Venezuelan women earn less than Colombian women

Research conducted by Cuso International, a Canadian non-governmental development organization working to reduce poverty and inequality, and Externado University, with support from the Government of Canada, found that Venezuelan migrants have long working hours and significantly lower salaries than Colombian women.

According to Alejandro Matos, director of Cuso International in Colombia, 91.1% of Venezuelan women, despite many having a level of education higher than men and even higher than Colombian women, work informally. This structural violence against the migrant population, in Matos’ words, has also been evident at the wage level since then the average monthly income of a Colombian woman, formally employed, is 1.45 million dollars, but that of a Venezuelan woman, who works informally, is 785 thousand dollars, lower than the current legal monthly minimum wage.

Matos also insured him in El Tiempo new national government legislation needs to be more inclusive, despite the reception and inclusion work carried out. For this reason, it recommends maintaining and improving the ease of legal inclusion of Venezuelan migrants.

This job instability experienced by the Venezuelan migrant population violates fundamental rights such as health, education and housing, indicates the Forbes magazine. ISIn recent years, Colombia has hosted more than 1.7 million Venezuelan dollars, including 844,000 womens, who fled after the social and economic crisis unleashed during the government of President Nicolás Maduro. Legally, their stay in the country is irregular and They work in hairdressers, security jobs, restaurants, household services, and as chain retailers. Cities like Medellín, Cali, Bogotá, and Barranquilla have high Venezuelan population rates.

The research, according to El Tiempo, analyzed data from the migration module of DANE’s Large Integrated Household Survey (GEIH), also reflecting that Venezuelan women work an average of 42.5 hours per week, compared to 37 hours worked by Colombian women. The population defined in the survey also refers to Venezuelan migrants who have resided in the country for five years.

According to the data revealed by the medium, between September 2019 and February 2020, 2,325,881 Venezuelans1,167,115 men and 1,158,766 women lived in the country. Moreover, 1,186,031 worked (729,990 men and 456,7341 women). The data, likewise, reveal that 61.3% of migrant women are present in the labor market, compared to 52.5% of Colombian women’s employment.

El Tiempo points out that, moreover, 40.5% of Venezuelan women are employed in the private sector. Likewise, 9.8% of Venezuelan women compared to 6.9% of Colombian women work as domestic workers. Even the 52% of migrant women work in commerce and hospitality, the 15.7% in the provision of personal services and social e 23.2% as cooks and waitresses.

Leaving aside wage inequality, Venezuelan women face the stigma that links them to prostitution, the study states, and are victims of xenophobia. Similarly, the director of the Externado University Labor Market and Social Security Observatory, Stefano Farné, pointed out that Venezuelan women are at greater risk of losing their jobs during the pandemic, as they carry out their activities in sectors vulnerable and informal.

According to data from the United Nations Refugee Agency published by Forbes magazine, Gender-based violence against Venezuelan migrants increased by 40% in Colombia during the first three quarters of the year compared to the same period in 2019.