The Evolution of the Role of Women in Labor Markets in Developed Economies

Author(s):  
Elisabeth T. Pereira ◽  
Stefano Salaris

The role of women in labor markets has been characterized by great changes in the last century, with gender inequalities decreasing in most developed countries. The stereotypes related to women in labor markets have been hard to break within social norms and cultures. Many efforts have been made in recent decades by governments and national and international institutions to decrease and promote women's empowerment and gender equality in labor markets. This chapter has as its main purposes to provide an overview of the evolution of the role of women in labor markets in developed countries and to investigate this evolution based on a set of variables: gender participation rates, education, employment, the gender gap in management, wages and the gender wage gap, and public policies and laws. However, despite the positive evolution of the participation rate of women in labor markets that has been observed in recent decades, gender inequalities still persist.

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Davide de Gennaro ◽  
Francesca Loia ◽  
Gabriella Piscopo

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.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liana Christin Landivar

In all developed countries, women, especially mothers, work fewer paid hours than their spouses. However, the magnitude of the gender gap varies significantly by country, ranging from 2 to 20 hours per week in this study. Using data from the 2002 International Social Survey Programme, this article investigates whether work-hour regulations have a significant effect on household allocation of paid labour and gender work-hour inequality. Two main types of work-hour regulations are examined: standard weekly work hours and the maximum allowable weekly work hours. Results show that households in countries with shorter maximum weekly work hours had less work-hour inequality between spouses, as each additional allowable overtime hour over the standard workweek increased the work-hour gap between couples by 20 minutes. These results indicate that couples’ inequality in work hours and gender inequality in labour supply are associated with country-level work-hour regulations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 129-140
Author(s):  
Pragya Paneru

 The Gender gap is one of the most prominent problems in the context of Nepal. Even if Nepal constitution promotes gender equality and equity, there is still a huge gap between male and female. Women lag in literary percentage, nutritional health conditions, ownership, and employment opportunities. One of the obstacles in the path of gender equality is our systemic education materials especially our textbooks which reinforce the stereotypical concept of male and female through textbook representations. Researchers have shown that gender stereotypes have been seen in the textbooks of highly developed countries like America, Australia, and Hongkong. In this context, all the compulsory textbooks of grade four and five prescribed by the Curriculum Development Centre in the context of Nepal were observed. In all the books, stereotypical representations of male and female characters were found. Most of the men and women were presented doing conventional gender roles, and male-centered themes are found in the narratives. This research claims that when conventional attitude regarding gender is transferred to young children, it ultimately reproduces similar gendered personalities and helps to maintain the gender gap. This research uses the concept of ‘technology of power’ by Foucault to interpret gender representations in textbooks. A Ccritical Discourse Analysis has been used to analyze the data from textbooks. The findings suggest that there are biased gender representations suggesting stereotypes and gender binary which could potentially affect the learners both male and female as it fosters false knowledge regarding gender and overburdens the male whereas humiliates the females.


Author(s):  
Joanne Boucher

Abstract This article examines the role of women in Hobbes's economic thought. First, I frame Hobbes's economic thought in relation to his philosophical materialism so as to underscore the extent to which Hobbes's materialism entails the insight that human beings are, by definition, productive, economic creatures. I argue that his description of the economy, even without explicit acknowledgment, necessarily positions women as crucial economic actors. I then consider the implications of this in relation to the feminist possibilities of Hobbes's gender politics. I conclude that when deliberating on this question, we face the same conundrum that is evident in all literature considering Hobbes and gender. His radical comments about women in the state of nature are undermined by his seeming indifference to the state of women in commonwealths once they are founded.


2021 ◽  
Vol 02 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nor Shela Saleh ◽  
◽  
Mohd Shafie Rosli ◽  
Riki Rahman ◽  
Thuaibah@Suaibah Abu Bakar ◽  
...  

Economic change is moving the role of women to be holistic and flexible in employment sector engagement. Women are increasingly actively venturing into various fields either as subordinate employees or professional management. The problem arises once there are a handful of working women who fail to balance work and family commitments. In addition, it becomes the trigger of various side effects such as mental health, emotional tension and physiological health problems. Thus, the researcher conducted a systematic review of the literature to look at some of the views of previous researchers related to the issue of family work balance involving women, including in the context of Islamic perspective. Researchers use critical analysis that is to observe the findings of previous researchers. The World Economic Forum shows that Malaysia is ranked 104th in the Global Gender Gap index 2020. The study also found that there are many factors that cause work and family imbalance among working women. Therefore, working women also requisite to ensure that their responsibilities to the family continue to be fulfilled based on the concept of religion. Work and family balance can have a positive impact on women’s well-being and maintain sustainability of work performance as well as commitment to family.


Author(s):  
Fatima-Zohra Filali Adib ◽  
Amale Achehboune

The feminization of labor markets through the role of education is among the means that enhance the participation of women to development and ensure further involvement of human resources in the growth and development processes. While this is a process that is highly pursued in most developed economies, it is not clearly seen to be pervasive in most developing countries. The Arab economies are among those countries where lower participation of women is observed but where education can be an important leverage for further feminization of labor markets. These issues are discussed in the present chapter to underline the role of education in Arab economies.


Author(s):  
Farah Kabir

Climate change is a reality, and poses a serious long term threat to society and to the environment. Much has been written on the negative effects of climate change across the globe focusing on the greater vulnerability of least developed countries and developing countries. Numerous studies back up the argument that “countries that are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change tend to be poorer with a wider gender gap. In contrast, countries that rank high in environmental performance and gender equality, are among the richest nations of the world” (Samy, 2011, p. 100). Women are often denied of their basic rights due to discriminatory social practices and gender blind policies. Impacts of climate change affect life and livelihood of women, and diverse work responsibilities of women augment their exposure to climate hazards. Due to less access or rights to financial and productive resources, information and services that may help them cope with impacts of stresses and shocks, are not present as a result of the gaps in policies, development agendas, thus leaving women in a greater vulnerable condition. Primarily, these are the reasons slowing the progress on achieving overall gender equality. The objective of this paper is to look at the Post 2015 Arrangements. These are numerous international frameworks and agreements ie SFDRR, SDG and the Paris Agreement, that will determine sustainable development for humanitarian response and climate politics as well as policies for the next fifteen years. They focus on development from a climate change and gender equality point of view, in particular how the policies are enabling ‘gender equality', taking common but differentiated responsibilities, and equity, justice and fairness as principles.


2018 ◽  
pp. 855-870
Author(s):  
Farah Kabir

Climate change is a reality, and poses a serious long term threat to society and to the environment. Much has been written on the negative effects of climate change across the globe focusing on the greater vulnerability of least developed countries and developing countries. Numerous studies back up the argument that “countries that are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change tend to be poorer with a wider gender gap. In contrast, countries that rank high in environmental performance and gender equality, are among the richest nations of the world” (Samy, 2011, p. 100). Women are often denied of their basic rights due to discriminatory social practices and gender blind policies. Impacts of climate change affect life and livelihood of women, and diverse work responsibilities of women augment their exposure to climate hazards. Due to less access or rights to financial and productive resources, information and services that may help them cope with impacts of stresses and shocks, are not present as a result of the gaps in policies, development agendas, thus leaving women in a greater vulnerable condition. Primarily, these are the reasons slowing the progress on achieving overall gender equality. The objective of this paper is to look at the Post 2015 Arrangements. These are numerous international frameworks and agreements i.e. SFDRR, SDG and the Paris Agreement, that will determine sustainable development for humanitarian response and climate politics as well as policies for the next fifteen years. They focus on development from a climate change and gender equality point of view, in particular how the policies are enabling ‘gender equality', taking common but differentiated responsibilities, and equity, justice and fairness as principles.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-99
Author(s):  
Maryam Sholevar ◽  
Laurence Harris

Most of the existing definitions and measurements of financial literacy have been tailored for developed countries. Although financial literacy and financial behaviour are usually assessed at the household level, the gender dimension of household agents is less explored which may overshadow the women’s low level of financial literacy. This paper is a selective systematic review aiming to survey the existing literature on financial training where the focus is on two main issues, namely, financial training and gender disparity in financial literacy. Based on a thorough literature review, we identify research gaps in each of these dimensions. The identified gaps are then used to formulate two promising research ideas. Specifically, the promising research ideas seek to investigate the gender disparity and propose a novel method for financial training.


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