Value and devalue of women’s Workin China and India

----Unanswered Three Questions

Feng Yuan2014.09.26

Three questions

As “new engine of world economy”, • Why gender gap of labour force participation

keep expanding?• Why gender gap of income remain huge?• How to turn women’s gains in education,

health and political empowerment as added-value of women’s work?

Rapid economic growth Vs. Declining women’s employment rate• In both China and India, both male and female

labor market participation decline. But the rates of women drop more, particularly for young women.

• “Despite very rapid economic growth in India in recent years, we’re observing declining female labour force participation rates across all age groups, across all education levels, and in both urban and rural areas,” said ILO economist Steven Kapsos during a presentation of the report in India.

What reasons contribute most?

• Longer education? Why rate of male still higher?• Full time house wife?• Irregular worker?　

Male labour force

participation rate (%)　

Female labour force participation rate (%)　

　

Male youth labour force participation rate (%)　

Female youth

labour force participation rate (%)　

Male adult labour force participation rate (%)　

Female adult labour

force participation rate (%)　

year

China India China India China India China India China India China India1991 84.8 84.9 72.6 35.0 77.0 69.3 78.4 30.5 88.0 91.8 70.2 37.0 1995 84.7 84.0 72.2 35.4 75.5 67.0 75.6 29.0 87.7 91.4 71.0 38.1 2000 83.1 82.8 70.7 33.9 68.5 64.5 67.7 26.4 87.1 90.5 71.5 37.0 2005 79.5 83.3 66.5 36.9 60.5 64.8 57.9 27.9 85.3 90.8 69.0 40.4 2010 77.6 80.8 63.5 28.6 57.5 54.6 52.8 19.4 83.3 90.8 66.4 32.0 2015p 78.5 80.0 63.9 27.1 58.5 51.1 53.9 17.6 82.6 90.2 65.8 30.3 2018p 78.2 79.9 63.4 27.3 57.6 50.6 53.1 17.5 81.9 89.8 65.0 30.3

China

• Employment rate disparity: 5.6-16 percentage points. Youngest (18-19) and elder(50+) age groups, rural women drop most.

• The income of women with middle school education earn about 54% of their male counterpart.

• Women informal workers earn 49% of their male counterpart, the gaps increased 16.5 points.

Expanding Gender Pay Gap in China

• The official statistic shown a trend: • Women earn less and less than men’s (from

near 80 % down to 67% and 56%)

Gender Pay Gap: China and India is not included

India ChinaFemale-to-male ratio

0=inequality, 1=equality

1996 0.33 0.61

2001 0.37 0.65

2013 0.27 0.64

2014 0.35 0.69

Estimated Earned Income (PPP, USD)

Value and Devalue by MarriageUnmarried women earn less than married, divorced and widowed married women in both urban and rural China ; being mother with child younger than 6 can decline the income(Jiang Yongping.2013, pp 195 & 198).

However, married male managers earned more than single while married female managers earned less than single, after controlling for other individual characteristics and firm variables.

The total compensation was,on average, 34.1% lower for females and for males (162,400: 246,400 , 2006). The compensation comprised base wage, bonus, stock options, and profit sharing.

About 27.6 % of the gender pay gap is explained by the firm size (measured by the registered capital), 12.0 % by business training, about 10.7 % by marital status .

•(Source: Liu Xiu 090402, (Survey of Entrepreneurs in Liuzhou , Guangxi province. Sample of women 22% larger then earlier studies )

Time for Household work

• Time gaps for Household chore narrowed(now women 1 and 1.5 hr longer than men,

daily, ten year before was 1.5 and 3+ hr longer

yearUrban

F/M%RuralF/M%

total F/M%

working timeF/M%

1990 173.6%232.3

%227.3% 82.3%

2000 248.8%281.1

%264.8% 81.5%

2010 237.2%286.0

%260.9% 94.2%

Value about household work• More people agree with “the men should focus on

career and women on family” than 10 years ago, but women still spend more than double more time to do household work than male

(%) 2000 2010

urban Rural urban Rural

Male female Male female Male female Male female

Male (should) focus on career

44.1 36.4 58.9 56.8 52.9 44.5 66.9 66.1

Men are breadwinner

-- -- 52.7 42.8 66.8 64.1

Male should do household

82.6 91.7 78.9 90.1 84.6 93.3 79.5 89.1

Gender Equality Indicators

Green: top 10

Pink: middle 11

Red: bottom 10

China Overall view

(2010)

Human Development Index

0

1

2

3

India China

Narrow Gender Pay Gaps• Can increase women’s Pensions. lower earnings result in

lower pensions, at higher risk of poverty• Improve economy:• Reducing barriers to female labor force participation would

increase America's GDP by 9 percent, the Euro area by 13 percent and Japan's GDP by 16 percent (a study conducted by Goldman Sachs). Moreover, a World Bank study that found by eliminating discrimination against women workers and managers, productivity per worker would grow by 25 to 40 percent;

• Eliminating the whole gender wage gap from 17% (in February 2009) to zero, could be worth around $93 billion or 8.5% of GDP for Australia( according to the American Association of University Women)

Can we waiting for 150 year to close gender pay gap…Thank you very much for your attention!