Editing Workforce (section)

===Informal labour and gender===
[[File:Employed civilians by occupation and sex - 2007.png|thumbnail|Employed civilians by occupation and gender in the United States as of 2007]]
[[Gender]] is frequently associated with informal labour. Women are employed more often informally than they are formally, and informal labour is an overall larger source of employment for females than it is for males.<ref name="autogenerated36"/> Women frequent the informal sector of the economy through occupations like home-based workers and [[Hawker (trade)|street vendors]].<ref name="worldbank1"/>  The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World shows that in the 1990s, 81% of women in Benin were street vendors, 55% in Guatemala, 44% in Mexico, 33% in Kenya, and 14% in India. Overall, 60% of women workers in the developing world are employed in the informal sector.<ref name="autogenerated4" />

The specific percentages are 84% and 58% for women in [[Sub-Saharan Africa]] and [[Latin America]] respectively.<ref name="autogenerated4" /> The percentages for men in both of these areas of the world are lower, amounting to 63% and 48% respectively.<ref name="autogenerated4" /> In Asia, 65% of women workers and 65% of men workers are employed in the informal sector.<ref name="autogenerated4"/> Globally, a large percentage of women that are formally employed also work in the informal sector behind the scenes. These women make up the hidden work force.<ref name="autogenerated4"/>

According to a 2021 [[Food and Agriculture Organization|FAO]] study, currently, 85 per cent of economic activity in Africa is conducted in the informal sector where women account for nearly 90 per cent of the informal labour force.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://doi.org/10.4060/cb6966en |title=Seizing the opportunities of the African Continental Free Trade Area for the economic empowerment of women in agriculture |publisher=FAO |year=2021 |isbn=978-92-5-135021-8 |location=Accra|doi=10.4060/cb6966en |s2cid=244712893 }}</ref> According to the [[International Labour Organization|ILO]]'s 2016 employment analysis, 64 per cent of informal employment is in agriculture (relative to industry and services) in sub-Saharan Africa.<ref name=":1">Bonnet, Vanek & Chen, 2019</ref><ref name=":0" /> Women have higher rates of informal employment than men with 92 per cent of women workers in informal employment versus 86 per cent of men.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" />

Formal and informal labour can be divided into the subcategories of [[agricultural]] work and non-agricultural work. [[Martha Chen]] ''et al.'' believe these four categories of labour are closely related to one another.<ref name="autogenerated2005">Chen, Martha, Joann Vanek, Francie Lund, James Heintz with Renana Jhabvala, and Christine Bonner. 2005. "Employment, Gender, and Poverty," in Progress of the World's Women, pp. 36–57. New York: United Nations Development Fund for Women.</ref> A majority of agricultural work is informal, which the Penguin Atlas for Women in the World defines as unregistered or unstructured.<ref name="autogenerated4" /> Non-agricultural work can also be informal. According to Martha Chen ''et al.'', informal labour makes up 48% of non-agricultural work in North Africa, 51% in Latin America, 65% in Asia, and 72% in Sub-Saharan Africa.<ref name="autogenerated36" />

Agriculture and informal economic activity are among some of the most important sources of livelihood for women.<ref name=":0" /> Women are estimated to account for approximately 70 per cent of informal cross-border traders<ref>UNDP, 2020</ref> and are also prevalent among owners of micro, small, or medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).<ref name=":0" /> MSMEs are more vulnerable to market shocks and market disruptions. For women-owned MSMEs this is often compounded by their lack of access to credit and financial liquidity compared to larger businesses.<ref name=":0" /> However, MSMEs are often more vulnerable to market shocks and market disruptions.<ref name=":0" /> For women-owned MSMEs, this is often compounded by their lack of access to credit and financial liquidity compared to larger businesses<ref name=":0" />'''.'''