In most countries in the ECE region, the unemployment rate for women is higher than that for men. Since women are more likely than men to work in temporary and part-time jobs, and hold positions of little or no authority, unemployment in situations of economic crises may rise faster for women. This is reflected in different levels of unemployment, with women and youth usually experiencing higher levels of unemployment than men. Although the highest unemployment rates in the ECE region are found among young girls in the age group 15 to 19, unemployment rates for young men are also high. Many women tend to have less access to economic opportunities during their reproductive years.

 During transition in the CEE and CIS countries, more women lost jobs than men, especially during the first few years of transition. This was partly due to the fact that women tended to occupy jobs in industries that were cut down considerably in the economic reform. In some countries, emphasis was placed on securing jobs for men, rather than women, on the basis of men being the main ‘breadwinners’ of the family. The decline in jobs in the transition economies has resulted not only in open unemployment, but also in economic inactivity and burgeoning of the informal sector. Data on economic inactivity and the informal sector are largely lacking, not least from a gender perspective. However, during transition, many women have had to resort to low-paying and insecure work in the informal sector in order to supplement their families’ meagre sources of income, and evidence suggest that more women than men are employed in the informal sector.

 There are also gender differences in the activities that women and men undertake during unemployment, as well as methods in finding new jobs. Surveys from several transition economies show that women find it more difficult to find a new job, where they are more likely to rely on government services while men use a more efficient method to finding a job through personal contacts and networks.

 Examples of policies in the region:
Uzbekistan: women in the labour market