Women In Work Place
The past decades there has been a dramatic
increase of women participating in
the labor 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 labor 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 labor
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
labor 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 labor
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 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 labor 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 couple's attitude
towards
having children influenced a decrease in the female labor 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-time 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 weren't for the
decrease in
annual hours for the females the earnings difference would have
been reduced
even further. By 1980 the female's earnings had risen to 72
percent of that of a
man. The female labor 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 labor 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. These 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, are 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.
People's 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.