2Pi-Jobs is acting as an Employment Agency in relation to this vacancy.
UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.
The labor force participation rate in Tunisia stood at 46.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, increasing compared to the previous quarter. In the same period, the male labor participation rate corresponded to 65.7 percent. On the other hand, only 28 percent of the female population in the country was part of the labor force as of the fourth quarter of 2022 (National Institute of Statistics). Drivers of low female labor include an entrenched patriarchal context that constrain women’s participation in the economy or relegates them to informal and lower-paying jobs, lack of policies and frameworks that facilitate women’s economic participation (e.g. childcare, family-friendly work policies), occupational segregation in female and male-dominated jobs driving gender pay gaps as well as Personal Status Laws that discriminate against women in inheritance. Insufficient job creation, both in number and quality, in the private sector is another key constraint. Access to finance and investment are also challenges for entrepreneurs, especially women entrepreneurs.
UN Women Regional Office for the Arab States (ROAS) adopted its strategic plan for 2022-2025 in March 2022. In the strategic plan, it is highlighted that one of the key priorities to achieve gender equality in the Arab States is the speedy acceleration of women’s employment throughout the region, which has hovered around 21% since the 1990s, UN Women is embarking on a large-scale multi-country program to surge women’s employment in 7 countries (3 in North Africa, 2 in the Levante and 2 in the Gulf).
The private sector plays a crucial role in promoting female labour force participation. The Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) are a set of Principles offering guidance to business on how to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment in the workplace, marketplace, and community. Established by UN Women and UN Global Compact, the WEPs are informed by international labour and human rights standards and grounded in the recognition that businesses have a stake in, and a responsibility for, gender equality and women’s empowerment. Being the first to launch the WEPs in Tunisia, UN Women has been working with companies from different sectors to promote gender equality principles in the private sector. More and more companies believe that they can achieve better business outcomes, including lower rates of absenteeism and turnover, more innovation and employee engagement, access to new markets and investors, a stronger reputation in the community, and higher productivity and profitability—ultimately contributing to the economic and social well-being of communities as well as overall economic growth.
To support the recruitment of more WEPs signatories, the coordination of the network in Tunisia and in localizing WEPs tools into the local market context, UN Women Tunisia is recruiting a national consultant who will serve as a liaison point connecting WEPs signatory companies to increase outreach and support the members to take action to deliver gender equality and women’s empowerment principles.
The consultant will be reporting to the Programme Management Specialist and will be supported by WEE specialist. She/he will work in close collaboration with Regional Office, and HQ colleagues.