The labour market: teen pregnancy and unemployment
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Version 0 of 1. Today, the unemployment rate in Brazil is the lowest ever recorded having reached 4.6% last November, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. The news is rightly being celebrated, but we shouldn't forget that the progress has been uneven. A report released in October by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development highlighted that Brazilian youths, aged between 15 and 24 years, are more likely to be unemployed than the population average. Of this group of young and unemployed Brazilians, more than half are women and there is a case to be made for the notion that tackling these figures requires a look at teen pregnancy. The fall in Brazil's fertility rates - from 6.28, in 1960, to 1.8, in 2013 - has allowed a greater participation of women in the labour market, but a closer look at the data shows that these general fertility figures mask social inequality on the issue. While women of higher levels of education are postponing motherhood for a career and further studies, for those in communities lacking in social protection and economic opportunities, motherhood is still a major priority for many girls. In the context of poor wages and often bad working conditions, lots of women vest their future happiness in motherhood. According to Iara Amora, project coordinator at Home of Working Women, a nonprofit organisation in Rio de Janeiro that works to empower women: "Pregnancy and marriage are still a central part of gaining social status for young girls in some places. They feel more valued in their communities when they become mothers. This is related to their will, which has to be respected, but also to the fact they see few alternatives for themselves." Paediatrician Rachel Niskier, who works at Group Care for Adolescent Health at the Fernandes Figueira Institute of Public Health, in Rio de Janeiro said these were not unfounded perceptions for certain groups of young women: "Women from less affluent backgrounds lack access to good education and employment opportunities. In most of cases, the only opportunity for them is underemployment, the informal market, and often terrible working conditions" Rachel also explained that contrary to popular belief, not all of the girls they see fall pregnant between 10 and 14 experience unplanned pregnancies. These girls, she explains, plan motherhood as an alternative to a perceived future of unemployment. In São Paulo, one initiative is attempting to change these social attitudes by widening the job prospects for young mothers, which often offer little stability. Lua Nova, an NGO located in the municipality of Sorocaba, works with young mothers, assisting them in the education of their children and also in the generation of employment and income. There they learn various vocational skills from baking to building. They also provide access to sexual education, which is notably missing from most of Brazil's schools. Iara Amora, acknowledges that encouraging young women into employment needs to focus not only on providing alternatives to early motherhood, but offering adequate child support: "After the baby is born … they see that things get even more difficult." In many areas of Brazil, public kindergartens are among the main demands. This is the hope of residents from Vila Autódromo, a small community in Rio de Janeiro (with limited access to public services), located near the works for the 2016 Olympic Games. Community leader Jane Nascimento explained: "The lack of childcare is a social problem in Vila Autódromo, preventing many young mothers from working." The community recently won the Urban Age - an international award for urbanism - and have decided to spend the money on building a daycare. The relationship between teen pregnancy and youth unemployment is complex. But an awareness of the way in which it sustains the exclusion of young women from the labour market needs to be taken into account. Addressing this requires a range of responses including the reduction of social inequality in the country, access to better school education, improved sexual health policies and education, advances in gender equality and a labour market that helps, rather than discriminates, against women. And we must also not forget that employment for young women is not just about providing alternatives to teen motherhood, but also about providing support for young mothers who want to work, through for example the construction of kindergartens. <strong>This content is brought to you by </strong><strong>Guardian Professional</strong><strong>. To get more articles like this direct to your inbox, sign up free to become a member of the </strong><strong>Global Development Professionals Network</strong> Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |