Gender Equality in the Workforce
Gender Equality in the Workforce
2014-07-27 10:41:19
Today, an unprecedented number of women are going to colleges, entering the workforce and taking top corporate positions in the Asia Pacific region. This speaks volumes for the great improvement being made in women's rights within the region. However, it should not be a cause for celebration, since the bigger picture still remains mixed. Female graduates in China, for instance, may still find chances are scarcer than their male counterparts in a job market that is becoming increasingly competitive. For many women that have found a job, they may receive a less-than-ample paycheck compared to new male recruits.
MESSENGER speaks to Julia Broussard, country program manager at the UN Women China Office in order to assess the issue of gender inequality in employment and asks what can be done, both on the part of the government and companies, to promote gender equality?
7.27 million college graduates will enter the job market this year. Female graduates are facing tougher challenges. Is gender discrimination in the job market unique in China and how has this situation evolved in terms of seriousness?
It's not unique to China, it certainly happens in every country in the world and some countries have put very strong laws into effect to try to prevent gender discrimination in their job markets. As for whether it is getting better or intensifying in China, it's hard to tell what the trend is in the past couple of years because we don't have complete statistics. So from the employment percentages of college graduate, based on figures from 2010-2013, for males and females, we saw a drop for both from 2010 to 2013 which probably just indicates a tighter job market overall in China, but the drop for women was worse than for males. For women, it dropped by 7 percentage points and for young male graduates it dropped by less than 4 percentage points from before, but we can't make any conclusive determinations on the basis of that evidence.
China has implemented the Employment Promotion Law which targets gender equality in employment. From a legislative perspective, how can China ensure the rights of the female workforce?
The Employment Promotion Law was issued in 2007 and took effect in 2008 and it includes some clauses on gender equality and non-discrimination which was a huge step forward for legislation on the job market in China. Before the law took effect it was very common to see in the job market explicit advertisements for men only for a lot of positions. After the law took effect, you're less likely to see this type of very direct and obvious discrimination. However, some gender experts feel that the law doesn't go far enough; it's very general. It only says that there should be no discrimination; it doesn't define what gender discrimination is, it doesn't define what would happen if a company violates that, what kind of punishment a company would receive, what kind of redress an employee could expect to receive in compensation for discrimination. The law needs to be improved and the government has a role in doing that and also we'd like to see the media play a stronger role in getting people aware that gender discrimination does exist in the job market in China.
One concern for employers in China is that female workers may ask for maternity leave which could last for up to 10 months, which could affect their company's performance based on their thinking,is this true? Furthermore, with China loosening its one child policy, is the situation likely to get worse?
There is maternity protection in China; women are entitled to three months off. Unfortunately, not all companies are honoring that; some companies are finding ways to get around it. But the basic problem here, and one of the reasons there is gender discrimination in the job market, there's an assumption that the woman is going to stay home and do all the childcare in the child's early years. In the countries that have established the best track record on gender equality, which are mainly the Nordic countries, what's interesting there is they've established paternity leave. Sweden, Norway, Finland and a few others actually require men to take some time off if they have a baby or adopt a baby. This has the effect of evening out the job market, so when an employer hires somebody, it doesn't matter whether they're male or female; if they're going to have children, they're going to take leave. What's particularly interesting in Sweden, the woman can transfer some of her leave entitlement to her partner, but her male partner cannot transfer his required paternity leave to her.
Is legislation and regulation the key to ensuring gender equality?
I think that evidence from around the world shows that unless governments regulate and take very proactive measures to improve gender equality, either you see no gains at all in gender equality or you see very marginal gains over a long period of time. It's often only when the state steps in and institutes regulations or incentive packages that you start to see real changes take place. I think what we need in China is a little more government promotion of what is actually one of the founding principles of the People's Republic of China. Aside from parental leave that men can take advantage of, there is a need for affordable childcare. Often, in China, there are very limited daycare options. In the past, under the state sponsored danwei system, the so-called iron rice bowl system, every danwei had to provide a childcare center and they were heavily subsidized. That was all done away with in the early 1990s. Now, daycare can be extremely expensive so a family faces a tough choice. Oftentimes, it's just not worth it for a wife to go back to work because her income, all of it or beyond will be used on daycare. Another thing that the Nordic countries have done very well is providing subsidized daycare. All children from age 1 and up are entitled to it.
In the Asia-Pac region, female managers are taking an increased number of top positions within companies, especially with regards to real-estate tycoons in China. Does this reflect a trend whereby women in China and within the region as a whole enjoy better status than before, and will this trend continue?
I think they certainly enjoy better status than before. One of the big achievements of PRC is getting huge numbers of women into the labor force. So, from 1949 to the 1990s, there were huge, huge gains, particularly in China, also in some other Asian countries, and that was primarily because of the policies of the government. But what we're seeing now is we're seeing a slight drop off. So, the peak of women's labor force participation occurred in 1993. Since then, it's gone down a little bit. And even though we see some very notable female tycoons in China, who get a lot of attention, it's important to note that there still is an income gap between men and women in China, and in fact it's growing. So, for the urban population, in 1990, women earned on average 77 percent of what men earned. As of 2010, they're only earning 67 percent of what men are earning. And for rural women the drop is even worse. Although everybody's actual incomes have been going up quite substantially since 1990, the fact is that men's incomes are going up faster than women's. So I don't take these women tycoons as in any way representative of the situation for the average woman in China unfortunately.
2014-07-27 10:41:19
Today, an unprecedented number of women are going to colleges, entering the workforce and taking top corporate positions in the Asia Pacific region. This speaks volumes for the great improvement being made in women's rights within the region. However, it should not be a cause for celebration, since the bigger picture still remains mixed. Female graduates in China, for instance, may still find chances are scarcer than their male counterparts in a job market that is becoming increasingly competitive. For many women that have found a job, they may receive a less-than-ample paycheck compared to new male recruits.
MESSENGER speaks to Julia Broussard, country program manager at the UN Women China Office in order to assess the issue of gender inequality in employment and asks what can be done, both on the part of the government and companies, to promote gender equality?
7.27 million college graduates will enter the job market this year. Female graduates are facing tougher challenges. Is gender discrimination in the job market unique in China and how has this situation evolved in terms of seriousness?
It's not unique to China, it certainly happens in every country in the world and some countries have put very strong laws into effect to try to prevent gender discrimination in their job markets. As for whether it is getting better or intensifying in China, it's hard to tell what the trend is in the past couple of years because we don't have complete statistics. So from the employment percentages of college graduate, based on figures from 2010-2013, for males and females, we saw a drop for both from 2010 to 2013 which probably just indicates a tighter job market overall in China, but the drop for women was worse than for males. For women, it dropped by 7 percentage points and for young male graduates it dropped by less than 4 percentage points from before, but we can't make any conclusive determinations on the basis of that evidence.
China has implemented the Employment Promotion Law which targets gender equality in employment. From a legislative perspective, how can China ensure the rights of the female workforce?
The Employment Promotion Law was issued in 2007 and took effect in 2008 and it includes some clauses on gender equality and non-discrimination which was a huge step forward for legislation on the job market in China. Before the law took effect it was very common to see in the job market explicit advertisements for men only for a lot of positions. After the law took effect, you're less likely to see this type of very direct and obvious discrimination. However, some gender experts feel that the law doesn't go far enough; it's very general. It only says that there should be no discrimination; it doesn't define what gender discrimination is, it doesn't define what would happen if a company violates that, what kind of punishment a company would receive, what kind of redress an employee could expect to receive in compensation for discrimination. The law needs to be improved and the government has a role in doing that and also we'd like to see the media play a stronger role in getting people aware that gender discrimination does exist in the job market in China.
One concern for employers in China is that female workers may ask for maternity leave which could last for up to 10 months, which could affect their company's performance based on their thinking,is this true? Furthermore, with China loosening its one child policy, is the situation likely to get worse?
There is maternity protection in China; women are entitled to three months off. Unfortunately, not all companies are honoring that; some companies are finding ways to get around it. But the basic problem here, and one of the reasons there is gender discrimination in the job market, there's an assumption that the woman is going to stay home and do all the childcare in the child's early years. In the countries that have established the best track record on gender equality, which are mainly the Nordic countries, what's interesting there is they've established paternity leave. Sweden, Norway, Finland and a few others actually require men to take some time off if they have a baby or adopt a baby. This has the effect of evening out the job market, so when an employer hires somebody, it doesn't matter whether they're male or female; if they're going to have children, they're going to take leave. What's particularly interesting in Sweden, the woman can transfer some of her leave entitlement to her partner, but her male partner cannot transfer his required paternity leave to her.
Is legislation and regulation the key to ensuring gender equality?
I think that evidence from around the world shows that unless governments regulate and take very proactive measures to improve gender equality, either you see no gains at all in gender equality or you see very marginal gains over a long period of time. It's often only when the state steps in and institutes regulations or incentive packages that you start to see real changes take place. I think what we need in China is a little more government promotion of what is actually one of the founding principles of the People's Republic of China. Aside from parental leave that men can take advantage of, there is a need for affordable childcare. Often, in China, there are very limited daycare options. In the past, under the state sponsored danwei system, the so-called iron rice bowl system, every danwei had to provide a childcare center and they were heavily subsidized. That was all done away with in the early 1990s. Now, daycare can be extremely expensive so a family faces a tough choice. Oftentimes, it's just not worth it for a wife to go back to work because her income, all of it or beyond will be used on daycare. Another thing that the Nordic countries have done very well is providing subsidized daycare. All children from age 1 and up are entitled to it.
In the Asia-Pac region, female managers are taking an increased number of top positions within companies, especially with regards to real-estate tycoons in China. Does this reflect a trend whereby women in China and within the region as a whole enjoy better status than before, and will this trend continue?
I think they certainly enjoy better status than before. One of the big achievements of PRC is getting huge numbers of women into the labor force. So, from 1949 to the 1990s, there were huge, huge gains, particularly in China, also in some other Asian countries, and that was primarily because of the policies of the government. But what we're seeing now is we're seeing a slight drop off. So, the peak of women's labor force participation occurred in 1993. Since then, it's gone down a little bit. And even though we see some very notable female tycoons in China, who get a lot of attention, it's important to note that there still is an income gap between men and women in China, and in fact it's growing. So, for the urban population, in 1990, women earned on average 77 percent of what men earned. As of 2010, they're only earning 67 percent of what men are earning. And for rural women the drop is even worse. Although everybody's actual incomes have been going up quite substantially since 1990, the fact is that men's incomes are going up faster than women's. So I don't take these women tycoons as in any way representative of the situation for the average woman in China unfortunately.
