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Women In The Labour Force
The past decades their has been a dramatic increase of women
participating in the labour force from countries all over the world
including Canada. In 1950, one Canadian worker in five was a woman. By
1980 this percentage had doubled, and women are expected to make up more
than 44 percent of the labour force by the end of this century.
The increase in female participation started occurring during the
1970's. This increase also caused the largest baby boom that the Canadian
female labour force had ever witnessed.
In North America it is common for women to have part-time or summer
jobs, and the participation rate of teenage girls is high. It is also
mostly high throughout the world in places as United Kingdom because of the
fewer women going to school. But in places like France, Italy, and Japan
the female participation rate is very low. In most of the countries the
labour force is most participated in the age groups between 20 and 24. The
labour force of mature women is very high in Sweden, because of the
encouraged day care facilities which also provides the females with
legislation that provides them with excellent benefits. In Japan there is
a drop in female economic activity, the reason why is it affects their
marriage and the care of their only child.
An observation of labour force participation rates in Canada show that
female rates rose a lot between 1971 and 1981, while the male rate rose
unnoticeably. The increase in the female participation rate was found in
all age groups except in older women. For women aged 15 to 19 the rate was
as almost as high as the men. But the largest increase was in the age
group of 25-44 years old, where the rate rose almost 50 percent. This
meant that the participation rates of the females had become more alike
with the men.
Family status also influenced the female participation rate but later
on during 1981 it had a more less affect than in 1971. According to
statistics just over one quarter of married women with young children were
working, but this later changed and grew by 76 percent over the a 10 year
period of time. The rate also showed an increase of 47 percent for widowed,
divorced, and separated women with children. However single women with
young children showed a slight decrease. However the female participation
rate is not so much related to family status as today as it was many years
ago.
During the period of 1971 through 1981 the involvement of married
women went through a major change. Fewer women saw marriage as a reason to
interrupt their participation in the job force, and couple tended to
postpone having children or not having any at all. While women with young
children tended to participate less in the labour market and quit their
jobs more frequently than men. Females did the exact opposite of what men
did when they had children while working, and in some cases were actually
more stable than men without children. This showed that the couples
attitude towards having children influenced a decrease in the female labour
force participation rate.
In 1981 most women spent an average of 1,247 hours a year working,
compared with 1,431 hours in 1971 which had dropped about 15 percent. Even
men saw their average hours decrease by 13 percent. Not only more women
were working, more were working part-tim for only part of the year which
meant more women on the unemployment rolls. In the 1960's the unemployment
rate for females was 3 percent and ten years later increased to 7 percent.
Since june 1982 the unemployment rate for men was 11-13 percent and the
women's just above that rate which could also exceed that of the men near
the end of the century. Only about 11 percent of women had part-time jobs
because they couldn't find full-time employment or because they wished to
spend more time to their education or their families, or for other reasons.
Although 24 percent of the women working part-time would have preferred a
full-time job if it had been available.
According to the Statistics Canada study, in 1970 women were extremely
poorly paid which showed a big earnings difference than the men. This
started changing in the 1970's which rose the females earning to 51.2
percent of that of a man. Ten years later it had reached 54.4 percent. If
it wasn't for the decrease in annual hours for the females the earnings
difference would have been reduced even further. By 1980 the females
earnings had risen to 72 percent of that of a man.
The female labour force would be incomplete without equal pay for
equal or equivalent work. This issue was the most important issue to women
in low-paid jobs. If the principal of equal pay for equal work were fully
applied men and women would both receive the same hourly wage which would
raise female earnings dramatically. The issue of equal pay for equal work
most often comes up in discussion to improve the economic status of the
women at the bottom of the payroll, many of them who are not in unions.
When women first started entering the labour force they were hassled
by the males because they were supposed to traditional work in the house
and take care of the family. Which was the reason of their low wages to
disapprove of women working. This traditions reflected their wages and the
positions people were willing to offer to women. Working women experience
problems such as sexual harassment and being fired because of pregnancy.
Most of the people want to correct the unequal treatment of women in
the work force and make it equal for everyone. Some of the methods which
can be used to support equality is to introduce a federal legislation to
guarantee equal pay for equal work. To also set wages according to the
value of the work done by the employer. Which would be difficult to
measure the value of one person's work compared to another persons. We
could also offer women better benefits and a better pension when they
retire their job.
Peoples attitudes towards women in the work force are slowly starting
to change and more opportunities for women are being available for them.
The unequal treatment of working women will take years to change and will
always stay an important issue.
Books Author
In Her Own Right Six Point View
To See Ourselves "unknown"
The Law Is Not For Women "unknown"
Equal Status For Women In Canada In th 1990's "unknown"
Women And The Constitution Micheline Carrier
Women At Home "unknown"
Changing Economic Status Of Women Jac-Andre Boulet
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