World Policy Analysis on Gender Inequality in the Workplace

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 42-56
Author(s):  
Sora Yoo ◽  
Yiting Liu

Gender inequality is a significant issue in the workplace. The purpose of this study is to analyze how the national policies affect practice regarding gender equality in the workplace in Eastern Asia. The primary policy-level datasets used in this study are from the World Policy Analysis Center. We examined five variables regarding pay, promotion/demotion, and parental leave by gender. In comparing policies and practices, we found that women are still unequally treated in pay, promotion, and unpaid childcare responsibilities, even with policies intended to positively affect practices in China, South Korea, and Japan. Practices are far behind in achieving gender equality in the workplace.  

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 671-677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thekla Morgenroth ◽  
Michelle K. Ryan

Despite many positive changes in terms of gender equality in recent decades, women remain underrepresented in positions of power and prestige, and continue to shoulder disproportionate amounts of unpaid domestic labor. This special issue brings together an examination of the different ways in which gender inequality can be addressed, the efficacy of such approaches, and the consequences these approaches can have. In this introduction to the special issue, we discuss the focus of past and present gender research and outline issues which have received less attention. We further give an overview of the papers in this special issue, which focus on a diverse range of ways in which gender inequality can be addressed, such as collective action, workplace diversity initiatives and parental leave policies, gender-fair language, and government policies. Taken together, these papers illustrate (a) the importance of ensuring that initiatives are evidence-based, (b) the ways in which we can maximize the effectiveness of interventions, and (c) the need to understand when these initiatives may inadvertently backfire.


2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 810-830
Author(s):  
Jamie L. Gloor ◽  
Xinxin Li ◽  
Rebecca M. Puhl

Parenthood increases gender inequality in paid (employment) and unpaid labor (e.g., caretaking). New parental leave plans aim to increase gender equality by reducing managerial discretion and offering gender-neutral benefits. However, coworkers may undermine these inclusive aims, particularly if they show variable support per employee characteristics. Thus, we examine why and how employee gender and obesity interactively predict coworkers’ support for parental leave and test an intervention to increase equality. Three between-subjects experiments with working American adults ( Ns = 133–252) indicate that obesity decreases coworkers’ parental leave support for men, but increases coworkers’ parental leave support for women; these effects are replicated and mediated by coworkers’ caregiving ability expectations of the employees, inequalities that are reduced when parental leave is made the default. Discussion focuses on our results’ implications for theory, practice, and for men and women’s paid and unpaid labor, including recommendations for parental leave policy design and delivery to increase equality.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 123-134
Author(s):  
Savitri Shrestha

Gender refers to the complex social construction of men’s and women’s identities. Sex and gender are different. The biological or physical construction is sex, which is created by nature. Gender is  purely a social construct. Gender Equality is a concept that is yet to be materialized. Around the world different individuals and groups of people are marginalized and discriminated on the basis of various factors, but discrimination against women is universal. Due to this, women are not able to use their full potential or assert their rights to live healthy life, and it has a deep impact in economic development. Gender equality is not only matter of human right but also basic of economic development. Gender inequality is a severe obstacle to socio-economic development, human capital development and income generation. Gender inequality is harmful to long term development and growth. Unequal gender will never alone be sufficient for poverty reduction and economic development. Gender discrimination not only affects females but males as well. The discriminatory practices do not only affect individuals but national economy and world economy as a whole. Due to stereotypical division of work most men are over loaded with economic duties, while women are being limited to household works only. Fifty per cent of the world population is over-loaded with economic duties, while fifty per cent of the brain is underutilized. The economic value of the household work which is done by females is not calculated and reflected in a country’s economy. This devalues the effort and work done by females and also is loss for the national economy. Education and development goes together, for a better balance of gender, educational equality is must. Education is key factor to promote human capital, which ensures economic growth. Formal education, trainings, study programs improves the capacity of individuals to live a decent life, which is the basic of development. Gender will never alone be sufficient for development. Gender equality is not only matter of human right but also basis of economic development.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 25-37
Author(s):  
Natalia Kostiuk ◽  
Olena Antoniuk

The article deals with gender inequality in the economic, political and social spheres of Ukraine and the key reasons for gender imbalance in the observation and realization of gender rights. The topicality of the article is predetermined by the necessity of the systemic solution to the problem of gender equality in Ukraine that is declared in the country’s constitution as the pivotal principle of safeguarding legal rights and freedoms of people in a democratic state.The authors have made an analysis of the Ukrainian norms and laws in force as well as some ratified international treaties in the sphere of gender equality insurance. The current state of realization of the main directions of social policy of Ukraine in the sphere of gender equality has been determined on the basis of the World Economic Forum and in particular the analysis of the index of gender discrepancy in certain spheres of human activity as well as the gender monitoring of the representation of candidates in the special election of people’s deputies of Ukraine in 2014 and 2019. The impact of gender discrimination against women on the social economic development of the world countries and their national wealth level has been considered.The study has allowed revealing a positive tendency in the realization of women’s right to participate and be represented in the economic and political spheres of Ukrainian activity and offering further necessary state measures in the social policy pertaining to the eradication of gender asymmetry in the Ukrainian society. The need of redirecting the government gender policy to more effective measures for overcoming gender inequality, gender segregation and multiple forms of discrimination against women under the conditions of the severe economic, political and social upheavals in Ukraine has been pointed to. The authors have come to the conclusion that the development of the political and juridical concept of eradication of gender discrimination against women in Ukraine is the pledge of sustainable development of the Ukrainian society which in its turn is a necessary condition for forming a competitive human capital of the country that has chosen the Eurointergation foreign policy course.


Author(s):  
Kamola Alieva ◽  

This article analyzes the issues of ensuring gender equality during the Covid19 pandemic in Uzbekistan and foreign countries. The author examines the reasons for the increasing digital gender inequality, the problem of women's access to work, women's domestic labor issues, and the global increase in domestic violence during the quarantine period. The author developed proposals for solving the above problems in order to solve the problem of increasing gender inequality during the period of a pandemic in the world and in Uzbekistan.


2021 ◽  
pp. 095792652199214
Author(s):  
Nicole Brun-Mercer

The United Nations (UN) has demonstrated a commitment to women’s empowerment over seven decades of work. Yet gender inequality pervades in countries around the world and even within the UN. This corpus analysis investigated collocates of woman(’s), women(’s), man(’s) and men(’s) in 193 UN General Assembly General Debate addresses in fall 2015 to examine gender representation by international decision-makers. The analysis revealed that the plural women occurred more frequently than men and primarily in discussions on gender equality and violence. In contrast, the singular man was identified more frequently than woman, in generic use (e.g. mankind) and in references to eminent male leaders. Despite UN dedication to gender equality and linguistic guidelines promoting gender-inclusive language, these General Debate addresses do not conceptualise women and men equally, more frequently referring to women as a group in need of protection and support and to men as political figures and other distinguished individuals.


Author(s):  
Galina Semeko ◽  

The article analyzes the socio-economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic for gender inequality in the world. The changes in the conditions of women position in the labour market and households caused by the pandemic, quarantine and social exclusion, as well as the main ways to address the increased gender problems in various countries of the world are considered. It is emphasized that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on the situation of women, jeopardizing the progress made in the field of gender equality in the world over the previous two decades.


Author(s):  
I-Ching Lee ◽  
Felicia Pratto

Progress towards gender equality is a slow and nonlinear process. Since 19th century, people in nations around the world have exerted collective efforts to promote gender equality. However, despite improvements in gender equality today in some arenas (e.g., education), large gender gaps exist in other arenas. In the chapter, we examine and analyze research findings and various international indicators using surveys and experimental methods, from the perspective of power basis theory (Pratto, Lee, Tan, & Pitpitan, 2011). This perspective allows us to account for the various degrees of gender inequality in different arenas. In power basis theory, power is the ability to meet one's needs for survival (e.g., consuming resources, belonging to a community). Because each human being has several needs, there are different kinds of power. We argue that whereas women and men are likely to achieve equality in some kinds of power (e.g., knowledge), it is more difficult for women to achieve equality in other kinds of power (e.g., community leaders, force) and for this we offer two explanations: 1) Attaining or exercising particular kinds of power (e.g., violence) violates gender norms; thus it is difficult for women to do so; and 2) The ease with which a person can translate power in one arena to another arena—a phenomenon called power fungibility—is higher for men than for women. We delineate various processes, both from the actor’s and perceiver’s perspectives that result in sustaining power inequality between women and men. Insights from power basis theory may provide potent ways to challenge gender inequality.


Author(s):  
Josefina Erikson ◽  
Lenita Freidenvall

This article addresses the establishment of gender-equality norms in a case often presented as one of the most gender-equal legislatures in the world, namely, the Swedish Parliament (Riksdagen). Based on a series of in-depth interviews between 2005 and 2016 with 90 legislators in the Swedish Parliament, we ask whether there is agreement over gender-equality problems in Parliament that cut across gender and party affiliation, and whether there is convergence over time in this regard. Our findings show that there is a trend of convergence of the gender-inequality framings over time, which indicates the establishment of a shared legislative gender-equality norm. We suggest that a legislative gender-equality norm might work as a catalyst for progressive and continuous work in this area.<br /><br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>The article suggests that gender-equality norms should be studied as part of parliaments’ gender sensitivity.</li><br /><li>The article finds support for the emergence of a gender-equality norm in the Swedish Parliament.</li><br /><li>We pinpoint interviews as a method to study norms.</li></ul>


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-172
Author(s):  
Oliver Nahkur ◽  
Rein Taagepera

Abstract Interpersonal violence decreased and gender equality increased from 1991 to 2012 in nearly all of the 26 countries studied. After confirming the direction of change, as asserted by Pinker, we further specify how fast this change is. The lower violence becomes in a country, the harder it is to reduce it even more, and similarly for gender inequality. Apply the model of exponential approach to a limit. The world average Societal Index of Interpersonal Destructiveness (SIID, S) decreases over time as S=13.3 (e-0.0132(t-2001.5)-1), and Welzel’s gender equality (G) increases as G=1-0.378 e-0.0144(t-2001.5). The two are tightly related as G=1-0.120(S+12.6)0.466 (R2=.79 for logarithms). Sweden leads the world by many decades while Russia and Philippines lag the most.


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