On the unexplained causes of the gender gap in the labour market

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (7) ◽  
pp. 933-949
Author(s):  
Rosalia Castellano ◽  
Antonella Rocca
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Composite Index ◽  
Family Care ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Capital Theory ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Female Behaviour ◽  
Complex Scenario

PurposeThis paper investigates the causes of the gender gap in the labour market that cannot be explained by classical human capital theory.Design/methodology/approachTo this end, the authors integrate the Gender Gap in the Labour Market Index (GGLMI), a composite index developed in previous research, with further information on some social aspects that could affect the female work commitment, directly or indirectly. In particular, the authors want to verify if family care and home duties, still strongly unbalanced against women, and the welfare system play a significant role in the gender gap.FindingsResults highlight a very complex scenario, characterized by the persistence of gender inequalities everywhere, even if at different degrees, with very strong imbalances in the time spent at work in response to the family commitments.Research limitations/implicationsThe actual determinants of gender disparities in the labour market are very difficult to identify because of the lack of adequate data and the difficulties in measuring some factors determining female behaviour. The additional information used in this research can only partially accomplish this task.Originality/valueHowever, for the first time, this paper uses information on different aspects and causes of the gender gap, including proxies of mainly unobservable aspects, in order to achieve at least partial measurement of this phenomenon.

Gender inequalities in labour market outcomes

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 675-695 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Georgiadis ◽  
George Christopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Composite Index ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Work Intensity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to focus on the investigation of gender inequalities in the labour market at the regional level in Greece throughout the years preceding and following the economic crisis. Design/methodology/approach Utilising microdata from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) database from 2005 up to the most recent available, the authors construct the Total Earnings Gap Index, a composite index at the individual level which incorporates gender differentials in aspects related to employment, work intensity and earnings. This approach is further complemented by the results of the econometric analysis (a probit model for the probability of being in employment and a Heckman selection model for the determinants of hourly pay and hours worked), which portray the impact of gender on a set of labour-related characteristics. Findings The findings of the analysis indicate a widespread reduction of the gender gap; however, this appears to be mainly the result of a sharper fall in employment among men, hence pointing towards a “race to the bottom” process which presents few – if any – signs of an increase of women’s economic independence. The emerging picture points towards a trend of regional convergence in gender gaps, while also highlighting that similar gender equality outcomes are, in certain cases, shaped by radically different dynamics. Originality/value This paper uses an innovative composite index which provides a multi-dimensional depiction of gender inequality in the Greek labour market. This index has been introduced by Eurostat and has been applied at the country level, with this paper being the first – to the authors’ knowledge – to apply it at the regional level. Additionally, by examining years before and throughout the crisis, the present analysis adopts a dynamic perspective, offering valuable insight into the seismic shifts that Greece’s labour market structure has undergone during this period.

Gender gap and labour market participation

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosalia Castellano ◽  
Antonella Rocca
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Composite Indicator ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Gender Gaps ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Aggregation Techniques

Purpose – The measurement and comparison across countries of female conditions in labour market and gender gap in employment is a very complex task, given both its multidimensional nature and the different scenarios in terms of economic, social and cultural characteristics. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – At this aim, different information about presence and engagement of women in labour market, gender pay gap, segregation, discrimination and human capital characteristics was combined and a ranking of 26 European countries is proposed through the composite indicator methodology. It satisfies the need to benchmark national gender gaps, grouping together economic, political and educational dimensions. Findings – The results show that female conditions in labour market are the best in Scandinavian countries and Ireland while many Eastern and Southern European countries result at the bottom of classification. Research limitations/implications – In order to take into account the subjectivity of some choices in composite indicator construction and to test robustness of results, different aggregation techniques were applied. Practical implications – The authors hope that this new index will stimulate the release of a sort of best practices useful to close labour market gaps, starting from best countries’ scenarios, and the launching of pilot gender parity task forces, as it happened with the Global Gender Gap Index in some countries. Finally, relating gender gap indexes with country policies frameworks for gender inequalities and the connected policy outcomes, it is possible to evaluate their effectiveness and to identify the most adequate initiatives to undertake because policies reducing gender gaps can significantly improve economic growth and standard of living. Social implications – The analysis gives a contribution in the evaluation of the policies and regulations effectiveness at national level considering the existing welfare regimes and the associated gaps in labour market. It can help policy makers to understand the ramifications of gaps between women and men. The Gender Gap Labour Market Index is constrained by the need for international comparability, but limiting its analysis to European countries; it has been based on ad hoc indicators concerning developed economies and could be readily adapted for use at the national and local levels. Originality/value – In this paper the authors propose a new composite indicator index specifically focused on gender gap in labour market. Several papers analysed gender differences in wages, employment or segregation, but few of them consider them together, allowing to get a satisfactory informative picture on gender inequalities in labour market and studying in deep its multiple aspects, including discrimination indicators ad hoc calculated, giving to policy makers an useful tool to evaluate female employees conditions and put them in relation with the different input factors existing within each country.

Working role of women in a pandemic world: a poetic inquiry

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Davide de Gennaro ◽  
Francesca Loia ◽  
Gabriella Piscopo
Keyword(s):  
Gender Gap ◽  
Working Women ◽  
Diversity Management ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Remote Work ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Poetic Inquiry ◽  
Women’S Perceptions ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected millions of people globally, and it has exacerbated the existing gender inequalities that have affected women. The purpose of this study is to understand the perceptions of women concerning gender inequality in the workplace during the current pandemic. The goal is to give women a voice so they can explain their feelings regarding the problems they face in a pandemic world. Design/methodology/approach In this study, four poetic inquiries were developed to investigate how the lives of working women were changed during the pandemic in Italy. Poetic methodology is a creative and aesthetic representation of qualitative research that is capable of reporting data with more fluidity and freedom. Findings The results suggest that the gender gap is increasing and is embodied in a series of relational and economic problems related to remote work, in difficulty in reconciling private and work life and in a series of new telematic violence against women. Practical implications This study offers practical implications for policymakers by suggesting the application of diversity management initiatives to remove barriers to gender equality. Originality/value This study, through a poetic approach, is the first to investigate women's perceptions during the pandemic related to difficulties experienced in the work sphere.

Equal pay, equal access

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Equal Pay ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Pertinent Information ◽  
Different Dimensions ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings Global workforces are still impacted by gender inequalities – there remains a gender gap in pay, in access to roles of responsibility and in terms of work-life balance. A challenge facing gender equality in the workplace is an agreed definition – organizations, managers and employees have different social representations of gender equality and place differing levels of importance on different dimensions. This can affect implementation of gender equality policies in the workplace, which rely on the goodwill of individuals to put policy into practice. Organizations need to recognize which dimensions are most important to their workplace in order to successfully implement equality. Originality The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Addressing the “gender gap” in the managerial labour market

2007 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 942-954 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pooran Wynarczyk
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Glass Ceiling ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Role Model ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
Model Platform

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the “gender management gap” in the scientific labour market in the North East of England. The paper seeks to compare and contrast employment, ownership, management structure and capacity between men and women in the Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) sector.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical investigation is based on a survey of 60 SET‐based small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), operating in the North East of England.FindingsThe results show that women are particularly under‐represented in managerial and senior positions of scientific nature in the private sector in the North East of England. The “glass ceiling” effect appears to be widespread.Research limitations/implicationsThere are very limited empirical data and research on the nature and level of participation of women in the scientific managerial labour market at firm level in the UK. There is a need for more rigorous research at firm and regional levels to examine the cumulative effects of underlying factors that prevent women from progression, beyond the “glass ceiling”, in the scientific labour market.Practical implicationsThis paper builds upon a research project funded by the ESRC Science in Society Programme. The key findings have resulted in a subsequent award from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Grants to establish the “North East Role Model Platform for Innovative Women” in the light of the Science City Initiative.Originality/valueThe “gender management gap” in the scientific labour market in the North East of England has not, empirically, been investigated before and appears to be a highly neglected area of public policy and research.

Time poverty in Egypt and Tunisia: is there a gender gap?

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-289
Author(s):  
Asmaa Ezzat ◽  
Hanan Nazier
Keyword(s):  
Gender Gap ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
North African ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mena Countries ◽  
Time Poverty ◽  
Use Of Data ◽  
Individual Household

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the gender differences in time poverty in two Middle East North African (MENA) countries, particularly Egypt and Tunisia, as well as examining its determinants across gender. Design/methodology/approach To this end, the authors make use of data provided by the Labor Market Panel Survey (LMPS) in Egypt (2012) and in Tunisia (2014) to estimate probit regressions to identify various determinants that explain time poverty. Findings The empirical findings show that the probability of time poverty, in both countries, is lower for women compared to men. In addition, the determinants of time poverty (individual, household and community variables) and their marginal effects differ across gender. Originality/value Research on the gender inequalities in time poverty and its determinants has been very limited. Additionally, the relationships between individuals’ time use and the conditions under which this might represent time poverty have not been fully studied in the literature. Moreover, most of the available studies have focused on developed countries; while studies tackling this issue in developing countries are very few. For the MENA region, in particular, this topic is totally missing in the available literature.

Gender, education and labour market: evidence from Mauritius

2014 ◽  
Vol 34 (9/10) ◽  
pp. 609-633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deepa Gokulsing ◽  
Verena Tandrayen-Ragoobur
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Market Access ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Small Island ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Development Indicators ◽  
Education Performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role of women in the small island economy by focussing on the education sector and labour market access. First, we analyse the educational path of women in Mauritius and second we examine the labour market opportunities available to them. We link the two sectors by adopting a gender perspective. Third, we investigate whether the same opportunities are made available to both men and women and whether or not there exist a gender gap in economic participation in the country. Design/methodology/approach – The author used data from the World Bank Development Indicators (2012) for a comparative analysis of the gender situation in Mauritius relative to other African countries. Gender statistics were also made available from the statistical office: statistics, Mauritius. The Global Gender Gap Report (2012) and the SADC Gender Protocol Barometer 2012 were used as secondary data. Findings – The analysis reveals that though girls’ outperform boys at all education levels, starting from primary, secondary and tertiary level, their access to job opportunities are reduced. Female unemployment rate is higher than that of male unemployment and even for those women who manage to enter the labour market, they remain in the low-occupation jobs. This puzzling relationship between good educational performance and female unemployment or low-occupation may first be explained by the wrong choice of subjects at secondary and tertiary levels. Mauritian women are more likely to obtain a degree in education and humanities which are the traditional areas rather than moving to the non-traditional spheres of science and engineering. Hence, not only is it difficult for them to penetrate the labour market which is already saturated in these traditional disciplines but jobs in these fields may not be in the high wage range. Consequently, these subject choices have repercussions for the occupations they choose and the wages they earn. Significant and persistent gaps remain in the fields of study that women and men choose as part of their formal education. These gaps translate henceforth into gender differences in employment and ultimately into differences in productivity and earnings. Originality/value – No study has focused on the puzzling link between good education performance of girls and their inability to access the labour market in Mauritius.

Graduates’ job satisfaction across domains of study

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 470-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomasz Gajderowicz ◽  
Gabriela Grotkowska ◽  
Leszek Wincenciak
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Capital Theory ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Work Related

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the problem of job satisfaction determinants of higher education graduates across six selected study domains. Design/methodology/approach – Based on the theoretical considerations, derived from human capital theory and signalling theory, the authors formulate the model explaining job satisfaction as a broad measure of labour market success. Explanatory variables include various socio-demographic characteristics as well as market environment and process of learning, modes of teaching and study programme characteristics. Data used in the analysis comes from two special surveys of European research projects REFLEX and HEGESCO. Principal component analysis method and OLS regression were used to estimate model parameters. Findings – The results of our research show the important role of characteristics of educational process, as well as individual graduates’ early work-related experience in predicting job satisfaction. Differences in job satisfaction determinants across domains may be to some extent explained by the differences in the labour market characteristics for graduates in given discipline. Variety of education-related characteristics taken into account in the empirical analysis of determinants of job satisfaction is a key valuable contribution to the research in the field. Originality/value – Research findings indicate the areas of potential actions aimed at improving future job satisfaction which can be undertaken by higher education institutions’ management bodies.

scholarly journals Gender Inequalities in Early Career Trajectories and Parental Leaves: Evidence from a Nordic Welfare State

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 253
Author(s):  
Kuitto ◽  
Salonen ◽  
Helmdag
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Trajectory Analysis ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Career Trajectories ◽  
Low Education ◽  
Education Levels ◽  
Equal Sharing

Parental leaves are, besides unemployment, the main reason for career breaks in early career. Despite the progress in recent decades towards more equal sharing of childcare between mothers and fathers, the labour market risk due to parenting remains mainly with women. In this article, we analyse how parental leaves relate to early career trajectories of young Finnish men and women. Using longitudinal register data for 2005–2016 from the Finnish Centre for Pensions, we perform a multi-trajectory analysis of the labour market attachment of a cohort born in 1980. Based on working days and earnings, we find five distinct career trajectories for both men and women, with the majority being well attached to the labour market by their mid-30s. While men and women on average have similar employment lengths, the gender gap in earnings is already 30 per cent in this early career phase. One of the causes may be found in the highly unequal division of family-related career breaks; the duration of mothers’ family-related leaves in this cohort was 13 times longer than fathers’ leave spells. Long home care leaves were particularly common among mothers with low education levels and weak attachment to the labour market. Efforts towards a more equal division of parental leaves are needed in order to combat gender inequalities that already emerge in early career and potentially cause life-long disadvantages for women’s careers, earnings and pensions.

The real losers during times of economic crisis: evidence of the Korean gender pay gap

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Patterson ◽  
Vic Benuyenah
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
General Trend ◽  
Pay Gap ◽  
Average Growth ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of the employment figures in the labour market after the two Korean financial crises (1997 and 2008), focusing on the gender gap across different characteristics. Based on several data points, a general trend becomes evident whereby, as companies retrenched, they shifted the demographics of their employees to those perceived as most valuable, i.e. workers with university educations. However, when distinguished by gender, it is evident that their priorities changed. This discovery suggests that as the world faces another global health crisis (COVID-19) with its associated impact on organisational retrenchment, the gender gap in Korea could widen further.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis was conducted by applying a simple compounded average growth rate (CAGR) analysis to determine the impact of the two crises on employment by the educational level.FindingsA general trend becomes evident whereby, as companies retrenched, they shifted the demographics of their employees to those perceived as most valuable, i.e. workers with university educations. However, when distinguished by gender, it is evident that their priorities changed.Research limitations/implicationsSecondary data were used for the analysis as data for unemployed, who had given up looking for work, were not available.Practical implicationsManagers can use the findings when making decisions about laying-off staff during times of financial/economic crisis.Social implicationsThere is a perceived negative impact upon highly educated Korean women.Originality/valueThe paper advances the pay gap literature by providing evidence from Korea. CAGR analysis has never been used previously in analysing the pattern of labour market data to reveal gender discrimination. With a global health crisis (COVID-19) with its associated impact on organisational retrenchment, the gender gap in Korea could widen further.

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