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How to Close the Gender Pay Gap in Europe: Towards the Gender Mainstreaming of Pay Policy
Abstract
The European Employment Strategy includes a new commitment to a substantial
reduction in the gender pay gap in European Union (EU) member states, but progress
requires a radical shift away from the traditional policy emphasis on the supply-side
deficiencies of women compared with men. Mainstream theory argues that gender
inequality is reduced once the pay gap is ‘adjusted’ for differences in individual
characteristics (education, experience, etc.). But new empirical studies in many EU
member states demonstrate that the work environment—the general wage structure,
job and workplace characteristics—shapes gender pay inequality. Given the negative
gender impact of trend declines in minimum wages, moves towards more decentralisation
of wage-setting and public sector restructuring, the article argues for a holistic,
gender mainstreaming approach to pay policy.
... Thus, salary gaps can be thought of as gaps in societal value which puts weight on gender pay gaps. Gender pay inequalities have long been one of the most extensively researched topics in social science (Rubery, Grimshaw & Figueiredo, 2005). The term gender pay gap, also referred to as the "gender wage gap," "gender gap in earnings," or "male-female income disparity" (Khoreva, 2011), is widely topical issue with deep historical roots that's impacting individuals, economies and societies globally. ...
... In simple terms, "EU women generally earn less than men" (Coventry, 2020), and there's not a quick fix to this in the near future. The existence of the gender pay gap almost all over the world has generated the need to better understand various factors contributing to it (Rubery et al., 2005) The following table shows different factors that contribute to the gender pay gap (table 1). As seen from the table 1, gender pay gap is not a straightforward issue with simple answers, which explains why it's still just a large problem in today's world. ...
... Though glass ceilings -social barriers for female promotions in top management -exist in both private and public sectors, public sector rarely has sticky floors, meaning difficulties in advancing during the early years of career. (Arulampalam, Booth & Bryan 2007;Lausi et al. 2021) As previously mentioned, female-dominated industries are often underpaid even though the education and skill level would be equal between men and women (Rubery et al. 2005). In 21 addition, promotions and salary negotiations tend to depend on individual negotiation skills and bargaining power as well as work experience and relations inside the company (Arulampalam et al. 2007;Schneider et al. 2021). ...
... As I argue in this chapter, the traditional quantitative paradigms of gender pay gap research is limited in identifying ontological experiences of discrimination occurring across the careers which impact pay. Although this may be due to the difficulty of constructing a singular holistic typology of discrimination (Alkadry & Tower, 2006;Lips, 2013a), traditional analysis assumes the gender pay gap is based upon market factors and productivity rarely recognising discrimination (Rubery et al., 2005). ...
... The exploration of persistent unexplained elements may be restricted through the predominant economic modelling utilised throughout existing literature. Traditional analysis that assumes the gender pay gap is based on market factors and productivity rarely recognise gender discrimination (Rubery et al., 2005). Although this may be due to the difficulty of measuring discrimination experienced in day-to-day work in quantitative measures, the role of discrimination needs to me legitimately integrated into gender pay gap literature (Lips, 2013b). ...
... As explored in Chapter 2, the research traditions of gender pay gap scholarship is rooted within econometric data collection and analysis. The gender pay gap is assumed to be the result of market factors and productivity differences (Rubery et al., 2005), identifying the economic differences between women and men. However, this paradigm may be limited in providing a holistic account of discrimination across the career course where singular conceptualisations of inequalities prove difficult (Alkadry & Tower, 2006;Geertz, 1973;Lips, 2013a). ...
The gender pay gap is a complex inequality, made of a range of explained and unexplained inequalities in work and gender relations. Despite the introduction of mandatory reporting requirements in 2017, reductions of the gender pay gap have stagnated. This is especially true within the financial and legal services, a sector entrenched with assumptions of white, middle-class masculinity. In this thesis, I therefore utilise a theoretical framework of hegemonic masculinity to problematise the power held by men in the financial and legal sectors to integrate a meaningful understanding of discrimination in the gender pay gap. Through forty-two life-history interviews, supplemented with document analysis of gender pay gap reports from leading finance and law firms, contributions are made to the gender pay gap debate in two ways: the identification of gendered wage penalties and premiums across the career span, and a visible resistance to gender pay gap initiatives to maintain structures of inequality. The culture and structure of the financial and legal professions are argued as a central practise of hegemonic masculinity in the gender pay gap. Careers are narrowly defined upon extreme working patterns, entrepreneurial skills, the accumulation of masculinised human capital, and assumptions of continuous, full-time employment. Any deviations incur direct penalties on wages and bonuses received, and indirect penalties upon restricted career trajectories. A theoretical innovation of “glass bubbles” is therefore proposed: highly skilled occupations that exist in isolation from up-or-out career paths, offering no promotion opportunities and as such incur significant pay penalties over the life-course. I further argue that the need to conform to a hegemonic masculinity obscures structures of inequalities. Current strategies to reduce the gender pay gap are ineffective in challenging underlying drivers when failed to be seen as a legitimate inequality. False narratives of equality initiatives thus obscure stagnated progress on the gender pay gap. I therefore problematise the ability of senior leaders to enact meaningful change and are centred as a significant site of resistance. When taken together, this thesis contributes to existing research on the gender pay gap and careers in the profession services by demonstrating the practises and processes which incur gendered wage penalties and premiums.
... The increase in the number of women entering the profession has been accompanied by an increase in the number of doctors working and training (see below) LTFT, with an estimated 28% now doing so. The female-dominated GP group has higher levels of LTFT working than other specialties and more female GPs doctors work less than full-time (41% in 2013- 14) than male doctors (12% in . These patterns need to be considered in the context of doctors' working hours more generally, which are typically long and, for many, incompatible on a full-time basis with responsibilities such as childcare. ...
... Doctors in flexible training, published by NHS Employers in 2005, opened up flexible training to all doctors, with a view to achieving a balance between LTFT arrangements, educational requirements and service needs. 14 In 2011, the GMC, by then the competent authority, undertook a review of the minimum percentage for LTFT training, and concluded this should be 50% and that only in exceptional circumstances should training be undertaken at less than 50% of full-time. The principles adopted then are still current 14 . ...
... 14 In 2011, the GMC, by then the competent authority, undertook a review of the minimum percentage for LTFT training, and concluded this should be 50% and that only in exceptional circumstances should training be undertaken at less than 50% of full-time. The principles adopted then are still current 14 . ...
... A growing body of literature highlights the importance of the gender pay gap (GPG) by investigating its underlying factors and mechanisms (Blau and Kahn 2006;Rubery et al. 2005). Investigating the gender pay gap is an ongoing concern in the context of economic discrimination against women; although economic disparity between genders is now illegal, the gender pay gap globally persists (Eurostat 2019;Salverda et al. 2009). ...
... Several descriptive studies have used a traditional approach (i.e., economic) by addressing factors such as education, skills, social, and individual discrimination (Anderson et al. 2001;Blau and Khan 2003;Rubery et al. 2005). In contrast, substantially less attention has been given to the psychological factors of the GPG (e.g., decision-making and gender orientation, meant as the presence of stereotypes, both hostile and benevolent; Glick and Fiske 2001). ...
... There is a considerable disparity in the way countries have become aware of discrimination issues and, therefore, in the way they have addressed the fight against the gender pay gap, and the basic principles have been embraced very unevenly. The findings of this study contribute to the growing body of literature documenting the gender pay gap (Bishu and Alkadry 2017;Jamali et al. 2008;Rubery et al. 2005). ...
Over the past several decades, public administrations have attempted to identify how gender differences affect employment opportunities and social inequalities, which has led to a growing body of literature. However, sufficient and valid conclusions are not yet available to identify the reasons for the gender pay gap (GPG). Building on key theoretical models to explain the wage gap, our research, based on a short survey, aimed to identify which factors could be related to the perception of GPG among employees of small- and medium-sized enterprises in five European countries. Moreover, we investigated the possible relationships between personal characteristics such as gender, age, job satisfaction, gender orientation (which is categorized as ''Negative Gender Orientation'', i.e., sexist beliefs, and ''Positive Gender Orientation'', i.e., perceived gender equality in society), and the GPG and tried to estimate a possible functional relationship between the perceived GPG and the decision-making style. The results revealed differences between personal characteristics and perceptions of the GPG; the findings were discussed in accordance with the present literature on the topic.
... Occupational segregation and sorting of men and women into specific types of job are key contributing factors to inequality in pay with women more concentrated in low-grade and low-paying jobs, the public sector and part-time employment (48)(49)(50). In addition to discrimination against female health workers, other factors that contribute to this gender pay gap include women's dual roles in the workplace and family. ...
... For instance, a larger proportion of female health workers are likely to take parental leave than their male counterparts. Furthermore, the lack of facilities for child care in health care settings forces more women out of work than men (48,49). Previous reports on gender and human resources for health have shown that gender discrimination and inequality are key barriers to entry, reentry and retention in employment systems, especially for female health workers (5,26,51). ...
Background: Despite the importance of gender and intersectionality in policy-making for human resources for health, these issues have not been given adequate consideration in health workforce recruitment and retention in Africa. Aims: The objective of this review was to show how gender intersects with other sociocultural determinants of health to create different experiences of marginalization and/or privilege in the recruitment and retention of human resources for health in Africa. Methods: This was rapid review of studies that investigated the intersectionality of gender in relation to recruitment and retention of health workers in Africa. A PubMed search was undertaken in April 2020 to identify eligible studies. Search terms used included: gender, employment, health workers, health workforce, recruitment and retention. Criteria for inclusion of studies were: primary research; related to the role of gender and intersectionality in recruitment and retention of the health workforce; conducted in Africa; quantitative or qualitative study design; and published in English. Results: Of 193 publications found, nine fulfilled the study inclusion criteria and were selected. Feminization of the nursing and midwifery profession results in difficulties in recruiting and deploying female health workers. Male domination of management positions was reported. Gender power relationship in the recruitment and retention of the health workforce is shaped by marriage and cultural norms. Occupational segregation, sexual harassment and discrimination against female health workers were reported. Conclusion: This review highlights the importance of considering gender analysis in the development of policies and programmes for human resources for health in Africa.
... Occupational segregation and sorting of men and women into specific types of job are key contributing factors to inequality in pay with women more concentrated in low-grade and low-paying jobs, the public sector and part-time employment (48)(49)(50). In addition to discrimination against female health workers, other factors that contribute to this gender pay gap include women's dual roles in the workplace and family. ...
... For instance, a larger proportion of female health workers are likely to take parental leave than their male counterparts. Furthermore, the lack of facilities for child care in health care settings forces more women out of work than men (48,49). Previous reports on gender and human resources for health have shown that gender discrimination and inequality are key barriers to entry, reentry and retention in employment systems, especially for female health workers (5,26,51). ...
Background:
Despite the importance of gender and intersectionality in policy-making for human resources for health, these issues have not been given adequate consideration in health workforce recruitment and retention in Africa.
Aims:
The objective of this review was to show how gender intersects with other sociocultural determinants of health to create different experiences of marginalization and/or privilege in the recruitment and retention of human resources for health in Africa.
Methods:
This was rapid review of studies that investigated the intersectionality of gender in relation to recruitment and retention of health workers in Africa. A PubMed search was undertaken in April 2020 to identify eligible studies. Search terms used included: gender, employment, health workers, health workforce, recruitment and retention. Criteria for inclusion of studies were: primary research; related to the role of gender and intersectionality in recruitment and retention of the health workforce; conducted in Africa; quantitative or qualitative study design; and published in English.
Results:
Of 193 publications found, nine fulfilled the study inclusion criteria and were selected. Feminization of the nursing and midwifery profession results in difficulties in recruiting and deploying female health workers. Male domination of management positions was reported. Gender power relationship in the recruitment and retention of the health workforce is shaped by marriage and cultural norms. Occupational segregation, sexual harassment and discrimination against female health workers were reported.
Conclusion:
This review highlights the importance of considering gender analysis in the development of policies and programmes for human resources for health in Africa.
... Nonetheless, gender equality outcomes in EU member states cannot be explained without consideration of their embeddedness in supranational European institutions. The key role of the EU on a variety of gender equality outcomes has been consistently documented in the literature on European gender equality policy (Gonäs, 2004;Smith and Villa, 2010;Stratigaki, 2004;Walby, 2003), female labour market participation (Rubery et al., 1999), wage equality (Rubery et al., 2005;Smith, 2012), work-family reconciliation (Hantrais, 2000;Stratigaki, 2004), and gender mainstreaming (Jacquot, 2015;Smith and Villa, 2010). The impact of the EU on domestic gender equality outcomes is further not limited to EU gender equality policies. ...
... At the same time, scholars observe that EU gender equality policies are to a large extent instrumental to the 'market-making' objectives of European economic integration (e.g. raising employment rates, flexible labour markets) and fail to address the power structures/relations underlying gender inequalities (Elomäki, 2015;Jacquot, 2015;Rubery, 2015;Rubery et al., 2005;Van der Vleuten, 2007). In recent years, scholars have argued that European gender equality policy has been reduced to symbolic window-dressing (Elomäki, 2015;Jacquot, 2015;Smith, 2012). ...
Based on an analysis of gender equality provisions in national collective agreements, this article investigates the influence of European Union (EU) gender and macroeconomic policy on gender equality outcomes in Belgium since the signature of the Treaty of Rome in 1957. We show that, over time, EU gender equality policies have led to the adoption of provisions promoting formal gender equality and the integration of women in the labour market. At the same time, EU macroeconomic policies have stimulated labour flexibility, promoting part-time work largely filled by women, and imposed wage moderation, which has fundamentally hampered the correction of historical indirect gender discrimination in wages. Overall, EU policies have stimulated the transformation of the conservative male breadwinner model of this coordinated market economy (CME) into a gendered 'one-and-a-half earner' model, a transformation partially enforced through the increased interference of the state transposing EU policies. Our study advances the current literature by pointing to the limitations of prevalent methodologically nationalist explanations of gender equality outcomes in CMEs. More specifically, it shows that the gender equality provisions of national collective bargaining agreements in CMEs cannot be understood independent of EU gender and macroeconomic policies.
... Empirical studies in European countries show that workplace dynamics have a large influence on the gender pay gap, underscoring the need for significant progress to close the gap (Rubery et al 2005). Gender pay discrimination is embedded in institutional structures and compensation policies. ...
According to universal laws guaranteeing the enforcement of human rights, every individual has the right to equal opportunities to thrive in life and the job market, regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion, national origin, political or other ideological commitments, age, or whether they have any disabilities (United Nations 1948). Gender inequalities exist in every society, which can manifest in gender pay gaps. Behind these gaps lies negative discrimination against women, resulting in women receiving lower wages in certain sectors for the same positions, qualifications, and skills on the job market. The lower wage levels represented by women also lead to lower pension levels after retirement, hence it is not surprising that there is a higher proportion of elderly women living in poverty. Although in the European Union in recent decades there has been increasing emphasis on addressing gender inequalities, gender pay gaps persist in EU member states to this day, necessitating the implementation of new, comprehensive, integrated solutions. With our publication, we aim to contribute to alleviating gender pay gaps by presenting theories underlying gender inequalities and perspectives, as well as guidelines for addressing the issue.
... Measures reducing the gender pay gap are one of the EU's priorities. Member States committed themselves in 2003 to follow the European Employment Strategy (EES), which aimed to halve the gender pay gap by 2010 (Rubery et al., 2005). The income equalization between the genders has not been achieved to this day. ...
Introduction
The introduction of the Income Index constructed by authors as well as the identification of demographic, socio-economic and occupation-related factors influencing the income of individuals in EU countries is the main contribution of the paper. The Income Index makes it possible to analyze data of individuals from all EU countries.
Methods
The multiple hierarchical regression of EU-SILC microdata provides the factors that influence individuals’ income.
Results
Outcomes show through which factors can be intervened in social policy settings to reduce income inequality. Factors significantly affecting the Income Index are the household composition, occupation sector (typically agriculture and accommodation and services are related to low incomes) and the degree of urbanization (rural areas with the lowest incomes of individuals).
Discussion
Findings confirm ongoing discussions about the specific position of single parent households in the labour market and their need for social support.
... Demand-side theories have also been developed and are more specific to the dynamics of the reproduction of discrimination by firms. The different roles assigned to women and men determine the most suitable jobs (horizontal segregation), the positions reserved for each (vertical segregation) and the working conditions, such as the value of each contribution in terms of wages (Akerlof and Kranton 2000;Conde-Ruiz and Marra de Artíñano 2016;Fortin 2005;Rubery et al. 2005). ...
In this paper, we analyse the impact of gender equality in managerial positions on wages and the gender wage gap in 22 European countries. We draw on the employer–employee microdata from the European Structure of Earnings Survey (E-SES) for the year 2018, which allows us to include firm fixed effects in our econometric specifications, thus controlling for both observed and unobserved heterogeneity at the firm level. The analysis is carried out not only at the mean but also across the wage distribution through unconditional quantile regressions. The results on the impact of gender equality in management on wages are mixed. However, we find that gender equality has a predominantly positive effect in the upper part of the wage distribution, and a negative effect in the middle and lower parts. The results on the impact on the gender wage gap show that in many cases, a more gender-equal management reduces the gender wage gap. Furthermore, gender equality in management reduces the gender wage gap mainly in the middle and lower part of the wage distribution.
... This widespread inequality has been further exposed during the 2020 global pandemic as lockdowns have increased domestic violence toward women and girls, highlighted that 70% of health and social workers are women, and shown that women take on the majority of unpaid domestic work (UN 2020). To improve these trends during and after the global economic recovery with community and city building practices, there is a call for an increase in the presence and consideration of women in politics and leadership positions (Didi 2020), in foreign policy (Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy 2020), an improvement in women's active participation outside government (McFarlane 1995), a reduced or eliminated gender pay gap (Auspurg et al. 2017;Rubery et al. 2005), and a reduction of the gender data gap to include sex disaggregated data (Klein and D'Ignazio 2020). It is clear that inequity is rampant in all segments of society and thereby intersects to structure traditional urbanist practices. ...
... According to Planteng and Remery (2006) the persistence of GPG requires policies aimed both at increasing women's participation in the labor market and at institutional factors (wage formation systems and the overall level of wage inequality). Rubery, Grimshaw and Figueiredo (2005) state that the European Employment Strategy includes a commitment to substantially reduce GPG in EU member states. ...
The aim of the article is to verify and expand knowledge about the existence and nature of the influence of the labor market, the population and the family on the differences in the remuneration of women and men. For age across world economies, negative values outweighed positive values for the NAIRU of women (40 to 44 years) with upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education. For the ownership of economic activity, positive values prevailed over negative ones for the NAIRU indicator of women (30 to 34 years old) with upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education. For the type of employment agreements, the average positive values outweighed the negative ones for the indicator tax rate for people with low income. Our econometric analysis also found a statistically insignificant effect that foreign and domestic research does not mention.
... Companies are now prioritizing initiatives that promote gender equality, such as pay transparency (Stofberg et al., 2022), diversity and inclusion training, and family-friendly policies (Chou and Cheung, 2013) and flexible working arrangements (Angelici and Profeta, 2020;Barry et al., 2022). Many organisations are also setting targets and tracking progress towards closing the gender pay gap and increasing the representation of women in leadership positions (Rubery et al., 2005;Cohen and Kiran, 2020;Gottlieb and Jagsi, 2021;Pandit et al., 2022). ...
This research review paper explores the challenges faced by women employees in the workplace, which have been categorized into four main areas: organisational, technical, psychological, and personal challenges. The paper highlights the need for organisations to address these challenges by implementing a multifaceted approach. This approach involves creating a supportive and inclusive work environment, providing training and development opportunities to enhance skills, promoting work-life balance, and overall well-being of women employees. The paper emphasizes that addressing these challenges is essential for promoting gender diversity and inclusion in the workplace and for creating a more equitable and productive work environment.
... Por otra parte, se relaciona la desigualdad salarial con causas vinculadas al mercado laboral, el capital humano y a la decisión misma de los individuos sobre su situación laboral. No obstante, varios autores coinciden en que la parte de la brecha salarial que se puede explicar mediante las características de los trabajadores contiene actitudes discriminatorias (Rubery et al., 2005;Glover y Kirton, 2006;Moulin, 2004;Phillips y Phillips, 1993). Éste es el caso de la teoría del capital humano y la teoría de la preferencia, las cuales confieren esta diferencia a las características y decisiones particulares de los individuos, respectivamente. ...
No obstante los avances logrados en la igualdad de género, las mujeres padecen una situación de desventaja con respecto a los hombres: siguen teniendo menores salarios, sus oportunidades de empleo están circunscritas a ciertas áreas (oficinas, servicios personales, comercio, enfermería, educación) y tienen un acceso limitado a los trabajos de más alto nivel (administrativos, profesionales, ingenierías). En referencia a lo anterior, este artículo tiene el objetivo de analizar la desigualdad de salarios en el mercado laboral canadiense. La pregunta que surge es: ¿por qué las mujeres tienen un salario menor y menos oportunidades laborales, a pesar de haber
logrado aumentar su capital humano? Hipotéticamente, planteamos que la desigualdad de salarios y de oportunidades entre hombres y mujeres con alto capital humano tiene su origen en los roles de género y, de cierta manera, en la discriminación de género que se presenta en el mercado laboral.
Para analizar esta situación es importante conocer las teorías que intentan explicar dichas diferencias y la participación femenina en la economía canadiense, para luego profundizar en el caso de las profesoras en la Universidad de Carleton. De esta manera podremos corroborar si las mujeres con alto capital humano también enfrentan esas desigualdades en el mercado laboral y, en ese caso, determinar cuáles son los factores que las propician.
... The gender pay gap decreased rapidly in developed countries during the 1970 and 1980, owing to the legislature aimed at equalization of work opportunities to men and women, but the decline has slowed down since the mid 2000s onwards. Despite changes in women's educational development and participation in the labour market, the gender pay gap remains consistent and stagnant, i.e. the reduction in the differences between men and women regarding their education and work experience has not incited a significant reduction in the gender pay gap (Rubery, Grimshaw and Figueiredo, 2005). Different authors have dealt with identifying the determinants and factors that contributed to the persistence of the gender pay gap. ...
... This widespread inequality has been further exposed during the 2020 global pandemic as lockdowns have increased domestic violence toward women and girls, highlighted that 70% of health and social workers are women, and shown that women take on the majority of unpaid domestic work (UN 2020). To improve these trends during and after the global economic recovery with community and city building practices, there is a call for an increase in the presence and consideration of women in politics and leadership positions (Didi 2020), in foreign policy (Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy 2020), an improvement in women's active participation outside government (McFarlane 1995), a reduced or eliminated gender pay gap (Auspurg et al. 2017;Rubery et al. 2005), and a reduction of the gender data gap to include sex disaggregated data (Klein and D'Ignazio 2020). It is clear that inequity is rampant in all segments of society and thereby intersects to structure traditional urbanist practices. ...
... This widespread inequality has been further exposed during the 2020 global pandemic as lockdowns have increased domestic violence toward women and girls, highlighted that 70% of health and social workers are women, and shown that women take on the majority of unpaid domestic work (UN 2020). To improve these trends during and after the global economic recovery with community and city building practices, there is a call for an increase in the presence and consideration of women in politics and leadership positions (Didi 2020), in foreign policy (Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy 2020), an improvement in women's active participation outside government (McFarlane 1995), a reduced or eliminated gender pay gap (Auspurg et al. 2017;Rubery et al. 2005), and a reduction of the gender data gap to include sex disaggregated data (Klein and D'Ignazio 2020). It is clear that inequity is rampant in all segments of society and thereby intersects to structure traditional urbanist practices. ...
... • countries with more inclusive labour market institutions and more solidaristic trade union strategies have a lower incidence of precarious work (Doellgast et al. 2018); • varied success across countries in sustaining high-innovation performance via high-quality jobs relates in part to the degree of fair treatment, job security and 'discretionary learning' in employment (Holm and Lorenz, 2015); • more centralised and coordinated wage bargaining on the whole reduces wage inequality, the gender wage gap and the incidence of low-wage employment (Hayter, 2015;Rubery et al., 2005); • concern for inequalities among workers needs to be complemented by attention to what is happening to the share of aggregate income earned by labour relative to capital at national and global levels (Appelbaum and Batt, 2014); • education and training systems display a mutual dynamic with the path dependent evolution of production models and job structures, whether generating the 'redundant capacities' of Germany's diversified quality production or the polarised skills and 'hollowing out' of jobs in the USA (Dwyer and Olin Wright, 2012;Streeck,1991); • and the feminisation of many areas of non-standard forms of employment, such as zero-hours contracts, mini jobs and 'paato' jobs (low-wage part-timers in Japan), coincides with a lowering of employment standards reflecting gender-unequal assumptions about employers' use of women as a reserve army of labour (Keizer, 2008;Rubery, 2014). ...
... This may be due to the entanglement of two phenomena. First, women generally face more precarious work conditions: they are overrepresented among fixed-term and temporary contracts (Steinþórsdóttir, Smidt, Pétursdóttir, Einarsdóttir, & Le Feuvre, 2019), they more often hold part-time jobs (Young, 2010), and are overrepresented among low-paying jobs (Rubery, Grimshaw, & Figueiredo, 2005). This stratification of the labor market may lead to a higher perceived JI for women, which has been evidenced by several scholars (Mauno & Kinnunen, 2002;Stier & Yaish, 2014). ...
Previous research has produced contradictory results about the relationship between sex and perceived job insecurity (JI). The male-breadwinner ideology has been put forward to explain the fact that women often report less JI. In addition, previous research on JI has highlighted the importance of the national socioeconomic context, and gender studies have underlined the need to take gender dimensions into account when studying national socioeconomic contexts. This article contributes to those debates by measuring the effect of sex on JI and the moderating effect of breadwinner status in different groups of countries characterized by homogeneous socioeconomic and gender-related contexts. To do so, the authors use the 2015 EWCS survey, and add macro indicators for the national contexts. The results show that when controlling for breadwinner status, sex has no significant effect regardless of the national context; in addition, breadwinner status moderates the relationship between sex and perceived JI in some national contexts.
... It would be tedious to compile a list of the provision of benefits and services to Japanese workers that are completely separate from the wages directly paid. Its purpose is to describe the types and amounts of such indirect benefits and to demonstrate the involvement of the company's wage system in the lives of workers [15]. ...
In any society or group, the behavior and manner of acting that are highly rated can be estimated based on the level of appreciation given by the group to that level of behavior. This reward system will be studied to show the kinds of behavior group members are expected to get by the group and the kinds of behavior that - through the reward system - will be strengthened and perpetuated in the group. The study of the wage and incentive systems of Japanese factories revealed very well the differences between Western industry and modern Japanese industry. The study also showed both the types and magnitude of the differences that underlie attitudes and behaviors that distinguish modern industry in Japan from that in the United States. In the following discussion, the wage system in one factory will be examined in detail to illustrate the particular central trend that appears in all studied factories. Since the monetary wage system for work performed is only a part of the entire wage system, it will also examine the general pattern of non-monetary benefits, welfare efforts, incentive programs for workers, using specific plans and costs of a particular factory.
... Maria Karamessini has identified a distinct southern European welfare state (2008). Scholars have empirically explored the role the state plays in achieving or barring gender equality in formal employment (Alnıaçık et al. 2017;Bugra and Yakut-Çakar 2010;Ilkkaracan 2012b;Molyneux 2002Molyneux , 2006Perrons 1995;Rubery 2002, Rubery et al. 2005. Moving beyond the boundedness of the nation-state, Nicola Yeates has underscored the need to understand the state's role in organizing the distribution of care at the national and transnational levels (Yeates 2004). ...
This chapter presents an overview of feminist scholarship on the politics of international migration by Europe-based scholars, explaining that feminist IR scholarship makes up a small and recent part of a wider, rich tradition of feminist migration studies. It shows how feminist IR scholarship on migration focuses on familiar IR themes (security and conflict); shifts traditional IR frames from the global to the local; and foregrounds the discursive constructions of people on the move and their embodied experiences. In drawing parallels between these studies and the wider field, the chapter highlights pathways for future interdisciplinary and global collaboration.
... Maria Karamessini has identified a distinct southern European welfare state (2008). Scholars have empirically explored the role the state plays in achieving or barring gender equality in formal employment (Alnıaçık et al. 2017;Bugra and Yakut-Çakar 2010;Ilkkaracan 2012b;Molyneux 2002Molyneux , 2006Perrons 1995;Rubery 2002, Rubery et al. 2005. Moving beyond the boundedness of the nation-state, Nicola Yeates has underscored the need to understand the state's role in organizing the distribution of care at the national and transnational levels (Yeates 2004). ...
This chapter reviews the contributions feminist scholars situated in Europe have made to international political economy. It discusses three main areas of influence in the form of critique of capitalism and neoliberalism; debates on international development discourses, governance, and programming; and the conceptual connections established between macroeconomic decision-making and gendered everyday experiences. It also highlights the limits of the scholarship in the form of the hegemony of English language production, the limits brought by the unique positionality of being situated in the European continent, and the restrictions in the dialogue with the broader IPE field.
... Maria Karamessini has identified a distinct southern European welfare state (2008). Scholars have empirically explored the role the state plays in achieving or barring gender equality in formal employment (Alnıaçık et al. 2017;Bugra and Yakut-Çakar 2010;Ilkkaracan 2012b;Molyneux 2002Molyneux , 2006Perrons 1995;Rubery 2002, Rubery et al. 2005. Moving beyond the boundedness of the nation-state, Nicola Yeates has underscored the need to understand the state's role in organizing the distribution of care at the national and transnational levels (Yeates 2004). ...
This chapter discusses the dynamic feminist scholarship on war and militaries produced in contemporary Europe, highlighting work on militarism and militarization, military masculinities, the inclusion of women in armed organizations, military families, conflict-related sexual violence, and ‘everyday’ experiences. It sketches the national and institutional contexts where scholars are located and discusses the political economies that underpin significant disparities in geographical distribution and research focus, despite efforts to diversify scholarship and challenge dominant storylines and assumptions. In emphasizing how ideas and communities of scholars span continents, the chapter troubles the reification of ‘Europe’ as a privileged site of knowledge production.
... Maria Karamessini has identified a distinct southern European welfare state (2008). Scholars have empirically explored the role the state plays in achieving or barring gender equality in formal employment (Alnıaçık et al. 2017;Bugra and Yakut-Çakar 2010;Ilkkaracan 2012b;Molyneux 2002Molyneux , 2006Perrons 1995;Rubery 2002, Rubery et al. 2005. Moving beyond the boundedness of the nation-state, Nicola Yeates has underscored the need to understand the state's role in organizing the distribution of care at the national and transnational levels (Yeates 2004). ...
This chapter maps contemporary debates in feminist security studies (FSS) in Europe, showing the variety of issues studied via different theoretical and methodological lenses. While celebrating the richness of contemporary FSS debates, the chapter also highlights the asymmetry in knowledge production across the continent. FSS is clearly dominated by academics based in globally recognized ‘Centers of Excellence’ in Western and Northern Europe; yet our mapping also highlights scholarship in Central, Eastern, Southern, and South-eastern Europe. This underscores some obstacles scholars outside of the ‘West’ face when engaging with the discipline and calls for more inclusive transnational FSS debate in Europe.
... Maria Karamessini has identified a distinct southern European welfare state (2008). Scholars have empirically explored the role the state plays in achieving or barring gender equality in formal employment (Alnıaçık et al. 2017;Bugra and Yakut-Çakar 2010;Ilkkaracan 2012b;Molyneux 2002Molyneux , 2006Perrons 1995;Rubery 2002, Rubery et al. 2005. Moving beyond the boundedness of the nation-state, Nicola Yeates has underscored the need to understand the state's role in organizing the distribution of care at the national and transnational levels (Yeates 2004). ...
This chapter addresses feminist IR scholarship in Europe on gender and foreign policy. Foreign policy has received comparatively little consideration from feminist scholars and, until recently, the field has been largely gender blind. The chapter discusses feminist scholarship in four key sections, on gender and the idea of ‘normative power’ Europe; the process of EU enlargement and expansion; the securitization/militarization of foreign policy; and, finally, the emerging literature on ‘feminist’ foreign policy. The chapter concludes with a discussion of what has been overlooked in the literature so far and what directions research might pursue in the future.
... Maria Karamessini has identified a distinct southern European welfare state (2008). Scholars have empirically explored the role the state plays in achieving or barring gender equality in formal employment (Alnıaçık et al. 2017;Bugra and Yakut-Çakar 2010;Ilkkaracan 2012b;Molyneux 2002Molyneux , 2006Perrons 1995;Rubery 2002, Rubery et al. 2005. Moving beyond the boundedness of the nation-state, Nicola Yeates has underscored the need to understand the state's role in organizing the distribution of care at the national and transnational levels (Yeates 2004). ...
This chapter explores the long trajectory of European feminists’ contributions to peace research. Specifically, the coalescing of knowledge via specific Centers of Excellence has supported the recent development of feminist peace research (FPR) in Europe. FPR has also been influenced by the global normative framework of the Women, Peace and Security agenda (WPS), which relies on research conducted outside of Europe. While the diversity of WPS informed research evidences a thriving FPR field in Europe, it also reveals the limitations of what constitutes ‘Europe.’ Ultimately, the chapter shows how FPR remains exclusionary, with implications for knowledge production hierarchies.
... The third gender constraint features a socio-economic gradient to explain why women would experience less beneficial repartnering than men. Women tend to earn substantially less than men (Rubery et al. 2005), and even though the gender education gap has been reversed since the 1990's, the income gap still persists (DiPrete and Buchmann 2013; Schofer and Meyer 2005). Consequently, the lower socio-economic position of women could give men the upper hand in terms of repartnering. ...
The similarity of the Big Five personality traits of ex-spouses and new partners was examined post-divorce. The notion that divorcees replicate their partner choice (fixed-type hypothesis) was tested against the hypotheses that they learn to select a new partner with more marriage-stabilizing personality traits than their former spouse (learning hypothesis), or are constrained by marriage market forces to repartner with someone who has less stabilizing personality traits (marriage market hypothesis). Data was derived from a Flemish study that sampled divorcees from the national register. The sample consisted of 700 triads of divorcees, their ex-spouses, and their new partners. The analysis results rejected the fixed-type hypothesis and instead supported both the learning hypothesis and the marriage market hypothesis, with higher order repartnering supporting the latter. Women also seemed to validate both hypotheses, as their partner comparison showed decreases in both stabilizing traits (conscientiousness and agreeableness) and destabilizing traits (neuroticism and extraversion). Overall, the results seem to suggest that divorcees do not repartner with someone of the same personality as their ex-spouse, and they are in some cases constrained by marriage market forces to repartner with less stabilizing personalities, while in other cases they are able to improve their partner selection.
... It would be tedious to compile a list of the provision of benefits and services to Japanese workers that are completely separate from the wages directly paid. Its purpose is to describe the types and amounts of such indirect benefits and to demonstrate the involvement of the company's wage system in the lives of workers (Rubery et al., 2005). ...
In any society or group, the behavior and manner of acting that are highly rated can be estimated based on the level of appreciation given by the group to that level of behavior. This reward system will be studied to show the kinds of behavior group members are expected to get by the group and the kinds of behavior that - through the reward system - will be strengthened and perpetuated in the group. The study of the wage and incentive systems of Japanese factories revealed very well the differences between Western industry and modern Japanese industry. The study also showed both the types and magnitude of the differences that underlie attitudes and behaviors that distinguish modern industry in Japan from that in the United States. In the following discussion, the wage system in one factory will be examined in detail to illustrate the particular central trend that appears in all studied factories. Since the monetary wage system for work performed is only a part of the entire wage system, it will also examine the general pattern of non-monetary benefits, welfare efforts, incentive programs for workers, using specific plans and costs of a particular factory.
... In Spain, in the study and analysis of the labor market from the gender perspective has become in itself a topic of evident and insurmountable importance, taking into account the procedure of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) when knowing professional paths and profiles [22][23][24][25][26]. Women, half of human capital, have irrupted into the labor market, revolutionizing this area, but they have not obtained as positive a response from it as expected, given that there is a strong difference in the employment and unemployment rates between both groups [27,28]. However, although a lot remains to be done, the process of change is unstoppable. ...
The massive incorporation of Spanish women into the labor market is a phenomenon that began in the second half of the 20th century, being many the obstacles that this group has had to overcome to reach the current situation, where getting a job can be an achievement that, in many cases, does not correspond to the capacity and academic training of the worker, creating a labor and economic imbalance (the cost in training is not rewarded with the work done). In this work, the Spanish labor market was analyzed through the labor force survey (EPA) from a gender perspective, demonstrating the existing inequalities at the labor level, both of employment and unemployment rates, and of jobs where the glass ceiling is evident and of economic remuneration where the salary gap continues to be important. In addition, through an ARIMA model, the evolution of the number of Spanish working women was analyzed, and how the economic crisis of 2009 and the sanitaria have affected their employment in the various crises (COVID-19). Measures to solve the problem as well as laws and active policies in favor of the creation of female jobs and a greater awareness of empowerment on the part of the female collective are proposed.
Bu çalışmanın amacı, Türkiye genelinde kadın istihdamının genel durumunu, kadınların işgücü piyasasına katılımını engelleyen temel faktörleri belirlemek ve bu alanda potansiyel fırsatları analiz ederek ortaya koymaktır. Araştırmanın metodu, literatür taraması yöntemiyle gerçekleştirilmiş olup, çeşitli akademik makaleler, resmi istatistikler, haber raporları ve resmi yayınlarından elde edilen verilere dayalı kapsamlı bir literatür taramasıdır. Bu tarama, kadın istihdam oranları, sektörel dağılım, eğitim düzeyi ve cinsiyete dayalı işgücü piyasası engelleri gibi çeşitli boyutlarda verileri analiz etmektedir. Veri analizi sürecinde, karşılaştırmalı ve tematik analiz teknikleri kullanılmıştır. Elde edilen bulgular, Türkiye'de kadın istihdamının cinsiyet rolleri, eğitim seviyesi, yasal ve politik engeller, ekonomik faktörler ve toplumsal cinsiyet eşitliği gibi çeşitli etmenlerden etkilendiğini göstermektedir. Dünya genelinde ise kadın istihdamı, eğitim ve beceri erişimi, toplumsal ve kültürel engeller, yasal ve politik engeller gibi sorunlarla karşı karşıya kalmaktadır. Sonuç olarak, Türkiye'deki kadın istihdamı, geleneksel cinsiyet rolleri, eğitim seviyesi, yasal ve politik engeller ve ekonomik faktörler gibi çeşitli etmenlerden etkilenmektedir. Kadınların işgücüne katılımını artırmak için eğitimdeki ilerlemeler, yasal reformlar, küreselleşme ve teknoloji gibi fırsatlar bulunmaktadır. Ayrıca uygulanmakta olan politikaların, yetersiz kaldığı bölgelerde kadınların ekonomik ve sosyal hayatta daha aktif roller üstlenmeleri sağlanarak toplumsal ve ekonomik yapının daha adil ve kapsayıcı hale gelmesine katkı sağlayacağı öngörülmektedir.
The Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages in the European Union, adopted by the European Parliament and the Council in October 2022 and to be transposed in national law by November 2024, is an important EU instrument aimed at revitalising Europe’s social dimension. With its dual and interlinked objectives of ensuring adequate minimum wage levels and strengthening collective bargaining, the Directive acknowledges the positive role that social dialogue, collective bargaining, and minimum wage regulation play in promoting inclusive economic growth and social cohesion by limiting social exclusion and earnings inequalities.
It should be emphasised that the Directive does not impose obligations on Member States to introduce a statutory minimum wage or to declare collective agreements universally applicable when wage formation is carried out exclusively via collective agreements, as is the case in the Nordic countries, Austria, and Italy. Nor does the Directive aim to set a uniform minimum wage level across Europe, rather it specifies certain criteria, such as a statutory minimum wage corresponding to 60% of the median wage, to ensure that adequate minimum wages are set at national level.
For the 22 EU Member States which have statutory minimum wages, the explicit aims of the Directive regarding the setting of adequate statutory minimum wages are as follows: to achieve a decent standard of living; to reduce wage inequality; to help to close the gender wage gap; to reduce income disparities by lowering levels of in-work poverty, and to contribute to the promotion of social cohesion and upward social convergence within the EU. Another part of the directive deals with the issue of coverage and affects every Member State: the aim is to have 80% of workers covered by collective agreements.
Drawing on a review of the theoretical and empirical literature on minimum wages, the aim of this report is to analyse the potential socio-economic consequences of the Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages in the European Union. Taking an institutional and gender perspective, it assesses the extent to which the Directive may constitute an effective instrument to improve the pay and working conditions of men and women in Europe, reverse the trend in increasing inequalities, help close the gender wage-gap, and reduce gender income disparities by reducing in-work poverty.
The most recent comprehensive review on the employment impact of a moderate increase of statutory minimum wages found no significant employment effects, either for men or for women. Overall, empirical studies on the impact of minimum wages on wage distribution suggest that an increase in minimum wages significantly increases the wages of low-paid workers. This provides strong evidence that minimum wages, by compressing the wage structure at the bottom end of the wage distribution, reduce wage inequality, particularly for women, who are overrepresented among low-paid workers. Furthermore, a moderate increase in minimum wages not only appears to have an equalising effect on wages but also on the earnings distribution at the lower end of the wage distribution. The distributional impact of an increase in minimum wages on household income distribution is the subject of greater controversy. Nevertheless, recent evidence from the United States reveals positive distributional effects of a rise in minimum wages and a reduction of working poor households.
When it comes to the impact of minimum wages on the gender wage gap, a review of available empirical literature shows that increasing minimum wages does contribute to reducing pay disparities between men and women. This finding supports the objectives of the Directive and consistent with the European Commission’s pre-assessment, which found that an uprating of minimum wages in the EU would decrease the gender wage gap on average by around 5%.
In order to assess the impact of the Directive’s aim of increasing levels of collective bargaining, the report analyses the pattern of industrial relations systems across the EU. This analysis shows that systems with certain characteristics – high union density and collective bargaining coverage rates, balanced bargaining power between the two sides of industry, and centralised, coordinated, multi-employer collective bargaining systems – appear not only to favour better working conditions, greater wage and gender equality, but also to deliver better labour market outcomes, economic growth and social cohesion. Labour market governance by the social partners and a developed (tripartite and/or bipartite) social dialogue process, as in the Nordic countries or in Belgium not only seems to better reconcile economic efficiency and social justice, but it also appears better adapted to provide an effective and fair response to the challenges linked to globalisation, demographic, technological change and the green transition. The report also shows that minimum wages tend to have stronger wage equality effects when combined with strong union and high collective bargaining coverage.
As far as gender equality and industrial relations systems are concerned, a review of available evidence shows that the higher wage floors found in countries with high union density, high coverage rate of collective bargaining and highly centralised wage setting raise women’s relative pay and reduce the gender wage gap, since women are to a larger extent located at the bottom end of the wage distribution. Consistent with this evidence, the aim of the Directive (i.e. to increase the collective bargaining rate in all Member States to 80% and, for Member States with minimum wages, to actively involve the social partners in the setting of minimum levels) should lead to a reduction in the gender wage gap.
Furthermore, the analysis shows that the Nordic countries and Belgium, characterised by strong and independent social partners playing a crucial role in the production of labour market norms, wage formation, social protection and welfare state arrangements, score highest among EU countries on the Gender Equality Index. Not only is women’s representation in national parliaments and political bodies among the highest in the world, their high level of trade union membership and involvement in collective bargaining/social dialogue helps put gender equality issues at the top of the political agenda. The strong feminisation of the labour force coupled with the significant modifications in the employment structure, from manufacturing to the services sector, means that, today, union density in the Nordic countries is significantly higher for women than for men. On the other hand, countries with fragmented systems, low union density, low coverage rates of collective bargaining, and less involvement of social partners in the production of labour market and social norms, score lowest on the Gender Equality Index among EU Member States.
In light of these findings, a priority should indeed be to strengthen the representativeness and autonomy of social partners and their institutional capacity to shape labour market and social norms. Such a policy strategy is in line with the aim of the Directive to promote social dialogue and collective bargaining at national level in order to ensure the setting of adequate minimum wage levels that enable a decent standard of living, reduce wage inequality, help close the gender wage gap, reduce the incidence of low-paid workers, and contribute to upward social convergence within the European Union.
If the policy objective of the EU, as illustrated by the adoption of the Directive, is to change direction and to move towards industrial relations systems characterised by high collective bargaining coverage rates and powerful and autonomous social partners playing a crucial role in the production of fair labour market norms, there is, however, a long way to go. This is especially true in Member States that have highly decentralised and non-coordinated, fragmented bargaining systems, such as the single-employer bargaining regimes prevalent in the majority of Central and Eastern European countries. These countries are characterised by both low union density and low coverage rates of collective bargaining, and they are currently far from achieving the target for collective bargaining coverage of 80%. Political and institutional support for upwards convergence in the EU towards a regime of industrial relations favouring a system of labour market governance based on autonomous and strong social partners and constructive social dialogue will be important. This will require effective monitoring, implementation, and financial and political support at both national and EU level.
The Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages in the European Union, in particular the uprating of statutory minimum wages, can thus contribute to improved pay and working conditions of men and women in the labour market and reduce gender wage and earnings inequalities at the lower end of the wage distribution. It must, however, be stressed that gender differences in, for example, labour supply, should continue to be addressed with other policy instruments. Such instruments include the safeguarding and development of public services, the development of public childcare and elderly care facilities, the development of work-life balance arrangements, such as generous and flexible parental leave systems, the development of life-long learning facilities as well as the development of gender neutral fiscal and social protection systems.
Although equal pay for equal work between women and men is a founding principle of the European Union, enshrined in the Treaties since 1957, the gender pay gap stands at 12.7 per cent in 2021 and has only changed minimally for two decades. This article explores a policymaking paradox: the EU equal pay policy seems unaffected by failure, on the contrary, failure seems to contribute to the legitimisation of the policy. The article asks how and why a policy implementation failure framing has been developed in the field of EU equal pay promotion? What is the political function of this framing and what is its impact on the EU policymaking process? Over the years, the EU equal pay policy has been associated with a repeated experience of implementation failure. This failure framing has been particularly present in the debates over the implementation of the 2006 Recast Directive, especially since this frame has been impelled by the quantitative and symbolic strength of the gender pay gap’s percentage. The article shows that this framing performed important functions. From a policymaking perspective, the implementation failure framing allowed the gender equality policy community to keep the issue firmly on the EU agenda and to ride out the dismantling storm. The article also shows that the analytical definition of what constitutes a policy failure should be more nuanced. To conclude, the article asks if this type of failure framing can continue to produce results in an increasingly polarised context such as that of gender equality.
Earnings in care services are lower than in other industries, particularly among professional and managerial employees, and are more compressed than in other industries. The growth of primarily female employment in care services since the 1980s has buffered overall increases in wage inequality while slowing convergence in the gender wage differential.
Environmental problems such as global warming, increasing world population, decreasing natural resources, rapid industrialization, decreasing biological diversity, and air pollution negatively affect the life standards of future generations and threaten sustainable life. Under these circumstances, it is impossible for organizations to be detached from society and remain insensitive to these issues. Corporate and institutional activities should not be allowed to disrupt the ecological balance, they should contribute to maintaining this balance. On the other hand, women's involvement and contribution in business life leads to economic growth and human development. It is a common problem in developed and developing countries that the role of women is secondary in the labor market and in the society despite the economic value of women's labor in the development of world economy. In this study, it is predicted that preventing gender inequality will help organizations reach their sustainability goals; and the effect of gender inequality on corporate sustainability is investigated.
The strongest impacts of economic downturns are often on female employment. However, this is not a generalized decrease, but has mainly affected specific economic sectors. The COVID-19 crisis has affected some of the fields in which women are most present, such as trade, tourism and care services. The impacts also differ according to the employment contract and age. We analyzed the effects of a set of explanatory variables on women’s income level in Italy in the three years. The results confirm the strong segmentation of the Italian labor market, which penalizes, especially the weakest categories. Although it is not yet possible to assess the effects on female employment due to the pandemic, the 2020 data currently available still allows highlighting a downward trend. The results could provide several insights for policymakers, first of all, to get away from the idea of growth linked only to green transition and digital technology by marginalizing the other “essential” sectors. Secondly, to reschedule the investments planned in the post-pandemic recovery strategies, focusing on the creation of quality work in these sectors that would improve both employment conditions and the quality of services. The conducted statistical analysis was conducted by considering 3 different years, 2009, 2011, and 2020 and by estimating three generalized ordered logit models, one for each considered year. It seems to be necessary to enhance all women's human capital, making women key players and supporting more inclusive economic and social systems based on good quality employment for all.
This study used relevant literature and data from the U.S. Employment Opportunity Commission to identify factors that can explain managerial non-compliance with equal pay policies and then assessed their effects on policy effectiveness. A model was constructed to investigate the strategic nature of managerial decisions as well as government policies, court procedures, and worker behavior. Theoretically, legal framework and certain non-management actors may increase reluctance toward compliance. In this study, an incentive constraint was used to represent managerial compliance decisions. In sum, policy success significantly depends on at least five factors: (1) compensation, (2) court effectiveness, (3) monitoring, (4) worker behavior, and (5) coordination. This study also assessed the impacts of the recent trend of pay transparency efforts in relation to the factors. It found that pay transparency cannot be the only response by legislators. Rather, it should be coupled with more robust policy responses and better calibration, acknowledging managers' strategic behaviors and tendency to evade inadequately calibrated regulations.
ÖZ: Yapılan bu çalışmada, temel olarak 21. yüzyılda ABD, Avrupa, Asya ülkeleri ile Türkiye’de yönetim kademelerinde yer alan kadınların karşılaştıkları cinsiyet ayrımcılığı sorunlarının incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Birinci kısımda, cinsiyet ayrımcılığının ülkelerdeki mevcut durumuna yönelik literatür bulguları özetlenmiştir. İkinci kısımda, Türkiye’de kamu yönetimi ve özel sektörde kadın yöneticilerin karşılaştıkları sorunlar ve çözüm önerilerine yönelik bilgiler verilmiştir. Cinsiyet ayrımcılığı araştırmalarının çoğu, cinsiyet ayrımcılığının tek yönüne
odaklanmasına rağmen çalışmada değişik ülkelere ait mobbing, fiziksel taciz, kariyer gelişimi olumsuzlukları ve ücret farklılıkları gibi çeşitli temel konulara değinilmiştir. Konu, hem kadın çalışanlar hem de kadın yöneticiler açısından ele alınmıştır. Diğer yandan farklı ülkelerde, içinde bulunduğumuz yüzyılda cinsiyet ayrımcılığına nasıl bakıldığı, bunlara ait çalışmaların bulgularının neler olabileceği, konunun evrensel bir bütünlük içinde dikkate
alınmasının neden önemli olduğu sorularına da cevap aranmıştır. Çünkü farklı ülkeler ve kültürlerde çalışan ve yöneticilik yapan kadınların sorunlarının aynı olduğuna yönelik tespitler ve bunların toplumlarda çözüme yönelik karşılığının neler olduğu da inceleme
konuları arasındadır.
ABSTRACT: The main purpose of this study is to examine the gender discrimination problems faced by women at management levels in the US, Europe, Asia and Turkey in the 21st century. In the first part, the literature findings on the current situation of gender
discrimination in countries were summarized. In the second part, data related to the problems faced by women managers in the public administration and private sector in Turkey and relevant solution suggestions were given. Although most of the gender discrimination studies focus on a single aspect of gender discrimination, various fundamental issues such as mobbing, physical harassment, career development constraints and wage differences in different countries were mentioned in the study. The topic has been discussed in terms of both female employees and managers. On the other hand, answers were sought to the questions of how gender discrimination is viewed in different countries in 21st century, what the findings of the studies related to these might be, and why it is important to consider these issues in a universal integrity. Because in different countries and cultures, the fact that the problems faced by women employees and managers are similar and what their solution-oriented counterparts are in the societies were also among the topics of analysis.
This paper sets out to estimate the GPG in EU countries based on a number of variables: the female participation rate, occupational segregation by gender, the proportion of people working in high-wage jobs and in education and health, plus the wage dispersion. The analysis covers 25 EU countries over 12 years from 2004 to 2015. The data are taken from three statistical surveys: the Labour Force Survey, the Structure of Earnings Survey and the EU-SILC. Three fixed-effect models and three random-effect models are estimated, based on an incomplete panel-dataset of 271 observations.
The key variables in explaining the GPG in the Southern Europe group are the female participation rate and the proportion of people working in high-wage jobs and in the Northern Europe group they are the female participation rate and the proportion of people working in education and health. By contrast, in the CEE country group the female participation rate is not significant and the most relevant explanatory variables are occupational segregation and the wage dispersion.
This paper finds evidence that comparisons between countries to determine GPGs have to take into account institutional and cultural factors, social roles and historical trends in national labour forces.
JEL: J21; J24; C23; C54
Purpose
The interest in promoting diversity in corporate governance is increasing gender equality on boards. Even so, previous research shows that women are underrepresented on boards of directors. This study aims to explore how an increasing presence of women on boards reduces gender pay disparity among nonexecutive directors (NEDs).
Design/methodology/approach
This study explores how an increasing presence of women on boards reduces gender pay disparity among NEDs.
Findings
The results indicate that for boards to reduce the gender pay disparity among NEDs, women need to reach a critical mass of 33% of board members. In addition, this study finds that women’s presence on influential committees further reduces the gender pay disparity among NEDs.
Research limitations/implications
The study uses critical mass and social identity theories to explain the impact of women directors on NEDs’ remuneration in a sample of 365 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange over 16 years (1999–2015). The findings indicate the importance of reducing gender pay disparity as a tool to promote gender equality on boards.
Practical implications
This study provides evidence on the importance of corporations including gender diversity on board committees to reduce gender pay disparities at the board level.
Originality/value
In addition, this study finds that women’s presence on influential committees further reduces gender pay disparity among NEDs.
In most workplaces, women earn less than their male counterparts. The gender pay gap has multiple, complex, interrelated causes. Federal organizations follow several best practices to work to reduce pay inequity based on gender, but some of these practices risk institutionalizing tendencies toward gendered organizational structures and confounding maleness with the constructions of idealized workers. The National Park Service (NPS) is the context in which these constructs are applied to examine differences in pay based on gender. Collaborating with the NPS Office of Equal Opportunity, anonymized employee-level data were utilized in a regression-based analysis to control for multiple factors influencing pay. The analysis allowed for statistical control for the effects of multiple relevant factors on NPS employee pay—moving beyond descriptive information. The results showed some patterns of gender pay inequity that can be explained by occupational segregation rooted in an understanding of gendered organizations and occupational identities that favor maleness. Concrete applications to address the discrepancies in pay found in the analysis are presented.
Gender inequality represents a substantial and persistent public problem. Public policies may have a major impact on gender equality and attaining equal access to opportunities, resources, and rights for women, men, and other gender identities. This chapter provides key insights, directions, good practices, and methodologies from existing literature on gender implications of public policies. It also briefly reviews key gender-sensitive policy initiatives and frameworks, gender mainstreaming and tools such as gender impact assessment, gender sensitive budgeting or policy evaluation. This chapter further considers key gender sensitive policies including family and work-life balance policies, equality policies in the labour and political sphere, diversity, anti-discrimination and anti-violence policies, and education and science policies for gender equality.
Despite the massive incorporation of women into the labor market, equal pay for equal work remains a challenge. This article analyzes the influence of gender diversity in management positions on the gender wage gap (GWG) throughout the entire pay scale in Spain. The results show the existence of a GWG, particularly for wages below the average; though it decreases when female participation in management is higher. This is in line with the reduction of information asymmetry problems considered in statistical discrimination theories, which explain the barriers to promotion associated with dynamics at entry-level and low-qualified positions.
JEL CLASSIFICATION: C31, J31, J71, M14
Am 1. Januar 2015 wurde in Deutschland ein allgemeiner gesetzlicher Mindestlohn in Höhe von 8,50 € brutto pro Stunde eingeführt. Diese Dissertation widmet sich den Auswirkungen der Mindestlohneinführung in Deutschland sowie Lohnuntergrenzen im Europäischen Kontext und trägt damit zur nationalen und internationalen Forschung bei. Das zweite Kapitel dieser Arbeit fasst die in bisherigen Studien herausgearbeiteten kurzfristigen Effekte der Mindestlohnreform in einem Überblick zusammen. Es zeigt sich, dass die Mindestlohneinführung einen deutlich positiven Effekt auf die Löhne am unteren Ende der Verteilung hatte. Allerdings wies kurz nach der Reform noch ein nicht unerheblicher Anteil der Beschäftigungsverhältnisse Löhne unter 8,50 € auf. Weiterhin deutet die Evidenz auf geringe negative Beschäftigungseffekte hin, welche durch eine Reduktion von Minijobs getrieben ist. Entgegen der Erwartungen konnten jedoch in der kurzen Frist keine Effekte auf Armut und allgemeine Ungleichheit gefunden werden. Dies hängt insbesondere mit der Tatsache zusammen, dass Arbeitsstunden reduziert wurden und sich die Stundenlohnerhöhung daher nicht auf die Monatslöhne niederschlug. Das dritte Kapitel geht der Frage nach, ob die im Vorfeld prognostizierten Arbeitsplatzverluste im Zuge der Reform kurzfristig eingetreten sind und welche Art der Beschäftigung davon gegebenenfalls stärker betroffen war. Zur empirischen Identifikation der Effekte wird in diesem (sowie im vierten Kapitel) ein regionaler Differenzen-von-Differenzen-Ansatz verwendet, mit dem die Auswirkungen auf reguläre Beschäftigung (Teil- und Vollzeit) sowie Minijobs geschätzt werden. Unsere Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass der Mindestlohn die Gesamtbeschäftigung leicht reduziert hat, was im Wesentlichen auf einen Rückgang von Minijobs zurückzuführen ist. Das vierte Kapitel schließt methodisch an das vorige an. Seine Motivation ergibt sich aus der Beobachtung, dass Frauen unter den Niedriglohnempfänger:innen häufig überrepräsentiert sind. Die primäre Forschungsfrage in diesem Kapitel ist daher, ob der Mindestlohn zu einer Verringerung der geschlechterspezifischen Lohnlücke geführt hat. Dazu identifizieren wir die Effekte auf die Lohnlücke am 10. und 25. Perzentil sowie beim Mittelwert der zugrundeliegenden geschlechtsspezifischen Lohnverteilungen. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass – verglichen mit Regionen mit niedriger Eingriffstiefe – die geschlechtsspezifische Lohnlücke am 10. Perzentil für mindestlohnberechtigte Beschäftigte in Regionen mit hoher Eingriffstiefe um 4,6 Prozentpunkte gesunken ist. Wir schätzen, dass dies eine Reduktion um 32\% im Vergleich zu 2014 bedeutet. Am 25. Perzentil und am Mittelwert sind die Auswirkungen geringer und nicht gleichermaßen robust. Das fünfte Kapitel behält den geschlechterspezifischen Fokus auf die Mindestlohneffekte bei. Im Vergleich zum Rest der Dissertation weitet es jedoch den Blick auf andere Länder der Europäischen Union. Gemäß der für das vorangegangene Kapitel dargelegten Überlegungen, könnten Frauen potenziell besonders von einem Mindestlohn profitieren. Dies könnte jedoch auch bedeuten, dass sie dadurch auch öfter von Arbeitsplatzverlusten oder Arbeitszeitverkürzungen betroffen sind. Dieses Kapitel resümiert daher einerseits vorhandene Evidenz aus EU-Staaten, die sich auf den Zusammenhang zwischen Lohnuntergrenzen und der geschlechtsspezifischen Lohnlücke bezieht. Darüber hinaus enthält es eine systematische Zusammenfassung von Studien, die den Einfluss von Mindestlöhnen auf Beschäftigungsverluste oder Arbeitszeitveränderungen untersuchen, von denen insbesondere Frauen betroffen sind. Es zeigen sich Hinweise, dass höhere Lohnuntergrenzen mit einer geringeren geschlechtsspezifischen Lohnlücke verbunden sind. Hinsichtlich der Beschäftigung scheinen Frauen nicht per se größere Beschäftigungsverluste zu erleiden als Männer. Allerdings zeigen Studien, dass sich der Mindestlohn hier besonders auf Teilzeitbeschäftigte auswirkt. Es ist daher nicht auszuschließen, dass der negative Zusammenhang zwischen dem Mindestlohn und dem geschlechtsspezifischen Lohngefälle mit den Arbeitsplatzverlusten dieser schlechter bezahlten, oft weiblichen Teilzeitbeschäftigten zusammenhängt. Diese spezifische Form der Arbeit sollte daher im Zusammenhang mit dem Mindestlohn besondere Beachtung finden.
Confrontés à une féminisation croissante et aux préoccupations de leurs membres et des mouvements sociaux, faisant face à des injonctions des gouvernements nationaux ou des acteurs européens, les partenaires sociaux nationaux et européens ont été travaillés ces trente dernières années par le genre et son articulation à d’autres dimensions de la vie sociale, également sources d’inégalités et de discriminations. Ce texte s’intéresse à la façon dont les partenaires sociaux ont été mis à l’épreuve du genre et de l’intersectionnalité, et il présente les principaux apports de la littérature qui s’est penchée sur la structuration des relations entre partenaires sociaux, genre et intersectionnalité.
The National University of Colombia boasts a clear and egalitarian salary regime for its academic staff. Apart from rules concerning maternity and paternity leaves, which follow national Colombian legislation, the Academic Personal Statute is completely free of gender-based norms. Salaries are assigned through a points system that considers training level, productivity, and academic rank. With this in mind, one might expect to find egalitarian male and female salary conditions free of the gender-related gaps existing in other, more arbitrary private work environments. In this article, we present the results of a variance decomposition analysis of the gross salaries of all full-time professors and report the existence of an unadjusted gender pay gap of 0.12 and adjusted or unexplained gaps of 0.07-0.09 obtained through a Mincer earnings regression and a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition. Partial correlations between these gaps and the different factors that come into play are examined and analyzed. The high impact of professors’ research track record on their salaries appears as the main contribution to the gender differences. It seems plausible that the crucial need for time to dedicate to research opens the window to the patriarchal society to permeate the otherwise egalitarian salary regime of the University, especially for the highest range of salaries corresponding mainly to male full professors who are very active in research.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the practical and legal complexities associated with tele-homeworking in the context of the UK Equality Law. First, the paper provides a background to the recent growth of tele-homeworking as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, outlining the tenets of the UK Equality Act 2010 and referring to additional legislation pertinent to the ensuing discussion. Second, illustrative case law relevant to the UK Equality Law is put forward to demonstrate the potential challenges that employers and employees might encounter with continued and longer-term tele-homeworking arrangements. Third, the paper outlines implications for employers and human resource managers in terms of policies and practices that might shape the nature of the employment relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on a review of the literature and an examination of UK case law applicable to tele-homeworking, taking into consideration equality, diversity and inclusion concerns in the workplace.
Findings
Remote working can be beneficial to both employers and employees. However, there are a number of significant concerns surrounding the management of tele-homeworkers in the aftermath of the pandemic that can act as a stimulus for legal disputes around discrimination, infringement of human rights and breach of contract claims. Several policy implications surface from the analysis that relate to equality and fair treatment associated with both current and future work arrangements.
Originality/value
The paper is significant in offering legal insights into how the UK Equality Law relates to the complexities associated with the management of tele-homeworkers. The study also highlights how return-to-office undertakings might need to consider wider legal issues. COVID-19 and its repercussions have demanded the reorganisation of work, which can give rise to a greater possibility of legal challenges and the study highlights the importance of employers undertaking an evaluation of their equality practices and complying with the legal framework.
Management as an occupation has become increasingly feminised in Australia over the last two decades. This article focuses specifically on specialist managers, answering the question of where we are now in terms of gender equity. It charts the increasing but uneven growth of women’s employment among specialist management occupations. Women remain concentrated into a relatively small number of management specialisations and it is argued that there is a gendering of certain management roles which is reflected in the value attached to these roles. Using data sourced from the Australian Tax Office, the article shows that men earn higher income across all specialist management groups, including those that are highly feminised, and higher salary across all specialisations excepting one – childcare directors. Evidence is presented detailing the relativities between management specialisations, showing a variation between men and women in terms of rank. Women are much less valued in some management specialisations, such as finance. Men are much less valued in others, such as childcare. The article concludes by speculating how greater gender equity can be achieved among specialist managers but observes that ‘management’ and ‘male’ are still tightly connected.
The authors study the effect of unionization on gender wage differentials for production workers in nine U.S. manufacturing industries. They find that the wage gap is significantly smaller in unionized establishments for six of the industries, even after controlling for occupation and establishment gender composition. But this union effect does not hold within three industries. The authors conclude that unionization generally reduces wage inequality between blue-collar men and women, but the effect might be contingent both on the overall proportion of women in an industry and on union characteristics. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for income inequality and union policies.
After decades of near constancy at 40 cents on the dollar, the gender pay gap has declined markedly. Francine Blau and Lawrence Kahn document these developments and explore the reasons both for the remaining gender pay gap and changes in the gap over time.
Current anti-poverty policy proposals focus on welfare reform to the exclusion of reforming the low-wage labor market. In contrast, we compare two policy proposals aimed at low-wage labor markets: a national comparable worth policy and an increase in the minimum wage. With both policies we pay specific attention to their impact by gender. Our findings suggest that while both would reduce poverty among working women, the impact of a comparable worth policy on female poverty would be greater under most scenarios presented. It is estimated that an increase of 96 cents per hour in the national minimum wage would be necessary to equal the poverty reduction effect for women workers of a comparable worth policy which excludes small employers. Both policies decrease the incidence of povertylevel wages less among men, since roughly 60 percent of minimum wage workers are women. Additionally, not only would a national comparable worth policy improve the economic status of low-waged women workers, it would also narrow the gap between male and female poverty. While an increase in the minimum wage would also reduce this gap, comparable worth would virtually eliminate it.
The wage gap between male and female workers has narrowed in both the US and the UK over the past twenty five years. At the same time, employment rates for men and women have converged. This paper examines the relationship between these two facts by analysing the role played by labour market experience in explaining the narrowing gender wage gap. We analyse the relationships between male and female levels of experience and relative wages in the US and the UK over the period 1978 to 2000. The estimation procedure is based on pseudo panels created from cross-sectional data (Current Population Survey (CPS) for the US and Family Expenditure Survey (FES) for the UK). Possible biases from unobserved heterogeneity and the endogeneity of experience are addressed by using an ‘imputed’ measure of experience based on grouped data and by estimating the wage regressions in first differences. Differences in levels of experience are found to explain 39 percent of the gender wage gap in the US and 37 percent in the UK, and failure to control for unobserved heterogeneity is found to understate the role played by total experience in explaining the gap. The gender wage gap has diminished over recent successive cohorts of workers. However, the evidence suggests that the improvements in relative female wages can’t be attributed to changes in relative levels of experience. For each of the successive cohorts we examine, total experience increases the gender wage ratio by a constant 8 to 9 percentage points in the US and the UK. We find that the average experience for female workers relative to male workers has increased over successive cohorts. However, this has either been insufficient to lead to a noticeable effect on relative wages, or changes in the returns to experience have altered affecting female relative earnings unfavourably.
We examine an important recent organizing success of the US labour movement: the 'Justice for Janitors' campaign in Los Angeles. This campaign has spanned a complete business cycle and shows the union's capacity for growth over time. It illustrates the potential for unions to overcome pro-employer bias of labour laws, as well as their efficacy in appealing to the wider public. It exposes the importance of building coalitions, as well as the value of union analysis of legal, industrial, and political conditions. Our analysis suggests conditions under which unions might survive and thrive in the service sector in the twenty-first century. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd/London School of Economics 2002.
Consider the wages of workers in two occupations in two countries: say a labourer and software engineer in India and a labourer and software engineer in Germany. There are three useful contrasts one can make with these wages:
1.
The percentage (or absolute) differential between the wages of more skilled and less skilled workers within each country. All else the same, this skill differential reflects the return to human capital and the degree of inequality in the wage structure in the countries.
2.
The ratio of the wages of workers in the same occupation between the countries, measured in a common currency through exchange rates. All else the same, this cost differential reflects the different cost of producing goods with these workers.
3.
The difference in wages for workers in the same occupation, measured in purchasing power parity (PPP) units. All else the same, these living standard differentials measure differences in the economic well-being of similarly skilled workers.
The difference between salaries of male and female employees has been persistent despite the effort employed by government agencies in reducing it. The gender pay gap amounts to 16 % in the European Union (EU) and 23 % in the United States (US) in 2011, and has not varied substantially over the last 20 years. In this paper, we provide a detailed picture of the gender pay gap phenomenon by reviewing the contributions provided by previous literature. We also analyze the role played by the increasing globalization on gender wage inequality, and identify both positive and negative effects. Then, we provide a detailed picture of the regulatory interventions implemented so far to deter the gender pay gap, and identify some of the best practices that national governments could adopt as a response to this phenomenon. Finally, we propose alternative strategies and potential solutions aimed at progressively eliminating the gap.
According to the ‘disorganization thesis’, industrial change – namely economic international iration and the expansion of
the service sector – is expected to cause a shift from non-market governance institutions to the market. On the basis of a
cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis, this paper examines this assumption with regard to labour relations systems, using
collective bargaining coverage as an indicator of a system's degree of organization. Disorganization would mean a negative
association between industrial change and coverage, as well as a unidirectional decline in coverage over time. No evidence
of this can be found. Instead, diversity and divergence prevail among countries. This is because the specific pattern of how
bargaining is embedded in labour relations mediates the effects of industrial change. There is a divide between two distinct
bargaining patterns: that is, an inclusive one with largely stable coverage, and an exclusive one which indeed recorded a
decline in coverage. The paper concludes by discussing the future prospects for bargaining and die theoretical implications
of these empirical findings.
This paper presents the results of statistical analysis of workplace gender equality in OECD countries, including a time series regression analysis from 1974 to 1986. Two models of approaches to gender inequality in labour markets are set up - a `liberal' and a `collective' model - and the characteristics of each examined for their effects on measures of gender equality. The results suggest that aspects of the `collective' model, such as a centralised industrial relations system, high levels of public employment relative to total employment and sustained expenditure on active labour market programmes are most likely to deliver relatively high earnings for women, although not all these factors are conducive to high levels of female participation in labour markets. No clear evidence was found to support the efficacy of legislative measures in the pursuit of gender equality. The paper argues that the emancipatory potential of legislative moves will be best enhanced within a `collective' framework
In many countries there has been a move towards more decentralized labour market systems in the 1980s and 1990s. This process has been particularly notable in Sweden. This study analyses the origins of the Swedish decentralization from a historical and comparative perspective. The main emphasis is on ideological motives, linked to a shifting balance of power. The more decentralized Swedish industrial relations become, the greater the likelihood that the power relations between the two main parties change in the employers' favour. Even if internationally determined changes in the organization of work are important, changes in industrial relations still seem to be very much a question of a struggle between the different interests of employers and employees.
This article explores the implications of alternative policy regimes for gender wage inequality. Against the background of a description of recent changes in pay ratios of men and women in Britain, the focus is primarily on calculating the likely effects on gender wage ratios of introducing the statutory minimum wage in the UK. The effects of alternative options are also assessed in part; giving women men's average hourly earnings, leaving occupations unchanged, and redistributing women through occupations in the same proportions as men, leaving their occupational average pay unchanged. The largest effects on pay ratios come from giving women the same pay as men in their existing occupations. However, a statutory minimum wage of £3.60 per hour does improve the gender pay ratio and helps women at the lower end of the pay spectrum. It is also considerably easier to implement than other options.
‘A theory of Employment Systems’ explains why there are such great international differences in the way employment relations are organized within the firm. It takes account of the growing evidence of international diversity. It sets out from the theory of the firm first developed by Coase and Simon, and explains why firms and workers should use the employment relationship as the basis for their economic cooperation. The originality of the employment relationship lies in its flexibility. It gives managers the authority to organize work, but it also establishes limits on employees’ obligations. Neither Coase nor Simon dealt with these limits, yet without them, no one would be prepared to work as an ‘employee’, and so there would be no employment relationship, and firms would not exist as employing organizations.
The book argues that these limits are provided by four basic types of employment rule. Which one predominates in a given environment is the source of societal diversity in employment relations. The theory is extended to show why such diversity extends deep into key areas of human resource management, such as performance management, incentive pay, and skill development. It also explains why the open‐ended employment relationship continues to dominate work despite the growth of market‐mediated work relations. The book covers evidence from the US, Japan, France, Germany, and Britain.
The deteriorating labour market position of low-skilled workers challenges economic efficiency and social equity. Four aspects are examined: joblessness among the low-skilled; the prevalence of low pay among women; persistence in low pay; and the overlap between low pay and household poverty. It concludes that the labour market institutions of “social Europe” are effective in reducing the disadvantage of vulnerable groups, although they have protected women less effectively than men. Education and training will have an important contribution to make; more immediately, reducing the deflationary bias in European macroeconomic policies should benefit the low-paid.
The fundamental issue addressed in this paper is why women receive lower wages than men. The relevance of four explanations is investigated: women's responsibility for family and household work, women's lower human capital, compensating wage differentials between men and women, and job segregation The job segregation explanation is given primary attention in these analyses, given that solidarity wage bargaining in Sweden is generally assumed to have promoted equal pay for equal type of job, and hence that no male-female wage differentials ought to exist once the relevant job characteristics are controlled for. Empirical analyses, based on Swedish labour-market data in 1981, show that job segregation indeed explains a sizeable proportion of the gender wage gap, much more than the other three types of factors. A substantial unexplained residual remains, however, net of a large number of individual, family, job and industry characteristics. It is argued that this unexplained wage differential is too large to be explained by misspecification or coarseness of measures The most reasonable interpretation instead is that male and female workers with the same productive attributes, family obligations, and job characteristics receive different hourly wages. The result thus indicates the presence of sex discrimination in the Swedish labour-market, i.e., that solidarity wage bargaining, even at its peak in 1981, did not result in equal treatment of men and women
This paper seeks to begin the reversal of the gender bias in comparative industrial relations research which is still focused on comparing and contrasting the regimes that cover mainly male manual workers. There is little systematic evidence on industrial relations practices in private or even public services, for non-manual workers or for atypical workers. These employment areas are central for women's employment and are of increasing importance in the labour market, but few attempts have been made to compare industrial relations regimes by reference to the protection they afford to women. Taking into account industrial relations practice in these areas can change significantly the classification and estimated coverage of collective bargaining systems. By ‘mainstrearning’ gender issues it also becomes clear that current macroeconomic policy proposals have major gender implications that are ignored in current debates
In contrast to the traditions of social science, the argument made here is that wage structures are not to be explained by reference to an underlying economic or social rationale through which they contribute to the efficient or smooth functioning of an economy or society. Theories of wages have overstressed coherence and functionality and underplayed conflict and contradictions and the scope for discretionary, random or opportunistic decisions. Wage structures have been held partially in check in the past by institutional and social processes which linked wages across the labour market. Many of these processes, from industry-level pay bargaining to concepts of fair wages, ‘going rates’ or the family wage, have disintegrated in the 1980s and 1990s. More attention needs to be paid to the role of wages in the redistribution of resources and to the need to re-regulate the labour market.
While the momentum has certainly not yet disappeared from the gender equality agenda within Europe, the impact of that agenda remains patchy. Progress within individual member states has been significant but not always steady or cumulative. At the European level more attention has been paid to the gender pay gap but policy initiatives remain weak. The loss of the equal opportunities pillar in the new employment guidelines puts this momentum at risk but the new phase still includes commitments to an integrated strategy of gender mainstreaming and equal opportunities.
This book provides an integrated and detailed analysis of the components of firm human resources systems in the U.S. and Japan. It examines the relationship between company practices and national economic institutions. The authors address a number of key questions about employer-employee relations. How have major Japanese manufacturing companies been able to convert the assurance of "lifetime" employment security into a source of superior employee efficiency and adaptability, when job and income security have been feared as a source of "shirking" and wage inflation in the U.S.? How have higher economic and real wage growth rates been associated with greater equality in earned income distribution in Japan, when the incentive role of income inequality to worker effort and savings has been stressed in the U.S.? How could the Japanese emphasis on employment security in the firm be reconciled with greater price stability and lower unemployment than in the U.S.? This work analyses elements such as employee training and involvement programs, wage behavior as an incentive system and an alternate channel of savings, and synchronous wage determination (shunto) at work in the Japanese economy, which provide for such successes. It also explores the costs that have been associated with these Japanese accomplishments, as well as who must bear them. Finally, it examines the outlook for these distinctive Japanese institutions and practices in a period of slower growth and economic "maturity." Based on a research project carried out in both countries, it concludes with the lessons that each country can learn much from the employment practices of the other.
This book explains the transitions in twentieth-century industrial leadership from Britain to the United States and, most recently, to Japan, in terms of the changing business investment strategies and organizational structures in these nations. The author criticizes economists for failing to understand these historical changes. The book shows that this intellectual failure is not inherent in the discipline of economics; there are important traditions in economic thought that the mainstream of the economics profession has simply ignored.
This paper employs an extremely large but comparatively under-researched dataset, the New Earnings Survey, to construct a model of female earnings in Great Britain from 1977 to 1994. This study is the first to utilise the dataset's panel nature. Unusually, the coefficients are allowed to vary flexibly over time, which allows us to study the changing structure of the labour market. We also take account of unobserved heterogeneity and occupational endogeneity. Our results show significant changes in the structure of both male and female earnings over time, particularly in the public sector, across regions and amongst those covered by collective bargains.
The distribution of low pay by sector, size of firm, occupation, type of contract and gender varies cross-nationally. This article examines the extent to which systems of collective bargaining and minimum wage regimes explain such differences. It compares Britain, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and the USA using a newly harmonized data set, PACO, and the European household panel study for Spain. The findings indicate that strong collective bargaining and minimum wage regimes reduce the percentage of low-paid workers. However, the benefits of such regulation do not extend to women and especially part-time women employees as much as to men.
Using data from the March Current Population Survey, the authors document an increase over the past 30 years in wage inequality for males. Between 1963 and 1989, real average weekly wages for the least skilled workers declined by about 5 percent, whereas wages for the most skilled workers rose by about 40 percent. The authors find that the trend toward increased wage inequality is apparent within narrowly defined education and labor market experience groups. Their interpretation is that much of the increase in wage inequality fro males over the last 20 years is due to increased returns to the components of skill other than years of schooling and years of labor market experience. Copyright 1993 by University of Chicago Press.
This paper assesses the relative contributions of the different systems of pay determination in the private sector and the public sector toward the changing level of wage inequality and the gender pay ratio in the UK. The greater centralisation of pay arrangements in the public sector compared with the private sector in the UK suggests that public sector employment may have acted to offset the widening wage inequality seen in recent years, as well as making an important contribution to the increase in women's relative average earnings compared to men. This issue is addressed by drawing on unpublished occupational hourly earnings data from the New Earnings Survey and applying decomposition of the Theil index of wage inequality to analyse both static and dynamic trends. The change in wage inequality for the period 1986 to 1995 primarily reflected the change in wage dispersion within the private sector, and the narrowing of the gender pay gap among the public sector workforce was an important factor in explaining the overall improvement in women's relative earnings. The paper argues that the relatively centralised pay arrangements in the public sector, compared with the private sector, played an important role in slowing the increase in wage inequality and narrowing the gender pay gap. As such, future policies to decentralise pay determination in the UK public sector may exacerbate the increasing level of wage inequality and reverse women's recent relative pay improvements.
One measure of the health of the Social Security system is the difference between the market value of the trust fund and the present value of benefits accrued to date. How should present values be computed for this calculation in light of future uncertainties? We think it is important to use market value. Since claims on accrued benefits are not currently traded in financial markets, we cannot directly observe a market value. In this paper, we use a model to estimate what the market price for these claims would be if they were traded. In valuing such claims, the key issue is properly adjusting for risk. The traditional actuarial approach – the approach currently used by the Social Security Administration in generating its most widely cited numbers - ignores risk and instead simply discounts “expected†future flows back to the present using a risk-free rate. If benefits are risky and this risk is priced by the market, then actuarial estimates will differ from market value. Effectively, market valuation uses a discount rate that incorporates a risk premium. Developing the proper adjustment for risk requires a careful examination of the stream of future benefits. The U.S. Social Security system is “wage-indexedâ€: future benefits depend directly on future realizations of the economy-wide average wage index. We assume that there is a positive long-run correlation between average labor earnings and the stock market. We then use derivative pricing methods standard in the finance literature to compute the market price of individual claims on future benefits, which depend on age and macro state variables. Finally, we aggregate the market value of benefits across all cohorts to arrive at an overall value of accrued benefits. We find that the difference between market valuation and “actuarial†valuation is large, especially when valuing the benefits of younger cohorts. Overall, the market value of accrued benefits
Evidence of shifts towards atomized relations in the labor market appears to conflict with economic theories of the internal labor market. The problem, however, lies not with the irrelevance of internal labor market systems and broader institutional structures but rather with the misspecification of theoretical analysis. New institutional and labor market segmentation models are typically restricted to a static, dualistic framework of comparative forms of work organization. This paper outlines a dynamic approach to the study of internal labor markets. The authors argue that internal and external competitive pressures mutually interact to shape employer strategy and the relative labor market positions of employees. Copyright 1998 by Oxford University Press.
This study transforms the October Inquiry' Survey of wages conducted by the International Labour Organization into a consistent data file on pay in 161 occupations in over 150 countries from 1983 to 1998 to examine the pattern of pay across occupations and countries. The new file tells us that: 1. Skill differentials vary inversely with gross domestic product per capita. During the 1980s-1990s, they fell modestly in advanced countries; fell more sharply in upper middle income countries while rising markedly in countries moving from communism to free markets and in lower middle income countries. 2. Wages in the same occupation vary greatly across countries measured by common currency exchange rates and measured by purchasing power parity. Cross-country differences in pay for comparable work increased, despite increased world trade. 3. The principal forces that affect the occupational wage structure around the world are the level of gross domestic product per capita and unionisation/wage-setting institutions.
The Gender wage gap in Denmark has virtually stagnated since the early 1970's. This study examines whether this stagnation is mainly due to a changing wage dispersion or to changing prices on observed and unobserved skills. Since about half of the female labour force is employed in the public sector, the impact of the changing wage structure between the public and private sectors is investigated. The analysis is based on the Juhn-Murphy-Pierce decomposition applied to a pooled wage regression model. The equivalence between the former and the Oaxaca-Ransom generalized wage decomposition is established. These techniques are applied to a sample of Danish wage earners in the period 1983-94. The decomposition results suggest different explanations bethind the stagnation of the gender wage gap in the public and private sectors. The development in average public sector wages is calculated assuming observed and unobserved private sector prices are in effect.
In this study we consider two panels of wage-earners, from 1974 to 1988, for Italy and France respectively. The international perspective and the availability of micro-data are particularly interesting for they allow us to address individual characteristics as well as national specificities. In the empirical analysis a partitioning of the earnings distribution by deciles is used and the overall hierarchical mobility of individuals is investigated. Transition matrices are computed in order to compare wage formation and mobility processes across countries, in the period under investigation. A rich battery of mobility indices is presented and the relations between them are studied.
The paper addresses several different issues and compares the results across countries. First, the evolution of earnings and the relative wage profiles are compared across countries. Second, the heterogeneity issue is addressed and some structural characteristics of the sample are studied, namely: cohort and gender differences in earnings.
We study the impact of the introduction of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) in Britain on various gender wage gaps. Other things equal, if women are over-represented amongst the low paid, we might expect to see the introduction of the NMW narrowing the overall gender pay gap. Using six years of Labour Force Survey data we assess the evidence before and after the introduction of the NMW at various quantiles in the aggregate wage distribution. We go on to document how the proportion of females in various occupations affects male and female pay before and after the advent of the minimum wage. We conclude that there is only moderate evidence of any change in the rate of decline in the average gender pay gap around the period the NMW was introduced. Copyright 2002 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
We adapt a framework used in an analysis of black-white wage trends in the US to estimate the contribution of gender-specific factors versus wage structure in explaining international differences in the gender gap. The striking finding of our study is that the higher level of wage inequality in the US works to increase the gender differential in the US relative to all the other countries in our sample and fully accounts for the lower gender earnings ratio in the US compared to the Scandinavian countries and Australia (the countries with the smallest gaps). First, US wage-setting institutions are considerably less centralized than in other countries, thus making a finding of the importance of wage structure plausible. Second, the US commitment to policies of equal pay and equal employment opportunity compares positively to the other countries in our sample. Finally, even though the estimated wage inequality effect may include the impact of gender discrimination as it interacts with wage structure, our findings nonetheless suggest an extremely important role for wage inequality in affecting the gender ratio. -from Authors