Women and Work

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A discussion of the ways in which gender impacts access to and experiences within the workforce, including issues such as the gender wage gap and workplace discrimination.

The History of Women in the Workforce: Examining the social and cultural factors that have influenced the role of women in the economy over time.
Gender Inequality in the Workplace: Analysing the disparities in pay, promotions, and opportunities for women in the workforce.
Occupational Segregation: Investigating the tendency for women to be concentrated into certain types of jobs and industries, and the consequences of this segregation.
Work-Life Balance: Discussing the challenges faced by women in managing the demands of work and family responsibilities.
Intersectionality: Exploring the ways in which gender intersects with other factors such as race, class, and sexuality to shape women's experiences in the workplace.
Sexual Harassment and Discrimination: Examining the prevalence of gender-based discrimination and harassment in the workplace and strategies for addressing it.
Feminist Economics: Looking at approaches to studying the economy that take into account the experiences and contributions of women.
Women in Leadership: Examining the barriers to women's access to leadership positions and the implications of increasing women's representation in decision-making roles.
Care Work: Analysing the often invisible and undervalued work done by women in caring for children, elderly relatives, and others, and its impact on women's lives and careers.
Globalisation and Women's Work: Investigating the ways in which global economic forces shape women's work opportunities and experiences across borders.
Unpaid domestic labor: This refers to the work women do in the home, such as cooking, cleaning, and child-rearing, which is often uncompensated and undervalued.
Occupational segregation: This refers to the tendency for women to be concentrated in certain types of jobs or industries, such as teaching or healthcare, which are traditionally considered female-dominated and have lower pay and status.
Glass ceiling: This term describes the invisible barriers that prevent women from reaching higher levels of management and leadership within their professions or industries.
Sexual harassment and discrimination: Women disproportionately experience harassment and discrimination in the workplace, including unwanted sexual advances, pay inequity, and being passed over for promotions.
Work-life balance: The pressures of juggling work and family responsibilities can be particularly acute for women, who are often expected to prioritize caregiving over career advancement.
Intersectionality: Feminist scholarship recognizes that women's experiences of work and career are shaped by multiple factors, including race, ethnicity, sexuality, and class.
Self-employment and entrepreneurship: Women are increasingly choosing to start their own businesses or work for themselves, but face unique obstacles in terms of access to funding, networks, and support.
Globalization and informal work: Women make up a significant portion of workers in the informal economy, including sectors such as domestic work, street vending, and small-scale farming, which are often unregulated, low-paying, and precarious.
Emotion work: This term encompasses the emotional labor that women perform in various work settings, including managing emotions and perceptions of others, providing emotional support to clients or customers, and coping with the emotional demands of the job.
Reproductive labor: This term is used to describe the work women do related to reproduction, such as pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding, which can have significant impacts on women's careers and economic well-being.
"The gender pay gap or gender wage gap is the average difference between the remuneration for men and women who are working."
"In the United States, for example, the average annual salary of a woman is 83% that of a man."
"This figure changes when controlled for confounding factors such as differences in hours worked, occupations chosen, education, job experience, and level of danger at work, which has adjusted figures in the United States from 95% to 99%."
"The World Health Organization has estimated women healthcare workers earn 28% less on average than men; after adjusting for occupation and hours worked, the gap is changed to 11%."
"The reasons for the gap link to legal, social and economic factors. These include topics such as discrimination based on gender, the motherhood penalty vs. fatherhood bonus, parental leave, and gender norms."
"Additionally, the consequences of the gender pay gap surpass individual grievances, leading to reduced economic output, lower pensions for women, and fewer learning opportunities."
"The gender pay gap can be a problem from a public policy perspective in developing countries because it reduces economic output."
"It means that women are more likely to be dependent upon welfare payments, especially in old age."
Discrimination based on gender is a factor in the gender pay gap."
"This figure changes when controlled for confounding factors such as differences in hours worked, occupations chosen, education, job experience, and level of danger at work."
"After adjusting for occupation and hours worked, the gap is changed to 11%."
"The motherhood penalty vs. fatherhood bonus is one of the reasons for the gender pay gap."
"The consequences of the gender pay gap... leading to reduced economic output, lower pensions for women, and fewer learning opportunities."
"The consequences of the gender pay gap... leading to... fewer learning opportunities."
"The reasons for the gap link to legal, social and economic factors. These include topics such as... gender norms."
"The consequences of the gender pay gap... leading to lower pensions for women."
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"The reasons for the gap link to legal, social and economic factors."
"The gender pay gap can be a problem from a public policy perspective in developing countries."