Not just more, but better: fostering quality of employment for women

Namita Datta and Aphichoke Kotikula

No 27243453, Jobs Group Papers, Notes, and Guides from The World Bank

Abstract: Despite progress on women’s labor force participation in the past few decades, there remain persistent gender gaps across multiple dimensions of job quality. Women generally earn less than men. Gaps are particularly acute in the Middle East and North Africa but also persist in high income Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Women tend to be concentrated in less productive jobs, run enterprises in less productive sectors, and are more likely to do part-time and temporary jobs with fewer avenues for advancement, than men. Women are particularly concentrated into the more invisible activities, such as domestic labor and unpaid work or work in the informal sector in jobs that lack security and are not covered by labor laws. In other words, there are persistent gender gaps not only in labor force participation rates or the quantity of jobs, but perhaps more importantly, in the quality or types of jobs that men and women do. Having access to quality jobs which are stable, decent, secure, and productive is even more important from a gender perspective because women are more likely than men to be over represented in low paying, part time, informal, and low productivity jobs. This paper explores the multiple dimensions of women’s access to good quality jobs, factors contributing to gender gaps, and possible solutions or actions that have worked in different countries.

Keywords: paper issue; Fragile and Conflict Affected States; information and communication technology; male labor force participation rate; female labor force participation rates; gender gap in access; sexual harassment at work; women's labor market outcomes; good quality of life; cost of hiring woman; Canadian Journal of Economics; early childhood development program; gender wage gap; access to job; Child care; human rights perspective; quality of job; barrier to woman; opportunity for woman; average monthly earnings; travel to work; enrollment of girl; access to asset; persistent gender gap; care for child; care of child; cost of child; primary school enrollment; fields of study; social insurance contribution; child care cost; reducing maternal mortality; mandatory retirement age; Gender and Jobs; quality of delivery; control of asset; women in leadership; young adolescent girl; lack of woman; form of collateral; privileges and immunity; large capital investment; access to care; types of firms; career advancement opportunity; quality of education; positive spillover effect; social security coverage; closing gender gap; food service industry; equality of outcome; equality of opportunity; flexible working arrangement; children under age; basic human right; department of economics; human rights commission; old-age dependency ratio; list of countries; gross enrollment rate; human capital development; terms of education; segregation in education; dimension of woman; free child care; education and health; private sector provider; early childhood stimulation; child tax credit; employment for woman; Labor Market Flexibility; Development Policy Loan; issue of access; social protection program; labor market characteristic; share of woman; degree of variation; ownership of asset; source income; source of income; concept of quality; parental leave; occupational segregation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 45
Date: 2017-01-01
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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