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REVISITING CHALLENGES
IN THE WORK-PLACEUniversity of Siena & Fondazione G. Brodolini
Irish PresidencyGender Equality ConferenceDublin April, 29-30 2013
Francesca Bettio
In this presentation I shall
Selectively revisit current challenges to women’s work
…based on reports carried out for the Gender Equality Unit at the EC Justice division and posted at:
http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/tools/experts/index_en.htm
Challenges we need to revisit Sex typing of occupations
Sex typing of occupations Sex-typing has cushioned the fall of female
employment during the crisis ( employment for women 20-64 was down 0.5 millions in 2012 compared to 2008, male employment was down 4.8 millions.
In the medium-to-longer term, however, sex-typing may lower the quality of women’s employment and put a break on their earnings. The green jobs and care jobs cases illustrate opposite risks.
Challenges we need to revisit Sex typing of occupations: green
jobs Together with the ICT sector, the green and the care sectors are expected to serve as main employment drivers in the future, but.. the IWPR has recently estimated for the USA that the
share of the green jobs growth accruing to women between 2008/10 and 2018 ranges from 14% in the worst scenario and 28% in the best scenario.
The report states “The underrepresentation of women in green jobs is part of a broader problem of women’s underrepresentation in science, technological, engineering and math (STEM) occupations. Yet the ‘green’ aspect of these jobs provides a new opportunity to encourage more women to pursue such careers and to address women’s glaring absence from key occupations and fields of work.”
Challenges we need to revisit: Sex typing of occupations: ‘social
care’ jobs The Aging Report (2009) estimates an increase of
13.8 million elderly being cared for either in institutions or at home between 2007 and 2060, assuming no change in elderly care policy.
With a 90% percent feminization rate in the sector (LFS, 2007), this amounts to a considerable employment growth potential for women.
However, increasing resort to cash-for-care schemes is redirecting at least part of this increase to the informal employment sector
And wages for elderly care workers and professionals are notoriously low. Around 2009 , for example, workers with basic qualifications in residential care earned as much as the average worker in the economy in only 2 out of 17 Member States ( DK and IS) . Much less elsewhere.
Challenges we need to revisit Second earners and financial
Incentives
Childcare costs are a large implicit tax on secondary earners, which may add up to higher marginal effective tax rates
Figure 1. Motherhood penalty and difference in income gain due to childcare costs (married woman with 2 small children earning less than 45% of the couple’s earnings)
Correlations: Pearson 0.41 (sig. 6%), Spearman 0.43 (sig. 5%)
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Difference in income gain due to childcare costs
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MT NL AT LU GR ES IE CZ IS DE IT CY UK BE NO SE SK EE PL FR FI RO LV BG DK LT HU SI0%
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Woman has no earnings Woman earns less than man Equality in earnings Woman earns more than man Woman the only earner
Facts on second earners: the intra-household distribution of earnings between ‘her’ and ‘him’. 2009
Challenges we need to revisit 3. Care infrastructure
CHILDCARE. Uneven progress in formal childcare coverage , but progress nevertheless. Targets matter. (refer to the next presentation) According to past studies, some 10% of working
women give up working or reduce working hours to take care of the elderly. But the current and future impact will be larger due to postponement of working age.
Some progress in eldercare coverage over the past decades. But vast regional differences, and no target!
AUSTERITY and CARE INFRASTRUCTURE. Fiscal consolidation is eroding care and even health services in the countries with the largest consolidation packages.
Is Austerity making gender equality ‘affordable’ only in the North of Europe?
Challenges we need to revisit: Care infrastructure
Source: EGGE Report 2010: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/tools/experts/index_en.htmequality/tools/experts/index_en.htm
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Home 21.0 20.5 20.0 19.3 14.4 9.4 7.4 7.2 7.0 6.9 6.6 6.5 6.5 6.4 6.3 5.6 4.9 4.7 4.3 4.0 2.3 2.3 1.8 1.7 1.6 0.6 0.3
NL IS DK NO AT SE BE CZ LU UK DE FR IE HU FI EL IT ES PT MT EE SK SI PL LV LT RO
Home care coverage rates (modal year 2008)
Dark grey bars indicate that the displayed values coincide with those reported by Huber et al. (2009) or the on-going OECD project using Health Data 2009 [http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/23/61/45408422.xls]. Light grey bars indicate alternative values derived from national sources and deemed more accurate, more recent or simply new.
Challenges from a more ‘liquid’ labour market The case of parental
leaves In 2012 there were: nearly 14 million women on
temporary work contract in Europe , most of them young; 7.2 m. unemployed and 3.2 million self employed women of reproductive age.
Depending on the country first time job seekers or holders of non standard contracts (e.g. stagiere or in Italy) are not entitled to maternity benefits; Also, temporary employees or the self-employed may be entitled to lower beneftis
In 2011 Italy, for example, 27% of mothers were not entitled to benefits; some of these mothers were stagiere or first time job seeker.
Do we need longer leave for those already entitled or more universal entitlements and more flexibility of use (e.g. part-time leave in all MS?)
Challenges from a more ‘liquid’ labour market: mobility
Labour mobility is advocated for more efficient growth
But women are still are less mobile than men within countries 22% of EU27 men and only 14% of women envisage
working abroad at some points in the future … on account of family commitments
The two top factors discouraging women from working abroad are ‘home is in the country’ and ‘family/friends’ (Eurobarometer 2009)
Joining family or friends is the sixth most important reason for moving abroad among men and the third most important reason among women .
Facing challenges. Some food for thought
Address the women in science question Gran the right to request flexibility. It can prove an
effective, low cost answer to the need for reconciliation
Raise productivity in the care sector and encourage men’s entry. An integrated eldercare strategy, for example could ‘pull’ high tech and intensive knowledge industries such as medical research, domotics, robotics or assistive technology.
In low employment countries introduce earnings tax credits for low wage, secondary earners and/or ensure low cost childcare
Make parental (and other) benefits accessible to non standard employees on an equal basis
Promote mobility (examples: couples hiring, ensure portability of benefits; transnational welfare provisions )
