Women's Labor Research Articles

Pengaruh Kesehatan Reproduksi Wanita dan Pemberdayaan Wanita Terhadap Tingkat Partisipasi Angkatan Kerja Wanita di Indonesia

This study aims to find out and analyze how the influence of women's reproductive health and women's empowerment on the participation rate of the female workforce in Indonesia. This study used secondary data sourced from the Indonesian Central Bureau of Statistics with the research variables grouped into two parts, namely the bond variable which in this study was determined as the female labor force participation rate and the independent variables consisting of women's life expectancy, young women's marriage, female mother, female education level, female per capita income and female involvement in parliament. This study uses panel data regression analysis with the selected method, namely the Common Effect Model (CEM). The results showed that women's life expectancy, young women's marriage, women's fertility rates and women's involvement in parliament each had a negative and insignificant effect on women's labor force participation. Women's education level has a negative and significant effect on female labor force participation and women's per capita income has a positive and significant effect on female labor force participation.

Careers in “woman‐friendly” occupations: Investigating the role of beauty consultant in the era of neoliberalism

AbstractThis article explores the paradoxical nature of beauty consultant careers in Japan. Despite being considered a “woman‐friendly” occupation, it reveals the challenging aspects of this profession in a neoliberal context. Japan's gender gap in employment is stark, with women often engaged in precarious positions, earning significantly less than men. The beauty industry, perceived as advancing women's empowerment, presents opportunities for women in management roles. However, the profession of a beauty consultant demands continuous beauty upkeep, making it a potentially unsustainable career. The research draws on interviews with former and current beauty consultants, supplemented by statistical data and observational research. It highlights their working environment, including entry requirements, training, career advancement, and aesthetic labor demands such as wearing company uniforms, using specific makeup, and maintaining a youthful appearance. Despite a seemingly supportive environment with maternity leave and career advancement prospects, the research reveals the reality of aesthetic labor demands, limited career progression, and challenges faced by women in sustaining their careers after life events like childbirth. Neoliberal norms impact these women, emphasizing self‐fulfillment, maintaining youth and beauty, and working post life events. In conclusion, the research offers insights into the gendered labor dynamics in Japan and broadens understanding of women's labor in the neoliberal context. It calls for a deeper examination of “woman‐friendly” workplaces and underscores the need to recognize the challenges women face in career progression in such environments.

From traditional remedies to mental hospital: the evolution of mental illness treatment among women labourers in the straits settlements, 1900-1930

ABSTRACT Mental illness was a common sickness in the Straits Settlements. The British established mental hospitals in order to treat the patients. The women labourers working under the Straits Settlements were too attached with ethnic herbs and traditional beliefs that have been passed down through generations, causing them to resist modern treatment. The traditional practice brought pointless results, and many of them were left untreated. Previous research showed that traditional medical practice caused health problems leading to mental illness among the women labourers and the British took their responsibility lightly to educate the women labourers on modern treatment. This study aims to highlight the practice of mental remedies and the evolution of treatment that could be seen in the 1900s. The British carried out many persuasive stages to gain the women labourers’ trust towards modern treatment and hospital. First, they offered treatment at home. Second, the mental hospital. Findings showed that the acceptance of modern medication among the women labourers started in 1915. This article involved qualitative method through content analysis mostly from the Straits Settlements Annual Reports. Throughout the discussion, it was observed that the women labourers preferred the occupational therapy method offered by the mental hospital.

Women's Representation in Canadian Municipalities

This research note uses a new and comprehensive data set of 22,333 municipal elected positions in 3,363 municipalities across Canada to provide a systematic analysis of women's presence in municipal office. Drawing on findings from cross-national research about women's representation in local governments, we examine whether district type, council size, urban setting, women's workforce participation, and degree of conservatism among voters account for variation in the proportion of women elected as councillors and mayors. We find support for most, but not all, of the relevant factors in previous studies. Urban municipalities and municipalities with at-large and hybrid elections are associated with larger proportions of women mayors and councillors. Ideology also matters: the proportion of women in municipal office is smaller in conservative municipalities. Finally, we find no evidence that council size or women's labor force participation is related to women's representation among mayors or councillors.

“We Know It's a Library”: Black Space, Black Women's Labor, and Radical Black Joy

The Junior Scholars Program (JSP) is a tuition-free youth learning program at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York. At JSP, Damaris, a former JSP instructor, was introduced to Kadiatou, the Schomburg Center's former education and outreach programs manager. They write collaboratively to (re)member the dialectical relationship between Black women's labor, Black Space, and Radical Black Joy.

Putting women back into the early modern economy: Work, occupations, and economic development

AbstractA dataset of just under 10,000 work tasks gleaned from court depositions that records women's as well as men's work, and unpaid as well as paid activities, prompts a reassessment of the transformation of the early modern economy and women's role within it. Rather than sectoral change in production activities with a growth of manufacturing at the expense of agriculture, the evidence suggests that work tasks changed little over time despite occupational specialization increasing. Women's labour force participation is shown to contribute 44 per cent of work in the economy, rather than 30 per cent as in previous estimates. This is partly because of the importance of commercialized housework and care work, which has been largely overlooked in existing models of the early modern economy. Turning to waged work, findings confirm that men's and women's participation in paid agricultural work were linked, with women being employed in greater numbers when men were not available. However, these trends had a strong relationship with access to land, a factor that has been neglected in comparison with demographic trends and the cost of consumables. The organization of work was transformed in the seventeenth century as the number of completely landless households increased rapidly.

Determinants of Female Labour Force Participation in Pakistan

Women's labour force affects the household economy as well as economic growth. Women's labour force contribution rate is also increasing gradually in Pakistan. We attempted to determine the determinants and impact of women's labour force contribution on households. Time series data were taken from World Bank and WDI from 1981 to 2020. Based on the unit root test the ARDL model was finalized. Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) was used to verify the significance of the estimated ARDL-VECM model. There was a positive and negative association among selected variables. Variables such as female population, ratio of female workers, female headed households and female literacy rate positively and significantly impacted the female labour force participation whereas fertility rate and child mortality rate negatively but significantly determined the participation of females in labour force. Based on findings, government should focus on health and education sectors with special focus on females in order to provide reasonable educational and health facilities in order to support females participation in various economic activities of the country.

Critical theories of law and the formation of women's labor rights

Feminism as a social movement presents countless expressions and forms of action and the same is seen in its relation to Law. The feminist critique of the Law is vast and plural, presenting different ways of interpreting it, either as a tool of struggle for women, or as a maximum expression of women's subordination in the patriarchal logic. Thus, in view of the different points of view observable in the development of feminism, from the beginning of the 20th century, we will seek to identify the forms of action of the Brazilian feminist movement in relation to the labor norms in formation at the time, bringing up women and his actions that disputed the meanings of the regulation of labor relations proposed by Getúlio Vargas from 1930 onwards.

The Role Of Women's Labor Force Participation In Decreasing Aceh Province Poverty Rate

The poverty rate can decrease if there is a dual role of working women, the development of the times has proven to have implications for shifting the role of women in reducing poverty. Acehnese women, who used to be a social construction built on the basis of people's understanding of cultural values ​​and interpretations in the Islamic religion, have shifted to a new era where Acehnese women can take part in the household production process. This paper wants to analyze how big the role of women is working towards poverty reduction in Aceh Province. The results of the study show that the variable number of industries directly (X4) has a negative and not significant effect on wage estimates for Aceh Province

Uncovering the Transformative Labor in Black Women's Community Work

Despite efforts by scholars to visibilize Black women's community work, we still lack a framework that captures the nuances in the work arrangements of Black women serving and advocating for their communities. Our paper introduces a new conceptual framework, the Continuum of Transformative and Reproductive Labor (CTRL), to recognize this hidden multiform labor of racialized women. The CTRL places community work that reproduces oppressive social structures on a spectrum opposite what we call transformative labor—labor that disrupts systems of oppression. The CTRL framework distinguishes social reproductive and transformative community work along four dimensions, (1) the type of power each produces, (2) workers’ autonomy and leadership, (3) workers’ motivation, and (4) how the work is valued. We explore the utility of the CTRL framework for analyzing multiple types of community work Black women perform by highlighting historical and contemporary cases in two different labor contexts. Ultimately, we make a key contribution to feminist social work; Recognizing the community as a site of social reproductive labor, we create a new framework to acknowledge Black women's labor in the community as distinct in its capacity to transform social systems by resisting the reproduction of racial and gender inequality.

The Impact of Trade Openness on Gender Pay Gap

Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the impact of trade openness (among other variables) on gender pay gap in twenty selected Arab and non-Arab countries. A panel data covering the period 2010-2019 is utilized.. Method: A two panel regression models are employed. One model examines the impact of trade percentage of GDP, foreign direct investment (FDI) percentage of GDP, women's labor participation, and women's participation in parliament on the gender pay gap. The same model is applied first to all countries in the sample, and second to the sample dividing countries according to size as large and small countries.. Results: The findings indicate that, in the overall sample, trade percentage of GDP positively and significantly influences the gender pay gap percentage, while FDI percentage of GDP has a negative and significant impact. Additionally, women's participation in parliament is found to have a negative and significant effect on the gender pay gap, whereas women's labor participation shows no significant correlation. In the context of large countries, trade percentage of GDP has a positive and significant impact on the gender pay gap, and women's labor participation is negatively associated with the gap. However, FDI percentage of GDP and women's parliamentary participation are not statistically significant in these countries. For small countries, only women's participation in parliament exhibits a negative and significant relationship with the gender pay gap. Conclusion: The study's results highlight the complex dynamics between trade openness and gender wage inequality, emphasizing the varying effects based on country size. Policymakers should consider these findings to develop targeted strategies addressing gender pay disparities within the context of trade openness

The dilemma between fertility and work: How did the Universal Two-Child policy affect Chinese women's labor income?

Based on China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data from 2012 to 2020, we estimate the effect of the "Universal Two-Child" (UTC) policy on women's employment income in China by the Difference-in-Difference (DID) model. Our results show that the UTC policy leads to an average decrease of 20.86% in women's employment income. Moreover, we reveal the mediation effect in the impact of the UTC policy on women's income and find that the UTC policy leads to a decrease in women's income by reducing their working hours and hourly wages. Furthermore, we find that the negative impacts of the UTC policy on women's employment income are greater among women under 35 years old and those without a bachelor's degree.

Overcome discrimination for older workers to achieve equality and sustainable development

Transformation of the world population age structure happens at a fast pace and creates problems of increasing social expenditures. However, Industry 4.0 technologies create large-scale opportunities for extending the labor activity of the older population. In Russia, share of people over working age is 22%, and it will increase by another 15% in next 30 years. At the same time, older people are discriminated in the labor market. The article is devoted to the study of job and salary discrimination of elderly workers in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania as a typical Russian region with tight labor market and a deteriorating demographic situation. Methods of statistical and graphical analysis, factual and sociological research were used. Conclusions have been drawn about the predominance of the model of preserving the employment of older workers in public administration, education, science and health care; the influence of the indexation rate of pensions for non-working pensioners on their informal employment; the preservation of wage disparities for older people employed in the regional economy. The internal gender and age discrimination that has developed in the field of remuneration of older age groups has been revealed: discrimination of women's labor in all age cohorts and types of employment; inter-cohort discrimination of older men's labor within one type of employment; discrimination of wage growth rates of employees of different types of employment. Measures to improve the efficiency of regulating the employment of older workers are proposed.

Gendering Public and Private International Law: Transversal Legal Histories of the State, Market, and the Family through Women's Private Property Rights

This essay takes up Karen Knop's challenge to reconstruct the oft-made distinction between private and public law by engaging private international law (PrIL) as a “lost side of international law.”1 To do so we interrogate the changing fortunes (literally) of women's private property rights in the long nineteenth century—a period characterized by the divestment and reinstatement of gendered rights in national law—focusing on the Nordics, Europe more broadly, and the Colonial world. Following Knop and other feminist legal scholars, and by engaging with questions of what Mariana Valverde calls “scale,”2 we bring women's property rights in conversation with international law. In doing so, we point to sites of engagement where the politico-economic structures of international law are lived, negotiated, reconfigured, and made real.3 We use scale to frame and inform our analysis bringing attention to how the “small” (micro) economics and politics of everyday life, women's labor, and gendered legal concerns, underpin and are an intrinsic part of the “large-scale” structures of international law. “All scales shifts,” Mariana Valverde notes, meaning that such “processes . . . br[ing] certain phenomena into focus that had previously been blurred or pushed to the background.”4 Recovering matters of women's history and everyday life, which, as Knop has argued are often “hiding in plain sight,” with a focus on women's property rights, brings to the fore the critical relationship between family/household, market, and the state, and the fundamental role international law has played in implementing a specific economic vision through the organization of gendered power relations.

EFICÁCIA DE MANUAL EDUCATIVO NO APOIO PRESTADO POR ACOMPANHANTES EM CENTRO OBSTÉTRICO: ENSAIO CLÍNICO RANDOMIZADO

ABSTRACT Objective: to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational manual on the support provided by companions during the labor process in an obstetric center. Method: a Randomized Clinical Trial conducted with 248 participants, comprising 124 companions and 124 puerperal women. The study took place between November 2018 and October 2019 at an obstetric center in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. The Companion Characterization Form, the Support Evaluation Form, and the Postpartum Woman's Labor Experience and Satisfaction Evaluation Form were used. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences statistical program. Chi-square and Fisher tests were employed, as well as the Mann-Whitney test. The Relative Risk (RR) and the 95% Confidence Interval (CI) were calculated for the main dependent variables. Results: it was evident that the companions from the Intervention Group were more likely to engage in physical, emotional, informational and advocacy/intermediation support actions, with a statistically significant difference observed in all support dimensions when comparing both groups. The companions from the Intervention Group performed more support actions (20 vs 6; p:0.001) and rated the experience of accompanying the birth more favorably (100.0 vs 74.2; p:0.001). It was identified that the puerperal women accompanied by participants from the Intervention Group were more likely to express satisfaction with how the labor process took place. Conclusion: the intervention applied in the maternity unit using an educational manual aimed at parturients’ companions is effective and contributes to providing support during childbirth.

The Unintended Impacts of the One-child Policy Relaxation in China on Women's Labor Market Outcomes

The Unintended Impacts of the One-child Policy Relaxation in China on Women's Labor Market Outcomes

SETIATI SURASTO DALAM PERJUANGAN BURUH PEREMPUAN PADA 1940AN-1960AN

This research discusses the views and roles of Setiati Surasto in improving the fate of women labour between the 1940s and 1960s. This study stems from companies’ or employers’ discrimination that always considers female labour as cheap labour from time to time. Women labour were seen as unskilled workers, feasibly exploited and not appreciated. Consequently, women labour experiences discrimination in various forms, ranging from wages to violations of their rights. This study used historical research methods in which newspapers and magazines were primary sources. The findings indicate that the inequality that they experience generates women’s agency and activism. Setiati Surasto was one of the activists who voiced her views on equality and welfare for women labour through writing and direct action. This research has filled the gaps in Indonesian historiography, especially by presenting the biography of a women’s labour activist during the early period of Indonesian independence.

WOMEN IN GEORGIAN LABOR MARKET AND FAMILY

The current situation in the labor market of Georgia, the identified trends and the main regularities confirm the growth of women's labor activity. But despite this, there is still a gender imbalance in the labor market. The main goal of the work was to reveal the trends of women's employment growth in Georgia and highlight the problems of coordinating family affairs against this background.

The impact of taking up care tasks on pensions: Results of typical-case simulations for several European countries

Informal care is often accompanied by a reduction or abandonment of professional activity by the caregiver. Therefore, caregiving may be associated with a lower pension for the former caregiver than for people without care obligations. There is a large gender difference in informal care responsibilities, and this may contribute to the gender pension gap. As the impact of care-related labour market decisions depends on the design of the pension system, we carry out a cross-country comparison, in which we analyse the impact of care obligations in countries with high (Luxembourg), middle (Liechtenstein, Belgium, Portugal) and low (Slovenia) gender pension gaps. Using typical-case simulation models, we examine how the impact of care-related events is mediated by pension rules, given women's labour market decisions. To what extent does working part time or interrupting one’s career at the age of 30 or 54 reduce the later pension benefit? How are these losses mitigated by pension credits that are conditional on caregiving? We find that the mitigating effects are generally strongest in Belgium, followed by Luxembourg and Slovenia. Such credits hardly exist in Portugal, while in Liechtenstein they have only a small impact. However, the consequences of either working part time or interrupting work can also be mitigated via general rules in the system that are unrelated to caregiving (such as in Portugal and Liechtenstein). They can, on the other hand, be aggravated by the existence of higher accrual rates for individuals who extend their careers, as in Luxembourg and Slovenia.

A Qualitative Study of Systems-Level Factors That Affect Rural Obstetric Nurses’ Work During Clinical Emergencies

Maternal morbidity and mortality is rising in the United States. Previous studies focus on patient attributes, and most of the national data are based on research performed at urban tertiary care centers. Although it is well understood that nurses affect patient outcomes, there is scant evidence to understand the nurse work system, and no studies have specifically studied rural nurses. The authors sought to understand the systems-level factors affecting rural obstetric nurses when their patients experience clinical deterioration. The research team used a qualitative descriptive approach, including a modified critical incident technique, in interviews with bedside nurses (n = 7) and physicians (n = 4) to understand what happens when patients experience clinical deterioration. Physicians were included to better understand the systems in which nurses work. Clinicians were interviewed at three rural hospitals in New England, with a mean births per year of 190. Six systems-level factors/themes were identified: (1) shortages of resources; (2) need for teamwork; (3) physicians' multiple conflicting and simultaneous responsibilities, such as seeing patients in the office while women labor on the hospital floor; (4) need for all team members to be at the top of their game; (5) process issues during high-acuity patient transfer, including difficulty finding available beds at tertiary care centers; and (6) insufficient policies that take low-resource contexts into account, such as requiring two registered nurses to remove emergency medications from the medication cabinet. Rural nurses need policies and protocols that are written with their hospital context in mind. Hospitals may need outside support for content expertise, but policies should be co-created with clinicians with rural practice experience.