in the public sector:Factors for private enterprise preferenceFactors for public sector preferenceHigh ROI/earningsPromising prospectsNon-economic private enterprise benefitsLow financial risk(Low loss potential)Low security riskInformation on private enterprises opportunitiesKnowledge of available investment opportunitiesand various alternativesRelatively low income offered by the public sectorfor the level of educationUnavailability of job opportunities in the publicsectorGovernmental securityHigh social positionJob stability & securityPension securityWork amidst other female workmatesSufficient information (access to opportunities,conditions of work, incomes)Safer work conditions for which the state isaccountableUnavailability of suitable job/investmentopportunities in private enterpriseUnavailability of soft loan opportunities forinvestment74