Women Employment Trends and Growing concerns
This
study analyzes the changing trends in women’s employment and the
growing concerns associated with them. Women have come a long way
since the early centuries in terms of employment and job
opportunities. They have become more self-reliant and more of them
are handling jobs that they weren’t allowed to in the past. The
main reason for this is that women struggled and fought for their
right to work. Despite this, statistics show that still a major
proportion of women is not a part of the workforce.
One
of the first jobs that women had was of a hawker. This was most
common in areas of South Asia, Central America, and Africa. Even now,
this is one of the jobs women are still employed in. In ancient Rome,
women were bound by the society’s rules. It can be seen as they
were forbidden to take part in political assemblies or hold any
political position.
Women
only began to enter the workforce during the Industrial Revolution.
The fact that women and children could provide cheap labour was one
of the major reasons behind their employment. They were hired in
textile mills, factories in the United States, and were paid $3 per
week. Despite this, women stopped working after they were married
off. A ray of hope emerged for them after the Civil War when women
entered the labour force to compensate for the men who fought during
the war. But this opportunity was limited to white women as employers
preferred to hire them over women of colour for positions of higher
authority (Dhara
Shah, workingwomen.web.unc.org).
More
and more women became a part of workforce but pay disparity could be
evidently seen where women were paid far less than men for the same
work. Men took on most of the supervisory roles, while women were
burdened with both household duties and their jobs. During the World
War II, a wider range of opportunities emerged for the working class
women as they took up jobs that were previously male dominated.
Many
activist groups, and non-profit organizations were formed to help
women, and soon the equal pay act was passed in 1963. Due to this,
women started entering areas in the government sector, and took up
high skilled jobs. Today, women comprise of 46.9% of the labour force
in the United States, and 24.39% in India. According to the India
Labour Market Update 2017, the labour force participation rate for
women in India is very low, stating that their participation rate is
28.5% as compared to 82% for men. This is despite the fact that the
percentage of enrollment in higher education is almost the same for
both men and women, 27%. If the labour force participation rate for
women were to increase by 10%, more than $700 billion could be added
to India’s GDP, meaning a 1.4% increase in the growth rate.
India
was one of the first countries to give women equal rights and to pass
laws to protect and promote women’s interests though even after
that women are still denied economic and social privileges
(azadindia.org).
In
urban areas, a graduate woman is paid 30% less than a graduate man.
This gap is further widened in rural areas where women are paid 45%
less than men. Though, there are some sectors where women are paid
more. In construction sector in rural areas and transport and storage
sectors in urban areas women are paid marginally more than men. Even
after achieving higher education the gender pay gap continues to
remain high (business-standard.com).
Due
to lesser representation of women in higher position roles, women in
top management earn 18.8% less than men. In India the state closest
to gender parity is Mizoram, where the female empowerment index
(FEMDEX) is 0.70 while the state furthest from gender parity is Bihar
with the FEMDEX of 0.42. The five states with the highest index
account for only 4% of the working population of women while the ones
with the least FEMDEX account for 32% of them.
Across
the world, 4 out of the 5 Nordic countries and one country each from
sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and Eastern
Europe and Central Asia regions – Rwanda, Nicaragua and Slovenia -
have closed more than 80% of their gender gap. Yemen, the lowest
ranking country has closed slightly less than 52% of its gender gap.
(Global Gender Gap
Report 2017).
The
lower income countries show higher labour market participation rates
for women where the gap is close to 92%, than the lower middle-income
countries like India, Egypt and Bangladesh, where only 67% of the gap
is closed. High-income countries have closed 78% of their gender gap.
Low-income
countries and high-income countries have respective average wage gaps
of 21% and 19%. Lithuania, Botswana, Vietnam and Liberia are
countries, which exhibit high wage parity and high labour market
participation parity among all income groups. (Global
Gender Gap Report 2017).
According
to an estimate by Teigner,M. and D.Cuberes, “East Asia and the
Pacific lose between USD 42 billion and USD 47 billion annually due
to women’s limited access to employment opportunities.” It has
been proved that higher gender parity in education lowers infant and
child mortality rate, maternal mortality rates and increases the
labour force participation rates and earnings. The labour force
participation rate has been decreasing for both men and women but
this decrease is more prominent for women. On the other hand the
amount of income earned by both has been on a constant rise, though
the increase is more for men than women, indicating unequal
distribution of the growth between them. Among high posts in public
and business sectors, the share of women is only 22%. There are
certain occupations where the proportion of women is higher than men,
like Education, Health and welfare fields, while there is low
representation of women in fields of Engineering, Manufacturing,
Information, Communication, and Technology. In India, about 45.51% of
teachers were women in 2011-12, and the percentage has been
increasing steadily. In the Engineering sector, only 26% of the total
students are women, while the percentage rises to 35% in IT sector.
Unpaid care work provided by women affects the functioning of
economy, and would constitute between 10-40% of the GDP, but remains
unaccounted and unrecognized.
There
are various reasons behind low participation rate of women in India.
First, the problem arises during the job interviews. Many-a-times,
the employers prefer to hire men over women due to their conservative
thinking that women are less capable than men. Apart from this,
according to ASSOCHAM’s survey, 80% of women are expected to
prioritize household duties over their work. Nearly one-third of
women face the problem of sexual harassment, but more than 60% of the
times, the issue gets away unreported. More and more women are
dropping out of the workforce due to social norms like marriage and
motherhood. Due to the steep rise in income of men, both women and
men tend to believe that the latter’s income is sufficient enough
to satisfy the family’s requirements. Another reason why women quit
their jobs is poor security. They fall victims to various crimes, and
are advised not to take up night shifts by their families. Women face
the problem of pregnancy discrimination in their workplace. Around
50,000 women per year lose their jobs after having a baby. Many of
them are handed a different responsibility after they return back,
while some of them quit their jobs permanently to take care of their
children. Race and ethnicity is another problem in the US, as
according to a report by Institute for Women’s research, less
percentage of women of colour and immigrants are hired as compared to
white women. There is also a drop in the female labour force
participation rate due to “expansion of secondary education,
leading to more working age young women to continue their education
rather than join the labour force early,” according to a paper by
World Bank in 2017.
There
are various ways suggested to help women overcome these challenges
and pursue the job they want to. Flexible Work Arrangements can be
used as a tool, which will allow women to manage their career, and
personal lives efficiently. A ‘no negotiations’ policy can be
implemented by the leaders to ensure pay parity in workplaces. This
can also be done through pay transparency, and through a regular wage
audit. To prevent sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour
towards women, an access to workplace reporting system should be
ensured, managers and other employees can be trained to report any
case of such behaviour, and all the complaints should be thoroughly
investigated and correct actions should be taken.
Education
and skill building, creation of jobs in particular sectors, policies
to promote diversity, all can help to encourage women to join
workforce.
In conclusion, women have far
more opportunities in today’s world than they had a few centuries
ago. But there is still a long way to go. Even though women have
become more assertive about their rights to work, the developing
countries, and even the developed countries fail to show an
improvement in the labour force participation rate for women. There
are various causes for this but they can be overcome if proper
methods and strategies are implemented.
Riya Khanna
List
of Sources:
-
Global Gender Gap Report 2017
-
Delta Quest Media (Ireland) Limited
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