Introduction
International employment relations are concerned with work and also employment worldwide. It involves how employment has been managed by the HR departments in all the organizations globally. It is under international employment relations that many matters have to be put into considerations and some of these considerations include the new forms of work management, the new methods of pay determination, the new approaches which are used by the trade unions plus the new institutional mechanisms that can be reflected by the HR. So, it’s through international employment relations that we will be in a position to know the various ways of managing employment by most of the HR in the many organizations they work in. This is because most people have been discriminated against globally and there is no known country whereby work discrimination is not evident. So through the paper, am going to discuss why women still fare worse than men in the labor market. (Coppin, 2001).
Why do women still fare worse than men in the labor market in relation to China and Australia
Internationally, women have higher unemployment rates than men in all the countries where research has been done. This is according to research which was done in the OECD countries. you find that their women still fare worse in the labor market than men hence leading to gender differences between men and women. You find that in most of the organization, the unemployment rates for women are high unlike that for men despite their many qualifications they have on such fields. It is this which has led to a growing concern on why these women are discriminated against in many countries with the example of China which is one of the countries whereby the gender differences are so much evident. The paper tries to use the various aggregate data to try and explore some of the macroeconomic factors that are said to have contributed to these gender differences in unemployment. For example, it is known that the job segregation and the national economic conditions can explain some of the portions of job discrimination in men and women since you find that majority of men in the labor market have a high job potential than women despite their many qualifications hence this phenomenon can be taken as a possibility of job discrimination in most of the economies internationally. It is the role of HR to ensure that equal job opportunities have been awarded to all people despite the many differences and gender should not be used by HR in trying to offer jobs to these people. (Darity, 2002).
For example in Australia, it was noted that in the year 2001, there were so many women who were unemployed unlike the men in Australia. Despite their participation in the economy, the majority find themselves earning less than their male counterparts. They are also over repressed in casual and also in part-time work and also underrepresented in most of the senior management and leadership roles. This is a good example in Australia which tries to show the evidence that most women have been neglected in most of the employment opportunities. The findings below are findings that were got from Australia on the rate of women’s unemployment. (Fosu, 2000).
- In the 2001, census, it was found that there were 396,606 women working compared to 499,660 men working.
- The labor force participation for women was 50% compared to the labor force for a man which was 70%.
- The unemployment rate for women was 6.5% compared to 8.3% for men. 47% of women work full time compared to 76% for men.
For example, you find that in China, women are twice more likely than men to be unemployed hence this is so much troubling given the high population of women in this country. It is clear that in China, women form the largest population but they are less likely to get jobs in the labor market something which is disturbing women so much. This is because women form the high rate of headedness among the households and hence form an extensive reliance on the women paid work in order to support their children at home. Some of them are single mothers which large families yet they are so much discriminated against in the labor market despite the role they playback at home. It is back at home whereby the mother is the only dependant and not the man simply because the mother spends the majority of her time with the children, unlike the man. It is due to their difficulty to secure well-paid jobs in the labor market which is making so many women depend on men, the kin, and the state so that they can be in a position to have improved living standards. It is also due to the higher unemployment rates by women in these two countries which has forced so many women to immigrate to other regions so that they can be in a position to secure some jobs to make their ends meet. (Jayasinghe, 2004).
The theory of gender gaps in unemployment
Internationally, you tend to find that gender roles and also gender responsibilities can be seen to have influenced the high propensity for women and also men of varying ages to participate in the labor markets. It is argued that women have a lower labor force unlike men and hence this is one of the leading factors which have caused so women to be discriminated against in such jobs. You find that due to the socially accorded responsibilities for the unpaid labor in the reproductive sectors of the economy, women can then be taken as less efficient than men. So, under the social context in trying to understand why these women have low output, genetically, it is known that many women are genetically weaker than their male counterparts. It is due to this fact that you tend to find that women fare worse than men in the labor market. For example, there are so many jobs in which most of the women are not in a position to work in. A good example is building and construction. This is one of the jobs which require so much energy which is not found in women due to their genetic makeup. So the reason which can be given to the low rate of women in such jobs under the social context is their low labor force. But there are also other jobs where women are neglected despite their qualifications. It is the role of HR to ensure that during recruitment, it should be based on personal qualification and abilities but not on gender since most of the women have been neglected simply because they are women. The reason why women have more difficulty in trying to get a job once they set out to search for these jobs is not yet clear. (Lewis, 2004).
Macroeconomic structure
The macroeconomic structure is one of the factors which are known to have contributed to the low faring of women in the job market. This is because the macroeconomic factors might interfere with the existence of the gender practices in order to produce the unequal probabilities of employment to these people. For example, you will find that if the economy is operating at its full employment, then you will find there might be a large demand for women to work in the labor market since the men labor force may be small to produce such goods and services in the market. But when the jobs are scarce, and these jobs are rationed due to the inadequate aggregate demand, it is time so many women will be fired from the jobs since you will find that the demand for labor will be low than the supply of labor. This is the time when so many women will tend to lose jobs due to their low labor force which is assumed to be the key factor why these women can perform less than women. This case can be more evident in many countries globally and this can be evident in china and the US. For example in the US, it was evident among the nonwhite women groups whereby when the supply for labor is less than demand, most of the nonwhite women lose their jobs since there is less demand for labor. (Jacobsen, 2005).
You also find that the economic development policies such as the trade liberalizations can be seen as leading to a shift in the economic structure hence producing the differential unemployment rates by these people. You tend to find that the gender differences in most of the unemployment’s internationally can be linked to the structural disadvantage. So when trying to make such policies, it is good to ensure that they are not on one side. This is because you find that majority of women in our societies play the greatest role in the family since they have to take care of their children and their husbands too. It is due to this particular fact that HR should ensure that women are not neglected in such jobs. Equal job opportunities should be available to both of them as long as they have the full potentials to do such jobs. So, when such policies are been established, they should not be biased on women but should be imposed to ensure that there are equal job opportunities for both women and men. (Jacobsen, 2005).
You also find that most of the women globally can be found in the low income-generating activities, unlike men. This is out of the nation that women are said to be less productive and this is why most of these women can be found in the low income-generating activities hence leading to less performance in them and the country at large. You see so many women getting involved in slow-growing occupational or even sectors and the reason here is out of the job discrimination though some may be involved in such jobs out of their own choices./ It is with this fact that the job security for these women is at risk, unlike the men who are involved in the government jobs with job securities or even in the private sectors. So when you try to compare these two people, you will realize that men have job security, unlike women who are found at these low-income generating businesses. It is out of this fact that many women will tend to have a low living standard out of their job discrimination to work in the government organizations. So it is very much important to ensure that there are no gender differences that will lead to the low-income gaps between these people. HR should ensure that there are ethical considerations that should be established. If it is recruiting or even promoting employees, it should not be men only who get promoted in such jobs but both the male and females in such organizations should be treated equally depending on their personal abilities and experiences. (Bamber, Lansbury, and Wailes, 2004).
Unemployment rates
Despite the high unemployment rates for women internationally, some countries have smaller women unemployment rates and a good example is in Australia which is one of the countries with low unemployment rates for women. As shown in the Australian findings, many people can use these findings to say that women have not been neglected so much in employment. This can be shown from the findings that by the year 2001 census which was done in Australia on the unemployment rates, it was found that women had a lower unemployment rate than men that is women had an unemployment rate of 6.5% while men had an employment rate of 8.5% but it was found that the indigenous women had a higher unemployment rate as can be shown in the diagram below.
Conclusion
There is so much evidence that women have been discriminated hence so many arguments to support the issue that women should not be discriminated against in the labor market. This is because of the qualifications these people have, unlike the male. You tend to find that due to modernity in most of the countries, you tend to find that people have left their cultural beliefs whereby most people believed that the young child should not be educated but it’s only the boy who should be educated. But with the rise of modernity and civilization, all those beliefs have been forgotten and most women have been involved in education. It is due to this fact that many women have also been in a position to further their studies even in other countries hence leading to their improved performance. So it is with this particular fact that women tend not to be less effective than men. This can be proved in so many countries say in china and Australia plus other countries whereby even women are doing the men’s roles. They are trying to prove that they are not at all less effective as many people tend to argue. It is due to this fact that women should not be neglected in the labor market. They should be allowed to do the work they seem more effective hence the role of HR to ensure that women are not discriminated against in the many sectors. They should take the example of Hillary Clinton in the US plus other outstanding women in other countries all over the world who have stood strong and fought for their own rights. This is because gender discrimination has been evident so much in the global world hence leading to the gender gaps in wages between men and women despite the many roles they do in the family.
Reference
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Darity, W. 2002, Evidence on discrimination in the workplace. Journal of economics perspectives. Vol. 2(1). Pp 56.
Fosu, A. 2000, Gender and racial differences in working places. Kingston: Ian Randle. Pp 5-12.
Jacobsen, J. 2005, Women in the labor market. Kingston: Ian Randle. Vol. 8(1).
Jayasinghe, D. 2004, More and more technology, Women have to go home. Gender and development journal. Vol. 6(4).
Lall, S. 2000, Competitiveness, skills and policy in developing countries. Oxford: Queen Elizabeth House.
Bamber, G., Lansbury, R. and Wailes, N. 2004, International and comparative employment relations: Globalization and the developed market economies, 4th edition, Allen and Unwin, Sydney.
Lewis, W. 2004, Gender conflict and economic development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.