Women In Workforce Research Articles

English

Women’s participation in the agricultural labour force (38.87 and 55.67%) in India and the State of Andhra Pradesh, India (Census of India, 2001) plays a distinctive role in earning a livelihood for the family. The objective of the study was to examine the pattern of women work force in agricultural activities in Andhra Pradesh (AP), India and is based on secondary data taken from the census of 2001 and 2011 and primary survey undertaken in six selected districts of Andhra Pradesh. The proportion of women agricultural labour is more than male labour in all the districts. With respect to gender gap, the participation gap has been narrowed but remuneration and advancement gap between male and female workers still exists. The OLS regression was employed to estimate the various factors which affect the female work force participation in Andhra Pradesh. At the district level a high inter district variation has been observed for the work force participation for men and women. With the emerging commercialization of agriculture and introduction of new technologies, capacity building of women workforce is important for achieving sustainable agricultural growth and improving the rural livelihood security. Key words: Women’s participation, agricultural labour, gender gap, livelihood security.

The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations

Using Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) microdata over the 1980–2010 period, we provide new empirical evidence on the extent of and trends in the gender wage gap, which declined considerably during this time. By 2010, conventional human capital variables taken together explained little of the gender wage gap, while gender differences in occupation and industry continued to be important. Moreover, the gender pay gap declined much more slowly at the top of the wage distribution than at the middle or bottom and by 2010 was noticeably higher at the top. We then survey the literature to identify what has been learned about the explanations for the gap. We conclude that many of the traditional explanations continue to have salience. Although human-capital factors are now relatively unimportant in the aggregate, women's work force interruptions and shorter hours remain significant in high-skilled occupations, possibly due to compensating differentials. Gender differences in occupations and industries, as well as differences in gender roles and the gender division of labor remain important, and research based on experimental evidence strongly suggests that discrimination cannot be discounted. Psychological attributes or noncognitive skills comprise one of the newer explanations for gender differences in outcomes. Our effort to assess the quantitative evidence on the importance of these factors suggests that they account for a small to moderate portion of the gender pay gap, considerably smaller than, say, occupation and industry effects, though they appear to modestly contribute to these differences. ( JEL I26, J16, J24, J31, J71)

Study of breastfeeding practices among working women attending a tertiary care hospital, Mysore, Karnataka, India

Background: Breast milk is considered to be the best milk for infants. It is well suited for the needs of infants. Breastfeeding plays a very important role in determining the growth and development of the infant. Factors in breast milk protect infants from a wide variety of illnesses. Children who have been breastfed have less risk of becoming overweight or obese, even as adults. Keeping in mind women’s empowerment, increased women workforce in India, this study was conducted with the objective of assessing breast feeding practices among working women. An attempt is being made to describe the factors influencing breastfeeding practices among working women. The objective of this study was to assess the breastfeeding practices among working women. And to assess the factors influencing breastfeeding practices among working women. Methods: The present study is a hospital based cross-sectional comparative study. Study participants were working mothers of the children aged between 13-24 months, attending the immunization centre of the paediatric medicine department in JSS Hospital, Mysuru, Karnataka , India for a period of one year from January 2014 to December 2014. The sampling technique used was convenient sampling. All the working mothers attending the immunization centre were interviewed, a total of 107 working mothers were interviewed in a period of one year. The main reason was found to be the employment status of the mothers. Results: Majority of the study subjects (54.2%) were found to be below 25 years of age. 29% of the mothers had given pre-lacteal feeds to their children. 42.1% of the working women had initiated breastfeeding within one hour of birth. Majority of the women (97.2%) had fed the children with colostrum. 15.9% of the working women had exclusively breastfed their children for six months . Conclusions: The breastfeeding initiation rate and exclusive breastfeeding rate among working women are much lower when compared to the NFHS-3 findings. The main reason for lowered rate was found to be the employment status of mothers.

K razumevanju ženskega dela v veliki vojni

UNDERSTANDING WOMEN'S WORK DURING THE GREAT WARThe article deals with the intersection of war economy and women's workforce during World War I and pays a special attention to the Slovenian population. Using a variety of sources, the author tries to synthesise the generalities and specifics of the women’s involvement into the war economy in the so-called Slovenian lands. War economy is understood in the broadest sense and includes not only armament and war-related production, but also the acute issue of supplies for the military and civil sphere.The economic role of the Slovenian lands, peripheral within the Habsburg Monarchy, and the social structure of the Slovenian population profoundly affected the way how women were being included into the activities at the home front. The author argues that the sensational images from Western Europe, presenting a massive inclusion of women into the war industry, are not typical for the Slovenian space. However, the role of women in the war economy should not be underestimated, for they represented the majority of economically active population, supporting not only the civil society but also the army.

Work-Family Conflict and Non Sharing Jobs: The Link Explored for Dhaka

Work family conflict is an area of growing interest to the duo; ie: the Government and employers alike, According to Greenhaus and Beutell (1989) work family conflict is is defined as Ii form of inter-role conflict in which the role pressures from the work and family domains are mutually incompatible in some respect. The focus on this arena is gaining momentum due to the fact that women play a critical combination of roles 'caring' at home and 'working' at the workplace. As governments and employers are becoming increasingly dependent on the contribution from women workforce, this dilemma of work-family balance and the resultant conflict appears to be a serious concern.

Constraints experienced by women work force in MNREGA in Punjab and Rajasthan, India

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), is the flagship programme of the Government that directly touches lives of the poor and promote inclusive growth. A Comparative study of constraints perceived by the respondents in taking advantage of MNREGA was conducted in Punjab and Rajasthan. The constraints were categorized into six categories namely mate and registration, work, wages, job card, facilities, social constraints. A total of 120 rural women were interviewed by using stratified sampling with equal sample allocation of the beneficiary. Constraints like illiteracy, feel difficulty in filling form and complex procedure of registration, MNREGA work is more laborious and hard for women, wage rate are very low, unnecessary delay in wage payment, more job card and less employment, elite group within workers capture most of job card, and lack of child care facility were the major constraints which were perceived by the respondents in both the states.

Economic Empowerment of Rural Unskilled Women Workers: A Case Study in Agglomerating Centers of Rongjuli TD Block in Goalpara District of Assam, India

Productive and gainful employment of human resource is one of the major objectives of policy perspectives of any economy. Rural economy of India is characterized by a massive presence of unskilled as well as merely paid women workers who are engaged in household level activities that constitute a major part of the total workforce. Rural women workforce plays significant roles in the economy who participate in larger number of economic activity in agriculture and allied sector. The ever growing population and shrinkage of operational holding have resulted on searching for employment opportunities by the unskilled women workers. The changing socio-economic structure in the post-reform period has emerged an environment for economic empowerment even for unskilled women workers in rural areas. Presently a number of rural women who are unskilled seemed to participate in various informal employment opportunities such as self-employed as small trader in spot market or roadside hubs, casual worker in business establishment etc. mostly in the agglomerating centers of Goalpara district of Assam. Such phenomenon of growing participation of unskilled rural women workers needs a look in micro level to assess their empowerment status in particular and their significant role in the economy in general.Therefore, a study on the issue of economic empowerment of rural unskilled women workers in general and particular to the agglomerating areas of Rangjuli TD Block in Goalpara district of Assam, India has been chosen. The present paper seeks to achieve the objectives of assessing the economic status of rural women work participants, identify the prominent activities, and identify the bottlenecks and to search the facilitating factors of economic empowerment.

Formalising Flexible Working Methods - The Panacea to Low Women's Workforce Participation?

Formalising Flexible Working Methods - The Panacea to Low Women's Workforce Participation?

Sexual Harassment Prevalent in the Hotel Industry in Chennai

The women status in India has been subjected to many great changes over the past millennia. They constitute an integral part of total workforce. In 1981, work participation rate was only 19.67 %, 1991 it was 22.73% and 26.68 per cent in 2001. One of the major limitations for Women at workplace is sexual violation. It is a commonly understood that sexual harassment was in the eye of the beholder. Only blatant and aggressive actions or comments like a direct threat to dismiss someone if she or he refused a sexual request were acknowledged by all as sexual harassment. This paper focuses on analysing the general awareness (sources and forms) among women workforce regarding this consequential area and also its prevalence in a well established 4 star hotel industry in Chennai on sexual harassment and the prevailing status in the organization. Since this issue is sensitive purposive and snowball sampling is adopted. The respondents include only women employees who were willing to share their experiences. From the below research it is understood that all the 60 women respondents has underwent at least one form of Sexual Harassment. The study revealed that all the respondents accepted that the sexual harassment is vivid in their organization and the major source of sexual violation is the managers. The major limitation in conducting the this original research work is getting a formal authorization from the concerned hotel revealing that this workplace issue is still considered to be trivial and a part of women employed in the hotel industry leading to high attrition in this industry.

Female streetwalkers' perspectives on migration and HIV/STI risks in a changing economic and social environment: a qualitative study in Shanghai, China

China's 30-year economic boom has created a unique social and economic market for commercial sex, as well as for a workforce of migrant women from rural China. This qualitative study explores the impact of the rapidly changing social and economic environment on migration patterns, knowledge of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), STI risk behaviours and health beliefs among female streetwalkers in Shanghai. Qualitative data were collected in 2010 through semi-structured in-depth interviews with 16 streetwalkers to characterise their migration passages, sexual health and behaviours, and peer networks. Many streetwalkers reported histories of childhood impoverishment, of family or partner violence or trauma, of migration consistent with the timeline and routes of economic development and of a scarcity in health, social or economic support. Their knowledge of the prevention and treatment of HIV and STIs was limited. They had little bargaining power on condom use and the majority resorted to vaginal douching and self-management with antibiotics as preventative measures. The study identifies streetwalkers' perspectives on the changing environment, their options and actions and, finally, HIV/STI risks that were unique to this hidden population.

Constraints experienced by women work force in MNREGA in Punjab and Rajasthan, India

Constraints experienced by women work force in MNREGA in Punjab and Rajasthan, India

Women's career advancement in organisations: Integrative framework for research

Contemporary organisations, caught in the middle of global economic and social crisis, are facing different business challenges, having to respond to quick changes in business environment and demographic changes in workforce composed by increasing number of women. Although the number of women in workforce is on the rise, they are still underrepresented in manager positions, especially higher management. This implies that certain barriers are in place which makes difficult for women to develop their careers, especially in reaching manager positions. The aim of this paper is to analyse and present a theoretical framework for further study of professional carrier advancement for women. The paper especially analyse integrative theoretical framework which stresses the equal importance of researching individual factors (personal influence) and organisational factors (social inclusion), having in mind how the organisational context can improve or deter women's carrier. The paper presents possible directions for future research based on the analysis of the theoretical framework and especially individual and organisational factors.

Social Marketing , Education and the Female Workforce : A Comparison of United Arab Emirates and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The religious, socioeconomic, and political status are fundamental principles that form the values of women’s lifestyles in the Muslim World and especially in the GCC. It varies largely from nation to nation depending on how globalization has managed to affect the society in line with the lifestyles of modern living. The World Economic Forum report (WEF, 2014) shows that the UAE focuses on transforming the country into a diversified self-sustaining market-driven economy. The economic prosperity and presence in the world affairs is mainly due to the leadership’s decision to form a free market economy. The open economy, attractive business platform and ease of life have encouraged expatriates to work and live in the UAE forcing its social values to open up. This has had a direct effect on the lifestyles of Emirati society, and women in particular. On the other hand, the exclusion of Saudi women from public life is no doubt a heated debate in the international scene. The government of Saudi Arabia has been strictly persistent in applying its cultural values in most macro-economic aspects such as education, technology (1), and policy. The research findings prove, based on the statistical approach, that government intervention has played a vital role in increasing the contribution of women in the workforce in both countries, the UAE and KSA, by supporting the required legal and official reforms. The substantial investment in education, of both governments, has proved to be one of the most important drives to increase the women workforce. Despite the different levels of contribution in the social media platforms, the survey conducted under the context of this research revealed that social media played a positive role in motivating women to work in both countries.

Awareness Regarding Women Empowerment Programmes in Rural Households of Ludhiana

The government of India declared year 2001 as women empowerment year and launched many useful programmes for awakening women. The present study was an attempt to know utilization of these programmes by rural home-makers. The study was conducted in 60 rural households of two villages selected from two blocks of Ludhiana district. The results revealed that few respondents (18.3%) were aware of the year of women empowerment as well as various empowerment programmes. Only 11.7 and 16.7 per cent were found having an awareness of Kishori Shakti Yojna and Sampooran Shiksha programmes, respectively. However, 30 per cent women started using women friendly technologies in their households for drudgery reduction and hence improving their quality of life. Further, none of the respondents was making use of credit facilities for starting their own enterprise to supplement family income as they were completely ignorant about various schemes. Schemes like Widow Pension Scheme, Maternity Benefits and Girl Child Benefits were fully utilized as these provide direct economic gains. Respondents strongly agreed that these programmes will make women aware of their rights but disagreed that these programmes will help to develop ability to make better decisions. They had no particular opinion whether these programmes will enable women to act as self sufficient. The suggestions from the respondents for the effective utilization of various schemes included expert guidance for starting any enterprise (96.7%) followed by training programme for elderly for changing their attitude towards women workforce participation (93.3%), programme for skill development (83.3%) and awareness generation programmes for credit facilities by government and non government organizations (86.7%).

Growth and Structural Transformation of the Workforce: Are we Heading in the Right Direction?

In India, after a period of jobless growth from 1993-94 to 1999-2000, the workforce saw an escalation in employment rate during the period from 1999-2000 to 2004-2005 (which was seen as a form of distress employment), followed by a stagnation in employment rates during the next 5 years. During the recent period from 2004-05 to 2009-10, the women workforce declined sharply throughout all age groups, while the workforce of men increased almost equally above the 24 year age group. Agriculture is still the largest employer in India, but it continues to have the lowest gross value added per worker. There has been a slight structural shift of employment away from agriculture due to women (mostly in the rural areas). The sectoral shift of the GDP in the favour of the services sector has not been successful in making corresponding changes in employment patterns. The industrial sector has shown promising results in terms of absorption of surplus agricultural labour, mainly in the construction sector, which is casual in nature. Category wise disaggregation of workforce showed a significant increase in regular employment, while the casual labour segment seems to have picked up a large part of the decline in self-employment. Still, a large part of the women workforce is concentrated in the low productivity agricultural sector and very few women in are engaged in regular employment, which is the best form of employment. The present paper critically examined the trends in growth rate and structural changes in employment during the period from 1983 to 2010, especially since the economic reforms.

Glass Ceiling for Women Employees in Hotel Industry-A Study Conducted in Bangalore City

Knowing what we know about the role of women in driving macroeconomic growth and how women can contribute to corporations, it is clear that companies must make better use of women in workforce. The present study is designed to investigate the factors that prevent women to get promoted in the industry with special reference to hotel industry of Bangalore. This study discusses how women executives in Hotel industry face the challenges to get promoted and the factors Attitude, Personality, Job Knowledge, work life balance and work shifts contribute as a proactive perspective as a recognition of an integral part of women empowerment. The study contributes in the field of women empowerment and brings into light the perception of women workforce towards the barriers faced by them in the service sector.

Çalışanlarda Kadın İş Gücü Algısı

Gender is the cultural and the social role that the society attributes to human beings starting from birth besides biological and physical qualities. Gender is also the main source of discrimination between male and female sex. Sex discrimination that is mostly against women is an important problem which affects all societies' development level and welfare. Especially in business life, this problem is seen frequently and it causes women to have many difficulties. And that's why, many women prefer not being in business life and they choose to live according to the social role that the society attributes to them. This research has been conducted to see the perception of workers about women workforce and it is based on the importance of negative effects which are brought to business life by sex discrimination. With this aim, a questionnaire has been filled in by 314 worker of which are 121 women and the rest are men who all work in public services. Frequency, ANOVA and T-tests have been applied to the results on SPSS 16.0 programme. As a result, it has been seen that in business life mostly women are experiencing sex discrimination. Also, according to the results there is a popular wisdom about complications which hinder promotion of women and there is a general perception that the most important duty of women is being a mother and a housewife which are all attributed to women by society. Lastly, meaningful differences have been seen when the hypotheses of this research have been analyzed in terms of gender, education level, marital status and age. Key Words : Women workforce, sex discrimination, gender.

Women’s Declining Employment with Access to Higher Education

Access to higher education opened up avenues for more women workforce in decent employment contributing to the national economy. Government policies/schemes played a significant role in improving this significant indicator of women empowerment. This access also had an impact on their enrolment and choice of subjects but was accompanied by several challenges. More women in higher education were not accompanied by increase in employment for women, and have remained vastly inadequate. This is evident from the declining workforce participation rate for women in the country. This article attempts to analyze this disconnect or mismatch between higher education and employment for women despite phenomenal improvements in their access to higher education in India especially in the urban context. It highlights the key reasons pertaining to this disconnect and emphasizes that the quest of women’s declining employment can only be resolved by plugging the gap between higher education and employment for women in future.

Special Economic Zones and the Exploitation Underneath

Rampant violation of basic legal frameworks protecting labor rights in the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) is something not unheard of. The governments however, turn a deaf ear towards such violation and hardly use their authority to intervene, in exchange for providing the investors a tax free and liberal environment in the host countries. Be it minimum wages, or standard working hours, or the right to strike, or to form union, such violations within the SEZs all over Asia are widely reported, India being no exception.A cursory reading of the Special Economic Zone Act, 2005, does not ascertain if the labor laws governing India are the same as those governing the laborers working in an industry under the Special Economic Zone, until, on closer inspection it becomes evident that labor with the SEZs is subjected to a modified regime which aims at non implementation of any labor laws within the SEZs. Also, employers have come to use increasing quantities of contract or casual laborers, in addition to evading labor laws. The objective of the paper is to bring to the fore the underlying conflict between globalization and human exploitation, by delving into the legal aspect regarding violation of labor rights within the SEZs, right from restriction of Trade Union to banning of strikes, to the deprivation of minimum wages and inhuman working conditions and the exploitation of women workforce, on the backdrop of the SEZ Act 2005.

Women (and mothers) in the workforce: Worldwide factors

The number of women in the workforce is increasing, although its rate continues to remain low in terms of the population they represent. Some factors such as friendly family policies, eliminating restrictions at work, and non-discrimination laws have been suggested as promoting women's economic advances. This is empirical research and analyzes the relevant factors to those in the workforce in three job positions. These findings indicate that child care provisions have had a positive influence on women's workforce participation in all job positions. This situation protects jobs, eliminates restrictions and improves non-discrimination. • This is an empirical research related to the factors to stay women in labor market. • Findings show relevant factors on different job positions. • The most important factor in all job positions is child care provisions.