Gender and the Economy

Required Readings:
-Downsizing masculinity in GCCP (p. 122-136)

-Banning of abortion in Ceausescu’s Romania

in GCCP (p.559-568 up to ‘Post-Ceausescu
Abortion’)

1
Objectives
 World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index
 How the Gender Gap Index is measured
 Stats: Global and Canada
 “Gender Equality makes good business sense”
 Focus in on Canada’s Economic Opportunity & Participation Score
 Occupational Segregation
 To read about: Downsizing Masculinity in GCCP
 Gender Wage Gap
 The Case of Norway: Movie: A Woman’s Place is in the Boardroom:
Profiting from Equality (April 5)
 To read about: Gender Inequality and the State : Case study of Romania
in Banning of Abortion in Ceausescu’s Romania in GCCP – helpful hints
to steer your reading see slide 48 2
Gender and the Economy
 Jumping Off Point: World Bank’s 485 page report, Gender
Equality and Development (2011): “Gender equality is
smart economics” - Gender equality is not economic
 Gender Equality: refers to parity between women and men;
neither sex faces discrimination or injustice due to gender;
don’t expect differences in power
 Burgeoning amount of research that shows “gender
equality is good for business” - redistribution of power, shaping our values

 Shift from a values-based case for gender equality in

business (which is still valid and important) to a focus on
how gender equality is fundamental to “whether and how
economies and societies thrive” http://reports.weforum.org/global-
gender-gap-report-2017/the-case-for-gender-parity/#hide/fn-31
3
 Definition of an Egalitarian society: p. 178 in GCCP:

 “The rights, privileges, constraints and degrees of

personal autonomy of both sexes are largely
congruent throughout the life course, even though
they are not perfectly symmetrical. This is a hallmark
of a gender egalitarian society, a society that tends
toward equality.”

4
How do you measure worldwide gender
in/equality?

 World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index 2018;

published in the fall of each year
 https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-gender-
gap-report-2018
 Includes data on 149 countries; 90+% of world’s
population

5
 What variables are measures?
universal human rights
 4 categories that are related to basic human rights
 Political empowerment: Data: representation in
decision-making structures
 Economic participation and opportunity: Data:
salaries, job market participation levels and access to
high-skilled employment
 Educational attainment: Data: access to basic and
higher level education
 Health and Survival: Data: life expectancy & sex ratios
at birth

6
 Ratios
 Data are converted to female-male ratios for all of the
variables in the Index
 Political Empowerment example: The ratio of women to
men in minister-level positions
 A country has 100 ministerial positions. 20 are filled by
women; 80 by men. The country is assigned a ratio of 20
women / 80 men = 0.25 on this variable (LOW SCORE)
 HIGH SCORE: 50 women / 50 men = 1 (100%) - highest rate
 LOW SCORE: 80 women /20 men = 4 (above 1 indicates - low score.
a
disadvantage for men; below 1 a disadvantage for disadvantageabove 1 is
for
women) 0 would be low and 1would be gender equality
men and under 1 is
disadvantage for
women 7
 Index focuses on whether the gap between women
and men has declined, or increased
 Rewards countries that have closed their gap (these
countries receive a higher score and rank), indicated
by outcomes that are equal for women and men;
countries are not rewarded if one sex is doing better
than the other
 E.g. High score = 1 (100%; parity); Low score = 0
(imparity)
 Countries can move up, down, or stay the same each
year
8
 - don't need to memorize but remember the

2018 WEF Gender Gap Index numbers

 TOP 3 Countries:
 1______________________
Iceland
- no country is at 100% only till 80%

 2 ______________________
Norway

 3 ______________________
Sweden

 SCORES: Top 3 countries have closed 82-85% of their gender gap;

only 8 Countries have closed 80%+ of their gender gap

 BOTTOM 3 Countries:
 147_______________________
Iraq

 148________________________
Pakistan

 149________________________
Yemen

 SCORES: Bottom 3 countries have only closed 50-56% of their

gender gap
9
 how far we are close to gender equality?

 Canada’s Rank ______&

16 Score_______
76.9%
in 2017?
 Canada’s Rank ______
16 & Score ______
77.1% in 2018?
 United States’ Rank ____
49 & Score _____
71.8% in 2018?

 Overall, in Canada we have been (slowly)

___________our
increasing
gender gap score. In 2006 – the first
year the WEF Gender Gap Index was calculated— it
was ______% 71.6

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What holds us back? Our Scores:
 Political empowerment: Data: representation in decision-making
structures_______
36.5% - this is our big problem

 Economic participation and opportunity: salaries, job market

participation levels and access to high-skilled employment
- this is pur 2nd problem areas
 _________
74.8%

 Educational attainment: access to basic and higher level

education: ___________
100% (*over 30 other countries have the same
score) - the main reason for it is because 1. the life expectancy between men
and female- women in Canada live on average is 85 yrs and men on
average 79 yrs

 Health and Survival: Data: life expectancy & sex ratios at birth
 SCORE______
97.1 & RANK _______**Why
104 do we have such a low
RANK? 11
12
From
the
2018
report

Since, 2006 the overall gas has closed 3.6%

13
WEF Gender Gap Index 2018
- western Europe will be less than 108
- North America will take 165 years to less their gap

14
WEF Gender Gap Index 2018
 OVERALL (Global) Performance
From the 2018 report: “Globally, the average
(population-weighted) distance completed to parity is at
68.0%, which is a marginal improvement over last year.
In other words, to date there is still a 32.0% average
gender gap that remains to be closed. The directionally
positive average trend registered this year is supported
by improvements in 89 of the 144 countries covered
both this year and last year.”

15
Take home point:
 No country on the World Economic Forum’s
Gender Gap Index has achieved gender
equality

16
Take home point:
 Gender inequality has implications for a
country’s economy

http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2017/the-case-for-gender-parity/#view/fn-15 17
There have been a lot of studies & headlines on the
topic of gender equality/diversity and the economy
recently (e.g. below, McKinsey Global Institute)

June 2017

Report by
the
McKinsey
Global
Institute

18
Another important study by the Peterson Institute for
International Economics
Not required
reading. You can
read this paper at:
http://www.iie.com/pu
blications/wp/wp16-
3.pdf

You don’t need

to read the
abstract for the
test

19
 Another study by a corporation, the CIBC (Canadian
Imperial Bank of Commerce)
From the June 7 2017
Financial Post story;
“Based on CIBC’s data
over an eight-year
June, 2017 period, S&P/TSX
National Post companies with women
on the board “produced
an annual 11.1 per cent
compounded return,
more than 300 bps
(basis points) of
outperformance
compared to the zero-
female board member
groups,” the report
declares”.

20
 Take home point: An association between
gender equality and “good business” (using
several different metrics) is found across many
different studies at many different levels
(global, regional, corporate)

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What is the relationship between gender equality
and positive business metrics?
- how well you are using the human talent in the company or work force?
- Does females have the same opportunities in politics etc?
 From the WEF Human Capital - How well are you using the half population which are women ?
Report(2016): “A nation’s
human capital endowment—
the knowledge and skills
embodied in individuals that
enable them to create
economic value—can be a
more important determinant
of its long-term success than
virtually any other resource”
http://reports.weforum.org/huma
n-capital-report-2016/measuring-
human-capital/#view/fn-1

22
 Human Capital Optimization
 “A country’s score overall score on the World
Economic Forum’s Human Capital Index can roughly
be interpreted as a percentage measure of the degree
to which a country is successful in developing the full
range of its human capital potential”

23
 Human Capital & Gender Gap Index
- small gender gap and high human capital index

 From the WEF Gender Gap Report (2017): “ Across all countries, making full use of
women’s capabilities paves the way to optimizing a nation’s human capital potential. This is
evidenced in the strong relationship between the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap
Index and Global Human Capital Index, presented in Figure 11.”
 “Few of the top performers in the Human Capital Index have succeeded in
maximizing the development and deployment of their nation’s talent without also
narrowing their gender gaps” http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2016/the-
case-for-gender-parity/ 24
World Economic Forum directly links the importance of
gender diversity and the Fourth Industrial Revolution

You don’t need

to read the
summary for
the test

http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2017/the-case-for-gender-
parity/#view/fn-31 25
Recent CDN Headlines on the Fourth Industrial
Revolution

26
 Human Capital & The Fourth Industrial Revolution
 From the WEF Future of Jobs Report (2016):
“The Fourth Industrial Revolution is
interacting with other socio-economic and
demographic factors to create a perfect storm
of business model change in all industries,
resulting in major disruptions to labour
markets. New categories of jobs will emerge,
partly or wholly displacing others. The skill
sets required in both old and new
occupations will change in most industries
and transform how and where people work.”
 “By one popular estimate, 65% of children
entering primary school today will ultimately
end up working in completely new job types
that don’t yet exist.”
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More thoughts on this topic:
Gender Diversity, Human Capital & Economics

 See PPT Lecture “EXTRAS” for some ideas

 **”EXTRAS” LECTURE NOT REQUIRED MATERIAL FOR
THE TEST**

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Take home point:
 From the World Economic Forums “Future of Jobs Report”
(2016):
 “In general, women’s participation in the workforce is no longer
perceived as a social issue alone, but also as a business issue—
costing women, companies and ultimately entire economies.
Many business leaders increasingly recognize that tackling
barriers to equality can unlock new opportunities for growth….
Female talent remains one of the most under-utilized business
resources, either squandered through lack of progression or
untapped from the onset.”

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Take home point:
 Schwab & Unguresan (2016) write in an article on the
World Economic Forum’s website:
 “We urgently need to dispel any talk about gender
equality in the workplace being just a “nice to have”,
as not being fundamental to an organization’s core
purpose.” https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/11/gender-equality-
good-business-us-election

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 If gender equality is good for business…how is
Canada doing?
 Let’s look at some of the data that helps us
understand Canada’s score for the category
Economic Participation & Opportunity
 We will focus in on (Part 1) Occupation
Segregation and (Part 2) the Gender Wage
Gap in Canada

31
 Part 1) Occupational Segregation: The Division
of Labour. The kinds of jobs men and women
do.

32
Occupation Segregation
 Cut to the chase
 “In Canada, as in all advanced
industrial countries, there is still very
marked occupational segregation
between women and men.”
 “Men and women hold very different
kinds of jobs, working in almost
parallel occupational worlds.”
 From the report “Reality Check: Women in
Canada” Report by the Canadian Labour
Congress, 2010

33
Occupation Segregation - referring to job that refers to appropriate for man and

Stats Canada (2017)

women
- refer to pink collar jobs and blue collar jobs

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89-503-x/2015001/article/14694-eng.pdf
34
 Comparing what CDN men and women do:
WOMEN
 From the Stats Canada report : In 2015,  From the Stats Canada report: In
41% of women worked in the three
industries with the greatest share of
women (relative to men): health care
and social assistance (82.4%),
educational services (69.3%), and
accommodation and food services
(58.5%).
MEN
comparison, 18.4% of men worked
in the three industries with the
greatest share of men (relative to
women): construction (88.3%);
forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying,
and oil and gas extraction (80.5%);
and utilities (77.8%)

 The same three industries that had the  Women were concentrated in the 3
greatest share of women in 2015 did so industries with the greatest share
in 1976 as well: health care and social of women at more than double the
assistance (74.1%), accommodation rate of men who worked in the 3
and food services (59.1%), and industries with the greatest share
educational services (52.1%). of men [41% vs 18.4%].
35
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89-503-x/2010001/article/11387-eng.pdf 36
Stats Canada (Census 2016): Top 10 most common jobs for
women & men (of the 500 occupations in their survey)
WOMEN MEN
1. Retail salespersons 1. Transport truck drivers
2. Registered nurses and registered 2. Retail salespersons
psychiatric nurses
3. Retail and wholesale trade managers
3. Cashiers
4. Janitors, caretakers and building
4. Elementary school and kindergarten superintendents
teachers
5. Construction trades helpers and labourers
5. Administrative assistants
6. Automotive service technicians, truck and
6. Food counter attendants, kitchen helpers bus mechanics and mechanical repairers
and related support occupations
7. Material handlers
7. Administrative officers
8. Carpenters
8. Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service
associates 9 Food counter attendants, kitchen helpers
and related support occupations
9. General office support workers
10. Cooks
10. Early childhood educators and assistants 37
Required Reading: Downsizing masculinity: Gender,
family and fatherhood in post-industrial America p 122 -
136 in GCCP
 As we have been discussing, in North America there is a strong
association between breadwinning and what it means “to be a
man”
 This chapter continues on this theme—focussing on the
consequences of unemployment (at a Maytag factory) on one’s
identity as a man
 The authors write: “In particular, for men, the loss of a good
factory job often means facing not only the prospect of
socioeconomic downward mobility, but also an explicit or
implicit rethinking of one’s identity as a man and one’s role as
a father and husband” (p 122)
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 The authors continue: “Our work, then, is an examination of
hegemonic masculinity in limbo, and offers key insights into
how men reconstitute and refashion once-sturdy identities in
the face of global economic changes. As deindustrialization
haunts the Rust Belt, we must ask: how do blue-collar workers
adapt their understandings of themselves as men and fathers
when paths into middle-class escape their reach? And
furthermore, how do they understand this process, who do
they blame, and how do they envision their future in the post-
industrial world?” (p. 123)

39
4 themes they discuss in the chapter
(as outlined on pages 123-124):
 1. How Maytag workers employed the “breadwinner ideal” in
their construction of masculinity
 2. How unemployment and economic challenges have
challenged this ideal
 3. How the Maytag employees see themselves and their work
in contrast to corporate decisions that cause outsourcing and
downsizing
 4.How are the Maytag employees adapting to the new post-
industrial world?

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Part 2) Gender Wage Gap

41
Gender Wage Gap
 All data from Statistics Canada
 How is the wage gap generated? Traditionally, the annual earnings of full-
time, full year workers is compared (1 of 3 ways it is typically measured:“
No matter which calculation is used, the wage gap clearly exists”)
http://www.canadianwomen.org/facts-about-the-gender-wage-gap-in-
canada
 2005: women who in Canada earned on average 71.9 per cent of what
men earned (based on full-time work)
 2015: women in Canada earned on average 74 per cent of what men earned
(based on full-time work)
 From the 2017 report: “According to this metric, women aged 25 to 54
earned an average of $52,500 in 2014, while their male counterparts earned
an average of $70,700. These figures correspond to a gender earnings ratio
(women: men)of 0.74, meaning that women earned $0.74 for every dollar
earned by men”
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89-503-x/2015001/article/14694-eng.pdf
42
Feb 8 2018

43
 Pay Equity in Canada

 “Pay equity is defined

as paying the same
wages to men and
women doing work of
equal value in the
same establishment”.
http://www.labour.gc.ca/eng
/standards_equity/eq/pay/fa
q.shtml#a1

44
 If Gender Equality is smart economics…
 What can a society do to improve Gender
Equality?
 The case of Norway
 How do you increase gender diversity at the
top levels of business?

45
Norway

Similar to Canada, women

make up 47% of the labour
force in Norway
 The labour market has
traditionally been one of the
most gender-divided labour
markets in Europe
 E.g. Prior to 2003, only 6% of
board members were women in
Norway

46
Norway’s goal: increase gender diversity at the top levels
of business, specifically in the boardroom

Movie: A Woman’s Place is in the Boardroom: Profiting

from Equality
LINK:
https://login.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/login?url=htt
ps://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=1
02628&xtid=41341

**the approach Norway has taken, has now been

adopted in some form by at least 13 other countries,
including France, Italy, Netherlands, Malaysia, United
Arab Emirates & India 47
 Some hints and ideas to steer your reading
 Required Reading: Political Demography: The Banning of Abortion
in Ceausescu’s Romania. In GCCP p.559-568 up to ‘Post-Ceausescu
Abortion’
 This chapter highlights the problems that occur when state
policies negate/ reduce women’s rights; the state supports
gender inequality – even while the leader of the country
(Ceausescu) proclaimed to oppose gender discrimination (p. 562)
 To read about: Pronatalist policies and practices discussed in this
case study of Romania
 Questions to think about: How did the state carry out its
pronatalist ideology?
 What were some of the consequences of the state’s pronatalist
policies?
48