Overcoming Gender Inequality in the Workplace

The assignment discusses the gender pay gap, a significant issue worldwide, and its effects on socio-economic and political conditions. It presents two ways to overcome this constraint: providing same remuneration and analyzing causes of inequality within society. The essay also references various studies and reports from international organizations like ILO, highlighting the need for equal pay and addressing underlying societal issues.

Running head: ECONOMICS OF LAW AND ORGANIZATION
Economics of law and organization
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note

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Introduction:
The gender inequality is one of the common factors of occupational inequality that
can be seen in most of the work places, worldwide. Under this imbalanced situation, women
have enjoyed less power over the management and consequently have earned less
remuneration compare to that of male employees (Lutter). Hence, at present, various
economists and socialists have discussed this topic critically and consequently have intended
to find some effective solutions. In 2017, the International Labor Organization (ILO) has
prepared a report based on this specified inequality and has provided two suggestions to
overcome this (Okonkwo). This essay intends to focus on the first suggestion, which has
argued to promote equal remuneration between male and female employees regarding their
work, based on equal value. Hence, to understand the overall scenario, a brief literature
review is going to be done, after which the essay can analyze about the gender pay gap along
with its measurement. Moreover, some suggestions, based on this inequality problem, can be
provided in the context of Canada. At the end, this essay intends to provide an appropriate
conclusion, based on entire discussion.
Literature Review:
According to the report of the ILO, global community is experiencing huge
challenges due to gender gaps, where men have received more preferences to obtain a job
compare to women. Thus, according to the statistical analysis, the present participation rate of
global labor force of women is only 49% while for men; it is 27% more. However, between
1997 and 2017, this gap, based on participation rate, has experienced a decreasing trend,
worldwide (Ilo.org). At the end of 2017, some countries like Arab States, Northern and
Southern America have experienced the highest gaps that exceed 50% points. The worldwide
unemployment rate for women has remained 6.2% in 2017 while this rate for male has

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remained at 5.5%, which in turn has measured the inequality gap by 0.7% (Bowen, et al).
According to some predictions, those rates are going to remain unchanged in 2018 as well.
However, this rate has varied worldwide, based on economic conditions of different
countries. The unemployment rate in emerging countries has increased from 0.5% in 2007 to
0.7 % in 2017 (Zimmermann). On the other side, in both developed and developing countries,
this rate has remained at 1.8% and 0.5 %, respectively, during the same period. However, for
the Arab States and Northern Africa, this condition has remained poor compare to other
countries. In the context of employment, only 5.5% men are contributing their labor in family
works, while that for women is 15% (Afiouni and Charlotte Karam). By contributing in
family works, a person cannot receive fixed remuneration but perform their job under an
unorganized sector with great efforts. In developing countries, this condition has influenced
to increase the employment gap, significantly.
After analyzing those data, the ILO report has suggested that economic benefits can
be earned by reducing the participation rate and unemployment rate. By enhancing job
opportunities, each country may increase its national income, which in turn can help it to
develop its respective economic conditions. Moreover, by employing women, a country can
overcome other economic obstacles, for instance, welfare development of women, which in
turn can help an economy to experience economic growth (Simmons, et al). In this context,
the concerned report has analyzed some socio-economic factors, for instances, marital status,
work life balance and lack of transportation that have adversely affected the worldwide
employment opportunities of female workers. Hence, it is essential to provide work
conformity for both men and women employees as this can further help a country to reduce
gender inequality in work places. In addition to this, the specified report has suggested some
policies that can help a workplace to reduce this gender discrimination. According to those
policies, firstly, a company needs to promote equal remunerations in work places to provide

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equal values for both male and female workers. Secondly, the society needs to cure the actual
causes behind this inequality from its root by providing equal educational rights to both men
and women. Lastly, some laws and policies can be implemented to eliminate the gender
description within a work place.
Gender pay gap and its measurement:
The gender pay gap measures the difference between earnings of women and men,
representing as a percentage of men’s earnings. This internationally based measurement
describes the position of women in world economy, that is, the overall position of women
within an economy, instead of considering the roles of their works (Blau and Kahn). This gap
can be affected by various factors, for instances, biasness and discrimination regarding hiring
and pay decisions, unpaid care and domestic work of women, lack of flexibility regarding
workplace and impacts of female dominating companies on economy and so on.
The size of this gender gap model not only considers the amounts of remunerations
paid to men and women employees but also on the way, this payment is measured. This gap
is measured based on the hour of payment, which can be divided into full-time pay, median
pay and ordinary pay. Hourly pay is considered widely, as it provides a fixed amount of work
and does not directly influence the aggregate number of hours of a person’s work. On the
contrary, the amount of remuneration, received per hour based on the number of working
hours per week can affect weekly pay. For part time workers, this way to measure payment is
not appropriate (Kaufmann). Annual pay has few criteria to measure pay equity as periods
out of work can affect this as well. Hence, based on those different units of measurement, the
size of the gap can vary. For instance, the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S Census
Bureau have represented that in 2009, women’s earnings, among full-time year-round
workers aged 16 years and more, have remained 85.5 % of men, based on median hourly pay

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(Theis et al.). However, this amount has remained 80.2% of men’s, when it is measured on
the basis of median weekly earning while 77% of men’s when this size is measured on the
basis of median annual income (Ilo.org).
Assumptions/ biases of pay equity:
It is often seen that economists prefer the hourly pay to measure earnings as it
provides less biased outcomes of the gap. Two assumptions can support this view. Firstly, it
is considered that hourly payments can be measured appropriately and secondly, this
measurement can represent worker input in a gender-neutral and fair way. Moreover, equality
based on hourly earnings, may not show equality regarding the total labor-market rewards.
For instances, hourly wage rates sometimes do not consider extra hours if those labor work
more than 40 hours in each week (Auspurg, Hinz, and Sauer). However, a negative aspect of
hourly pay can also be seen, where it does not consider the hourly rate for those people,
whose hourly wage cannot be defined by compensation. Thus, based on some real analysis, it
is seen that hourly pay has some drawbacks. Firstly, this measurement does not provide
accurate value always as reporting regarding the hours worked may face trouble due to
workplace reporting standard. Secondly, during this estimation, both men and women may
tend to be biased based on their different requirements, for instance, women sometimes
consider that they deserve less amount of remuneration compare to that of men.
Hence, from those reasons, it can be said that the exclusive reliance based on hourly
earnings to control the seriousness and size of the gender pay gap may mislead others. Thus,
to get more realistic and unbiased estimation, it is essential to consider all measures together.

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Solution in the Canadian context:
The standard employment relationships (SER) states about the employment of male
workers while non-standard employment relationships (NSER) is represented by female
workers. During the era between post Second World War and the mid-1970s, the structure of
Canadian labor market has chiefly based on SER. However, this relationship has decreased
later while NSERs has increased significantly, which in turn has increased the mismatch
between tools of new employment norms and labor regulation (Fortin, Bell, and Böhm).
Thus, the country has revised its labor policies to facilitate the feminization of employment.
Canada has understood the requirements of new deregulation labor policy, urgent
requirement regarding new principles and new employment relationships regulation to refresh
the collective bargaining system and a new contract based on gender. Those options have
helped this country to develop its labor market further.
In conclusion, it can be stated that gender inequality is increasing significantly, which
in turn has generated huge pressure on a country’s socio-economic and political condition.
This statement can be supported by various statistical data, which has described that women
have faced various difficulties all over the world, to find a job. They also have experienced
constraint regarding the wage structure and facilities obtained from management. The
International Labor Organization has made a report, based on this inequality and at the end, it
has suggested two ways to over this constraint. Firstly, through providing same remuneration,
the country can overcome this gender inequality. Secondly, ILO has also suggested for
analyzing and overcoming the chief causes within society that has generated this inequality.
In this context, the essay has described about the Gender pay gap and its measurement
process as it helps to understand about difference between earning of female and male
employees based on men’s income. At the end, a solution has been described based on
Canadian context.

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References:
"International Labour Organization." Ilo.org. N.p., 2018. Web. 4 Apr. 2018.
Afiouni, Fida, and Charlotte Karam. "Debunking Myths Surrounding Women’s Careers in
the Arab Region." Career Guidance and Livelihood Planning across the Mediterranean.
SensePublishers, Rotterdam, 2017. 55-70.
Auspurg, Katrin, Thomas Hinz, and Carsten Sauer. "Why should women get less? Evidence
on the gender pay gap from multifactorial survey experiments." American Sociological
Review 82.1 (2017): 179-210.
Blau, Francine D., and Lawrence M. Kahn. "The gender wage gap: Extent, trends, and
explanations." Journal of Economic Literature 55.3 (2017): 789-865.
Bowen, Paul, et al. "Work-related contact, work–family conflict, psychological distress and
sleep problems experienced by construction professionals: an integrated explanatory
model." Construction Management and Economics 36.3 (2018): 153-174.
Fortin, Nicole M., Brian Bell, and Michael Böhm. "Top earnings inequality and the gender
pay gap: Canada, Sweden, and the United Kingdom." Labour Economics 47 (2017): 107-123.
Kaufmann, Karen M. "The gender gap." Beyond Red State and Blue State. Routledge, 2017.
104-120.
Lutter, Mark. "Do women suffer from network closure? The moderating effect of social
capital on gender inequality in a project-based labor market, 1929 to 2010." American
Sociological Review 80.2 (2015): 329-358.

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Okonkwo, Peter Obi. "Application of treaties in Nigeria vis-à-vis the instruments of the
international labour organisation." Nnamdi Azikiwe University Journal of International Law
and Jurisprudence 9.2 (2018): 149-157.
Simmons, Sharon A., et al. "Gender gaps and reentry into entrepreneurial ecosystems after
business failure." Small Business Economics (2018): 1-15.
Theis, Kristina A., et al. "Prevalence and causes of work disability among working-age US
adults, 2011–2013, NHIS." Disability and health journal 11.1 (2018): 108-115.
Zimmermann, Susan. "Equality of Women's Economic Status? A Major Bone of Contention
in the International Gender Politics Emerging During the Interwar Period." The International
History Review (2017): 1-28.