Women's Labour Market Participation Research Articles

Gender Role Attitudes and Women's Labor Market Participation: Opting-Out, AIDS, and the Persistent Appeal of Housewifery

After a century of remarkable growth, U.S. female labor force participation (FLP) has leveled-off in the late 1990s, despite continuous improvement in fundamental economic variables, such as educational attainment. Using data from the 1977-2006 General Social Surveys (GSS), this paper studies the impact of changing gender role attitudes on the evolution of FLP. The analysis uses a double prong instrumental variable strategy in the context of a variant of two-sample two-stage least squares (TS2LS). First, it appeals to extraneous attitudes found in the GSS, and second to an exogenous shock to attitudes, namely the AIDS scare, which may have acted as a counter-current to the ``Pill Revolution", using repeated cross-sectional data from the 1988-2006 National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS). Gender role attitudes, whose progression stalled in the mid-1990s when the AIDS crisis peaked, are found to explain at least a third of the recent leveling-off in FLP that is, as much as all the usual variables combined.

Gender Roles and Attitudes towards Family Life and Paid Work in Romania

In 1997, the Treaty of Amsterdam included the gender component in all European Community policies, establishing that the principle of equal treatment is a fundamental right. Since then, Member States formulated and promoted various policies and measures to combat inequalities. On the other hand, employment strategies in the European Union laid stress on the importance and on the need to increase labour market participation of women. Attitudes to gender roles are crucial in terms of women's participation in the labour market. European Commission reported that the attitudes of European families are sometimes positive, sometimes negative, and sometimes ambivalent in relation to policies on gender equality. A process of re-traditionalisation is also mentioned, especially in the case of post-socialist countries (European Commission, 2013). On the other hand, family policies have an important role in facilitating the growth of the employment rates among women, but they do not necessarily produce changes in attitudes to gender roles (Motiejunaite & Kravchenko, 2008). The paper presents an analysis regarding the roles that Romanian men and women play on the social reality scene with regards to the attitudes and preferences towards paid work and family life.

정부의 자녀양육 보조금이 기혼여성의 노동시장 참여에 미치는 영향 : 패널분석 방법을 이용하여

This study analyzes how governmental financial support of child care affects the participation of married women in the labor market in Korea. This dynamic analysis used data gathered over four years via the fifth to the eighth Korea Welfare Panel Studies (KWPS). The major results are as follows. First, child care allowance has a negative effect on the participation of married women in the labour market. Providing cash for child care seems to decrease women's labour market participation by cementing the role of women as the primary child care providers in the household. Second, the support for families, used by child care facilities, is found to increase the probability of married women working either part-time or full-time, thereby decreasing the burden on household budgets caused by child care costs. In conclusion, governmental policy-based child care benefits, used by child care centers, should be continued so that married women may participate in the labour market while raising their children.

Marginal Likelihood Estimation with the Cross-Entropy Method

We consider an adaptive importance sampling approach to estimating the marginal likelihood, a quantity that is fundamental in Bayesian model comparison and Bayesian model averaging. This approach is motivated by the difficulty of obtaining an accurate estimate through existing algorithms that use Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) draws, where the draws are typically costly to obtain and highly correlated in high-dimensional settings. In contrast, we use the cross-entropy (CE) method, a versatile adaptive Monte Carlo algorithm originally developed for rare-event simulation. The main advantage of the importance sampling approach is that random samples can be obtained from some convenient density with little additional costs. As we are generating independent draws instead of correlated MCMC draws, the increase in simulation effort is much smaller should one wish to reduce the numerical standard error of the estimator. Moreover, the importance density derived via the CE method is grounded in information theory, and therefore, is in a well-defined sense optimal. We demonstrate the utility of the proposed approach by two empirical applications involving women's labor market participation and U.S. macroeconomic time series. In both applications, the proposed CE method compares favorably to existing estimators.

Beyond the census. Reconstructing Dutch women's labour market participation in agriculture in the Netherlands, ca. 1830–1910

Many historians have pointed out for various countries that nineteenth-century national censuses do not accurately reflect women's economic activity. This was no different for the Dutch national censuses. In this article, we argue that under-recording was especially severe in agriculture, and that this problem increased towards the end of the century. The rise in under-recording was partly due to an increased irregularity of women's work on farms, but it also reflected changing living standards and ideologies, in which work was increasingly defined as undesirable for women. In relative terms, agriculture did become less important to men and women alike because of mechanization and industrialization. Nevertheless, agriculture continued to employ many women, especially married women and daughters working on their husbands' and fathers' farms. By offering additional source material and methods for estimating women's labour force participation in agriculture on a regional level, such as relating their occupational status to their husbands', and estimating the number of days worked, we aim to offer an enhanced methodology for gauging the work of women in agriculture, which may be applied to future research.

Deeltijdwerk en gelijkheid

Part-time work and gender equality Part-time work and gender equality A persistent issue in labour market research is whether part-time work contributes to the growth of female labour market participation or keeps women from participation in full-time jobs. Elaborating on a growth model of part-time work, we hypothesise that a high share of part-time jobs and growth of part-time work increase female labour market participation and equality, and that the growth effects decline under the condition of a high share of part-time work. We test the hypotheses with data on annual growth rates of female labour market participation and equality. The data contain 554 cases from 34 countries, based upon OECD labour market statistics and World Bank data. The results confirm that a high share of part-time work leads to increased female participation and that an increase in part-time work leads to increased labour market equality. The tests also show the existence of ceiling effects in the effects of the share of part-time work. We conclude that part-time work leads to greater labour market participation of women and greater equality in the labour market.

Gender inequalities in health: exploring the contribution of living conditions in the intersection of social class

Background : Women experience poorer health than men despite their longer life expectancy, due to a higher prevalence of non-fatal chronic illnesses. This paper aims to explore whether the unequal gender distribution of roles and resources can account for inequalities in general self-rated health (SRH) by gender, across social classes, in a Southern European population. Methods : Cross-sectional study of residents in Catalonia aged 25–64, using data from the 2006 population living conditions survey (n=5,817). Poisson regression models were used to calculate the fair/poor SRH prevalence ratio (PR) by gender and to estimate the contribution of variables assessing several dimensions of living conditions as the reduction in the PR after their inclusion in the model. Analyses were stratified by social class (non-manual and manual). Results : SRH was poorer for women among both non-manual (PR 1.39, 95% CI 1.09–1.76) and manual social classes (PR 1.36, 95% CI 1.20–1.56). Adjustment for individual income alone eliminated the association between sex and SRH, especially among manual classes (PR 1.01, 95% CI 0.85–1.19; among non-manual 1.19, 0.92–1.54). The association was also reduced when adjusting by employment conditions among manual classes, and household material and economic situation, time in household chores and residential environment among non-manual classes. Discussion : Gender inequalities in individual income appear to contribute largely to women's poorer health. Individual income may indicate the availability of economic resources, but also the history of access to the labour market and potentially the degree of independence and power within the household. Policies to facilitate women's labour market participation, to close the gender pay gap, or to raise non-contributory pensions may be helpful to improve women's health.

Economic and Social Potential of Family-supporting Services, Limits and Challenges

Due to the increase of the economic pressure on households, it is increasingly more difficult to balance family life and economic activity. Reasons for this evolution can be the increased labour market participation of women, the ageing of the population to name a few. Within the EU, different systems to offer assistance in creating a balanced social and economically active life have been established in numerous countries. However, the aims, results and general scope of these national policies differ.The main focus of this paper will be the Belgian situation, i.e. the voucher system (services cheques). Starting with a general view of the reasons of existence of family-support services, followed by the different support services policies offered in various European countries, the Belgian situation will be discussed.The voucher system in Belgium has encountered an explosive boom which brings unexpected results and side effects. These affect the country’s social economical system. The paper discusses the evolution of the system. What are the reasons for the unexpected success? What are the economic and social consequences for a modern active welfare state, can growth be limitless? The paper will attempt to provide answers on these questions raised.

The Impact of Learning on Women's Labour Market Transitions

Women play an increasingly important role in the labour market and as wage earners. Moreover, in many countries, young women have outperformed men in terms of educational attainment and qualification. Still, women's human capital investment does not pay off as it does for men as they are still significantly disadvantaged on the labour market. Based on a qualitative empirical investigation with women in their mid-career, this article investigates the role of learning for women's labour market participation and career paths. Women's careers complexly intersect with role expectations, family needs, the career of the partner and anticipation of low returns of educational investment. This is typically reflected in discontinuous employment, part-time work and women's secondary wage earner position in the family. Furthermore, women qualified at the intermediate skills level are more likely to move horizontally in their career than vertically. Horizontal mobility thereby requires significant engagement with learning as the German labour market usually requires a formal qualification to realise a career change. Learning and further training thus become instrumental to facilitate and support women's career transitions, which are often aimed at re-entering regular employment after longer periods of family-related interruptions and/or to remain qualified in jobs in the social, health and educational fields, all of which are female dominated. Ultimately, women's significant engagement with continuing learning is not primarily expected to support career advancement and vertical mobility, particularly as it can neither alter discontinuities of employment nor the German-specific nexus between welfare, family and education policies and the labour market. This challenges the lifelong learning rhetoric insofar as one key aim of lifelong learning policies is to support labour market inclusion and the mobility of disadvantaged groups.

How Do Husbands Affect the Labour Market Participation of Majority and Immigrant Women?

This study analyses the labour market participation of married immigrant and married majority women in Norway over the period 1995–2005. Panel data from several public register databases of the population of married women (N = 54,619) in Norway are used. The purpose of the present study is to examine the extent to which women's labour market participation is affected by the labour market resources of their husbands, and if these influences differ for majority women and immigrant women. The result shows that the husbands' employment status and earnings have a positive effect on the wives' employment probabilities. However, this effect gets smaller after controlling for the unobserved stable characteristics of the women. But for women of Iranian, Iraqi or Vietnamese origin, the effect holds even after controlling for the women's unobserved stable characteristics. However, for the other country groups, including women from the majority, the husbands' labour market resources seem to be a less important factor determining whether or not the women participate in paid labour.

Women's Labor Participation Rates in the Kingdom of Castilla in the Eighteenth Century

Labor participation rates are key to understanding the economic development of a given region, yet many historical studies tend to undervalue women's labor activity. Using detailed records from the mid-eighteenth century Ensenada Cadaster (the most comprehensive census of the Kingdom of Castilla during this period), this study provides a detailed picture of the number of men and women engaged in paid work and the types of work they were doing in the region during this period. The data include information on marital status, age, number of children, and occupation, allowing for an in-depth analysis of the weight of women's labor market participation at the time.

Border crossings: reflections on women's lives in twentieth-century Britain

There has been a growing focus on personal life, memoir and autobiography in feminist writing, and in the social sciences more generally, in recent years. Feminist geographers, among others, argue that family relationships and personal recollections should be part of studies of the construction of personal identity and a sense of place. I combine this argument with research into women's labour market participation to explore the changing significance of waged work in British women's lives over the last century, seen through the personal lens of three generations of women's experiences of migration across geographical and class boundaries.

Female labour supply and nursing home prices

Long term care in Germany is provided in nursing homes, by professional ambulatory services and by the patient's relatives at home, with the latter being predominantly provided by women. Given an increasing labour market participation of women, long term care at home by female relatives might become less frequent in the future which in turn may result in rising demand for and hence rising prices for long term care services. This paper builds upon the existing literature on the determinants of nursing home prices and investigates whether the labour market participation and the education level of women are correlated with the prices of nursing homes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study using panel data approaches in this field of research. Based on a full sample of nursing homes in Germany for the years 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007, our empirical results suggest that a high share of full-time employed women aged 50-65 at the district level is not associated with higher prices of nursing homes. Furthermore, we find only weak evidence for a positive correlation of prices with the local average of women's educational level and a negative correlation with part-time employment indicating that price levels are lower in regions with higher shares of part-time employed women.

Italy and Spain: Still the Case of Familistic Welfare Models?

Italy and Spain are often labeled by the literature on comparative welfare as "familistic" welfare systems. Although it is not possible to find a unified criteria which defines and specifies what is meant by "familism" as a feature of a given welfare state model, generally speaking the term refers to the key role that the family plays in the overarching architecture of the welfare system, acting as the main provider of care and welfare for children and dependent individuals. This article will reflect on these questions by critically revising the framing of Southern European welfare states as "familistic" in the comparative welfare and care regimes literature. We will then look at trends of female labour force participation in Italy and Spain over the last two decades (1990-2010) in terms of the intensity of women's participation in the labour market and their prevailing pattern of participation for both countries. We will look at activity, employment and unemployment according to age, education level, civil status and number of children; and patterns of participation by looking at permanency in employment and type of contract (part-time/full-time and fixed-term). The idea here is to analyse the extent to which Italy and Spain have (or have not) made the transition from a 'male breadwinner model' (where women remain outside paid employment) towards a more diversified pattern of family formation with regards the labour market participation of women. The purpose will also be that of stressing divergences between these two countries in their evolution of their female labour force that may question their assumed similarities.

Women Labor Market Participation in Europe: Novel Evidence on Trends and Shaping Factors

We investigate the changes in women's participation patterns across 15 EU countries over the last 20 years using individual data from ECHP and EUSILC databases. Our findings reveal a role of social policies and institutional factors that is stronger than what has so far been assessed. Labor market reforms explain almost 25% of the actual increase in labor force participation for young women, and more than 30% for highly educated women. The effects of labor market reforms on the participation of low skilled women in the labor force are instead surprisingly small. We also find that reforms of the institutional framework towards a model of flexicure labor market are effective in enhancing women labor supply only when deregulation is accompanied by sufficient social compensation.

Pros and cons of family policies for mothers' labour market participation

PurposeThe purpose of this editorial is to examine sociological research on the possibilities and pitfalls of social policies for mothers' employment participation, and identify research gaps in the existing literature. The paper aims to focus mainly on the implications of parental leave schemes on mothers' employment participation.Design/methodology/approachThe editorial discusses the inconsistencies in the current sociological debate on the impact of social policies on mothers' employment.FindingsThe relationship between parental leave policies and women's participation in the work force is complex. The literature shows a disagreement about whether such policies mitigate family‐related career disadvantages, or in fact, contribute to gender inequality in the labour market. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the interplay between social policies and mothers' labour market participation, and national and cross‐national variation in the consequences of childbirth on women's labour market participation the editorial points at the several aspects that need to be investigated in greater depth by further research. The editorial emphasizes the necessity of conducting in‐depth international comparisons in order to account for between‐country variations as well as within‐country variations. Furthermore, the symbolic nature of family policy must not be neglected.Originality/valueThe editorial identifies research gaps to be addressed by further research.

Nederlandse Collectieve Uitgaven in Historisch Perspectief (Dutch Public Expenditure in Historical Perspective)

Nederlandse Collectieve Uitgaven in Historisch Perspectief (Dutch Public Expenditure in Historical Perspective)

Women in the Workforce

AbstractThe case for increasing women's labour market participation in Australia includes a positive economic impact and an ability to remain competitive internationally. To increase participation, we must address existing barriers including pay inequity, unequal caring responsibilities, discrimination and harassment. Reforms have already been implemented, including paid parental leave and amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act. These provide a strong legislative base to support workplaces that are inclusive of both men and women. However, there is still much to be done to create a fairer and more equal Australia but, most importantly, an Australia with a prosperous and sustainable future.

The Rise and Fall of Divorce: A Sociological Extension of Becker's Model of the Marriage Market

Despite its popularity, Gary Becker's model of the marriage market does not fully predict empirical correlations between married women's labor market participation and aggregate divorce rates. In this article, we show how a simple extension of Becker's model inspired by sociological theory improves the model's predictive power. We extend Becker's model to account for matching agents' preferences for partner specialization, and as a novelty, we introduce a sociologically inspired coordination mechanism for this trait. We show that these extensions of Becker's model improve its predictive power in terms of explaining empirical trends in divorce rates.

Introduction: Transnational Care in Europe--Changing Formations of Citizenship, Family, and Generation

The issue of how care should be arranged within European states' welfare policies in the context of Europe's aging population has generated considerable interest. Increasing labor market participation of women, longer life expectancy, and greater care needs have contributed to a care deficit in Europe. Projections of population aging and concerns about the future ratio of workers to nonworking people with care needs (e.g., the elderly, children) have elevated care into an important policy concern for many European states, and on the level of the European Union (EU). While a lot of the conceptual tools for research on transnational care have been developed in the North American context where state provision is lacking, the situation in Europe differs. Especially in recent years, in many European countries, care has been recognized as a public good (Lister et al. 2007) and European states shape care provision by restructuring state support for care.