Women & Economic History Flashcards
Important Sources
Goldin (2006): FLFPR in OECD countries
The World Bank (2020): U-shaped relationship between GDP per capita and FLFP depends on level of income
Ferrant et al. (2014): how unpaid care work affects FLFPR
The World Bank (2022):
Women face inferior income opportunities than men.
The global labour force participation rate for women is just over 50% compared to 80% for men
Women are less likely to work in formal employment and have fewer opportunities for business expansion or career progression
Even when women work, they earn less
Olivetti (2013): maternal health
ILO (2002): fertility rates
Alesina et al. (2013): Ploughing societies
Ortiz-Ospina et al. (2018): household tech
Goldin and Katz (2002): birth control pill
Quote
“In the future there will be no female leaders, only leaders.” -Sheryl Sandberg
When have women’s economic involvement changed the most?
Goldin (2006):
Most significant increase in economic involvement: 20th century
USA:
1890: FLFPR rose from 20%
2016: under 60%
OECD Countries: massive convergence
21st century: FLFPR btwn 50-60%
Canada: Highest FLFPR at 61%
Why was women’s economic involvement not the same in middle-income countries?
The World Bank (2020):
1. U-shaped relationship between GDP per capita and FLFP:
1) Low-income regions (Sub-saharan Africa and South Asia): high levels of FLFP bc agricuture is dominant sector and women there participate in small farms
2) Middle-income regions (Middle East & North Africa): low levels of FLFP bc agriculturural activities are a much smaller share
3) High-income regions (North America, Europe & Central Asia): high levels of FLFP bc of service sector-based economy and higher education attainment amongst women
- FLFP globally in 2019 @ 53.4%
Least FLFP: South Asia and Middle East & North Africa @ less than 30%
What are the challenges women have to go through economically?
The World Bank (2022):
1. Socio-cultural stigma -> Women face inferior income opportunities than men and earn less
2. The global labour force participation rate for women is at 53.4% in 2019, compared to 80% for men
3. Women are less likely to work in formal employment and have fewer opportunities for business expansion or career progression
4. Maternal leaves
Backward-Bending Labour Supply Curve
How labour supply responds to changes in wage levels
Substitution effect (positive for labour force): increase in wages incentivises substituting leisure with more work hours
Income effect (takes worker out of labour force): increase in wages makes people value leisure more bc relatively wealthier
Wage increase -> childbearing women okay with current wage, not incentivised to work more -> work less to spend more time taking care of child(ren)
What health factors affects women’s labour force participation?
- Maternal health
Olivetti (2013):
USA: 1900-2005
Pregnancy: significant health risk for women
Improvement in healthcare for the past century
Maternal mortality (death of women from pregnancy) falls
FLFP increased - Fertility rates
ILO (2022):
Fewer children women have
Less time taken to care for children
More time can be used for human capital (education) or working in labour force
What socio-cultural factors affect FLFPR?
- Cultural attitudes in approving married women participating in labour market
Fogli and Veldkamp (2011):
USA approval went from 20% in 1936 to 80% in 1998
Difficulty seeing if it’s cause or effect of increased FLFPR in 20th century
Difficult to determine whether it’s a cause or consequence of increased FLFPR
I would argue: cause because with social disapproval dissipating, married women became encouraged seeing other women work, destigmatising the notion that married women shouldn’t work - Opportunities to elevate human capital (education)
- The unacknowledgement of unpaid care labour
How does unpaid care work affect women’s participation in the labour force?
Ferrant et al. (2014):
Unpaid care work
1) is unpaid services provided within a household for its members which costs time and energy of provider
2) contributes to the wellbeing of individuals, family and societies
Examples: cooking, cleaning, caring for children and the elderly
3) Neglecting unpaid care work affects wellbeing and perceived value of time which limits policy effectiveness on employment and education gender inequality
Figure 1:
1. Gender inequality in unpaid care work
women spend on average 2-10x more time on unpaid care work than men
-> Because of gender norms that believe women should have the domestic and reproductive roles
-> Despite also doing paid work, this creates “double burden” work for women, affecting women’s ability to participate in labour market and type of employment opportunities available
-> Can be addressed by expanding capabilties and choices of both women and men
-> linked to discriminatory social institutions and gender role stereotypes
- Time spent adhering to unpaid care work
Figure 4
1) is inversely related to FLFP
-Countries where women spent avg. of 5 hours unpaid care activities: 50% participated in labour force
-Countries where women spent avg. of 3 hours on unpaid care activities: 60% participated in labour force
2) Correlates with gender gaps in labour force participation (positive relationship btwn gender gap in unpaid care and labour force participation)
Greater disparity btwn genders in unpaid care work brings
greater disparity of gender in labour force participation
3) inversely related to labour market access
The greater time women spend on unpaid care work
The more limited access women have to labour market
Women likely to be engaged in part-time or vulnerable employment (“occupational downgrading”: employment below skill level and accepts worse conditions)
= employment quality for women is worse
4) inversely related to hourly wages
Figure 5:
-women spending 2x time than men in unpaid care earn 65% of what men earn for the same job
-women spending 5x time than men in unpaid care earn 40% of what men earn for same job
= gender gap’s hourly wages widen
Women’s wages during industrial revolution
Minoletti (2013):
Wages offered to women were lower
Seen beneficial to society such that all men can work whilst women remain in domestic and reproductive role
But women still worked regardless for income to buy goods for family/herself, mainly in the textile industry during 1st industrial revolution or production lines in 2nd industrial revolution
World War 2 changed women’s role as wartime economy had high demand for goods like munitions and food and men were mobilised to war as soldiers
What is the impact of technological development on women’s economic agency?
- Plough
Alesina et al. (2013):
Societies that implemented ploughing tend to:
1) Have less women participating in labour force, even in roles like political leadership and entrepreneurs
2) Have higher acceptance of gender inequality
May be caused by requiring upper body strength to hold the plough or gather animals to pull it
Giving men advantage in agricultural labour market over women for societies that use ploughing - Household technologies:
Ortiz-Ospina et al. (2018):
Hours spent on house chores steadily declined from almost 60 hours to less than 20 hours per week
Since household chores were disproportionately done by women
Household appliances made tasks more efficient or effective, reducing time and/or physical labour of women
Women could use freed up time to work - Oral contraceptives:
Goldin and Katz (2002):
Birth control pill approved in 1960 by FDA but widespread usage was in late 1960s after states
(1) reduced age of majority to 18 and
(2) allowed mature minors to obtain such pills
1965: 41% of married women under 30 years old used the pill (peaked at 1967)
1976: 73% of single women aged 18-19 years old have used the pill
1) Directly lowered cost of delaying marriage
-> Directly lowers cost of long-term investment in education and career by providing certainty on mitigating pregnancy
-> Women with greater career ability makes an attractive marriage partner
2) Indirectly thickens marriage market for those choosing to delay marriage
by raising age of first marriage
-> Better partnership matches
-> Reduced economic dependency on men and divorce rates - Sanitary pads, tampons, menstrual cup, period-special panadol
-> technology that helps women go through periods monthly
//Why is there lower female labour force participation in lower income countries?
- Lower education opportunities/quality
(women are banned from school in Taliban, Afghanistan) - Cultural belief that men are the providers
while women have domestic and reproductive roles - Focus on hard labour and agriculture involving physical strength (ploughing)
women may not be able to provide on a regular basis (periods and pregnancy) and may not be cut out to do - Less awareness of women’s rights relative to developed countries
- Number of children families have (fertility rate)
- Possiblity of incorrect collection of statistics (unrecorded women participating in local business while taking care of family)
