Level income and taxation of women in Ecuador, still present gaps and challenges to achieving equality. The same is happening in issues such as workforce empowerment and workforce indicators. By the way 8.march womens Day, Several economic indicators presented by individual public agencies and entities reveal the shortcomings that still exist in this regard.

According to him Director of the Tax Administration (SRI), Francisco Briones, in 2018 39% of economically active women decided to be independent and create their own companies and ventures, a number that is in in 2022, increased to 46%.

In this context, there is a radical difference between the average income of women who work in a dependent relationship, which is about $400, compared to a woman who works independently, which can be almost $2,500 per month. “More and more women are going that way,” she reported.

The government official spoke at the event “Women’s leadership in business transformation” organized by the Seminar, which dealt with the role of women in facing economic challenges, entrepreneurship with a focus on sustainability, transparency, the fight against corruption and digital transformation. .

Despite this good indicator on the subject of income and taxes, according to SRI, the level of women’s billing contributes only 33%. This means that although there are more women in economic activities, the income gap still exists, compared to men. It is important to point out that women’s incomes have increased by 35%, but are still lower than men’s incomes, which are 1.4 times higher than women’s incomes.

Another significant gap between women and men, this time in the labor market, is related to gender empowerment. This according to “Global Empowerment Index”published by PwC, March 7.

The study concludes that there is a significant gender empowerment gap, with men being more empowered in the workplace than women. This empowerment index is based on the analysis of pgender perspectives of nearly 22,000 working women worldwide and measures 12 empowerment factors. The report details the four most important factors in empowering women in the workplace. These are: fair compensation (72%), job fulfillment (69%), a workplace where they can truly be themselves (67%) and having a team that cares about their well-being (61%).

Additionally, according to the Index, the most empowered women work in the technology, media and telecommunications sector, especially driven by the technology industry, where women are slightly more empowered than men.

working women in the financial services and energy sectors, public services and resources are second and third in strength, but men are significantly more empowered than women in financial services.

Bob Moritz, Global Managing Director of PwC, mentions: “CEOs and employers must do everything possible to build a balanced work culture where women feel as empowered as men, and where women are fairly rewarded, experience autonomy and a sense of belonging at work. This will have the dual benefit of building trust throughout the organization and supporting the advancement of women.

PwC’s analysis recommends that employers materially improve the empowerment of women in the workplace by focusing on fair reward, empowerment, inclusive leadership and the introduction of a data-driven diversity strategy.

An important observation from this study is that women who work full-time have the lowest empowerment scores. Empowered women also have more opportunities to work long distance (74%). However, almost half (48%) of women cannot perform their work according to this modality.

In the country, according to INEC data, 27.9% of women have adequate employment. About 251,309 women work in the public sector, and 3,180,924 in the private sector.

Meanwhile, from The Ministry of Production, the ‘Pro Mujeres’ initiative reported, dedicated to the economic empowerment of women entrepreneurs to take better advantage of trade agreements with countries such as Costa Rica and Chile. In the free trade agreement with Chile, a chapter dedicated to the issue of gender inclusion was included for the first time.

Branch Minister Julio José Prado also emphasized this 70% of exporting companies are micro and small companies, and more than 60% of them are run by women. That is why it is important to talk about gender inclusion when it comes to trade agreements, she pointed out.