Informal employment continues to be one of the main obstacles in the labor market, reflecting difficulties in achieving economic autonomy and gender equality in the country, particularly affecting women. This is confirmed by the study “Informal employment among women: a persistent challenge in Santander,” prepared by the Observatory on Women, Gender Equality, and Society (OMEGS) of the Industrial University of Santander (UIS) in partnership with the Government of Santander.
According to the report, the persistent informality of women’s employment reflects the structural inequalities that permeate the regional labor market. Many women work without being affiliated with the social security system, without contributing to a pension, and without access to health services or paid leave.
According to statistics from the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE), during the June-August 2025 quarter, of every 100 women working, more than 51 were informal, meaning they did not contribute to health and pension funds. This situation occurs mainly in activities such as domestic work, street vending, and self-employment, where precarious conditions and a lack of social protection predominate.
Informality by gender
Although informality affects both women and men, significant gender gaps remain. Between 2021 and 2024, there was an increase in female informality; while in 2021 male informality was 63.6% and female informality was 51.9%, by 2024 the rates were closer to 58.0% and 54.5%, respectively. This reduction in the gap is not due to structural improvement, but rather to the greater incorporation of women into the informal sector, where inequalities in job quality, stability, and remuneration persist.
However, women have more formal jobs (45.5%) than men (42%). According to the report, while it is true that these figures show that women are able to enter formal spaces to a greater extent, they also face greater structural barriers, such as the overload of unpaid work, occupational segmentation, and precariousness in feminized sectors, possibly due to their concentration in administrative, educational, or social service activities, revealed the International Labor Organization (ILO) in a study published in 2024.
“The high level of informality among both sexes reflects a structural problem in the regional labor market that limits access to labor rights, social protection, and economic stability, affecting women differently due to pre-existing gender inequalities,” warns the OMEGS.
In rural areas, the picture is no different. According to the Observatory, while in urban areas informality rates are similar for women (49.7%) and men (48.8%), in rural areas both rates rise considerably, reaching 85.4% for women and 84.4% for men.
This contrast shows that rural women face a double disadvantage. On the one hand, there are the structural conditions of work in the countryside, and on the other, there are gender gaps that limit their access to formal jobs, social protection, and economic autonomy. Reducing these inequalities requires public policies with a territorial and gender focus that strengthen formalization, access to productive resources, and shared responsibility for care,” says the UIS report.
According to the study Gender Gap in the Informal Sector in Colombia by Sylvia Ávila Sguerra of the University of Los Andes, one of the reasons why many women opt for informal work is the flexible hours it offers, which allows them to balance their work responsibilities with domestic and family tasks.
“It has been found that women in the informal economy tend to engage in smaller-scale economic activities than men and to work in industries related to food or domestic tasks,” says the expert.
More education, more opportunities
By age group, during the stage of highest female productivity, between the ages of 29 and 59, 66.3% of women are employed in informal conditions; meanwhile, 21.9% of young women between the ages of 15 and 28 have this type of job, partly due to a lack of experience, professional networks, or educational capital. Finally, 11.8% of women aged 60 and over who continue to work reflect an economic vulnerability associated with the absence of a pension or sufficient savings.
“This data highlights the persistence of structural gender barriers, such as the overload of unpaid care work and occupational segmentation, which limit women’s access to formal jobs with social protection,” says the OMEGS.
Educational level is a determining factor. More than half of women in informal employment (53.8%) have secondary education and only 18.4% have higher education. In contrast, in formal employment, 64% of women have university education, confirming the close relationship between education and access to jobs with better conditions. From a gender perspective, the OMEGS emphasizes that inequalities in access to and retention in education limit formal employment opportunities, contrary to Sustainable Development Goals 4 (Quality Education), 5 (Gender Equality), and 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth).
According to the Observatory, it is necessary to strengthen the implementation of comprehensive strategies aimed at labor formalization with a gender focus, within the framework of Santander’s Public Policy on Women and Gender Equality.
These strategies should promote the creation of decent jobs, access to social security, and training for formal entrepreneurship, especially in rural areas and among low-income women.
It also recommends promoting inter-institutional coordination between entities in the productive and educational sectors and local governments, in order to consolidate training programs, skills certification, and access to credit that will strengthen women’s productive inclusion.
“It is a priority to incorporate the approach of social co-responsibility for care into the department’s employment and economic development policies. Moving towards an equitable redistribution of care work will help free up time and opportunities for women’s formal labor market participation. It is important to consider that only through sustained, evidence-based actions aligned with the objectives of the PIO 2020–2029 will it be possible to reduce informality gaps, guarantee decent work, and consolidate a more inclusive and equitable economy in Santander for all women,” states the OMEGS report.
