Top Five issues of working women around the world - a statistical account

Top Five issues of working women around the world - a statistical account Whether we agree or not the statistics tell the story. A recent research in the USA tells us about the issues working women continue to face. Similar could be said for Australian women Lydia Dishman shares her research. Lydia, a business journalist who writes for various magazines in the USA, including Fast Company (https://news.fastcompany.com) writes there are:

Five top issues working women continue to face: 1. Equal pay for equal work - gender wage gap It is a complex issue as women are from different backgrounds and attend to all kinds of jobs i.e. older women in low paying part time jobs compared to young women entering the professional work in areas such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).  

Immigrant women: The solution can’t be found with a blanket fix, but requires deeper explorations of regional and national factors at play, and within a variety of demographics.

Millennial women: The youngest working generation is also the most promising one in closing the wage gap: Women age 16-34 experience a 87.5% earnings ratio, compared to the 78% national average of all ages. Millennial women are also more



likely to work in management, business, and finance than their male counterparts, according to the study. A little over 10% of young women are employed in these fields, compared to 9.7% of men. They also lead by a wider margin in professional occupations in general, with 24% of women, compared to 15.7% of men. According to research, the best place to be a working millennial woman is New York, where they’ve closed the gap and then some, making 102.1% of what men do.

Older women - didn't have the opportunities and worked their way up the ladder compared to many degree qualified women have an expectation they are already halfway up the ladder due to their degree qualification.

Women make up most of the older generation in the U.S., and 14% of women 65 and older are in the workforce. But they earn less than the average–72.5 cents on the dollar–and are employed in more service industries or administrative support jobs than men. Their male peers are more frequently found in management, business, and financial occupations. The median annual earnings of women in this demographic is $37,000. For their male peers, it’s $51,000.

2. Work-Life Balance This was the most important concern among the participating countries overall, with 44% of women surveyed reporting it as the toughest challenge in the workplace.

In the U.S., 43% of women surveyed ranked work-life balance ahead of flexible work hours, access to childcare, and insufficient maternity leave.

But it’s definitely not exclusive to the U.S. Data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) indicates that in 2014, China had one of highest female employment rates in the world at 70%, compared with 27% in India, for example. Yet many of these women have had to sacrifice caring for their children in order to earn a living. This is especially true among China’s 269 million migrant workers, who move to large factory towns and leave children behind to be cared for by grandparents.

3. Children Versus Career Despite the emphasis placed on work-life balance and the concern over ever being able to achieve it, nearly half (47%) of all the women polled agreed that having a child wouldn’t stand in the way of building a career.

This is particularly true in Brazil, where a generous four- to six-month maternity leave comes with a guarantee that a mother can return to her job with an option to work part time until the baby is a year old. This is combined with the fact that families in Brazil tend to stay close to each other, and are therefore able to pitch in for childcare, which makes this group of women (74%) most optimistic.

That’s not the picture in Britain, France, or Germany. Although these are wealthy countries, women there are reliant on nannies or nurseries that can be costly and not readily available. A spokeswoman for Mums net, a British networking website for parents, said that the mothers on the site felt there was a “motherhood penalty” against pay and promotion. She said that in addition to the cost of childcare, women felt out of touch after returning from maternity leave, and believed that their employers lacked understanding. Also, she noted that the very long hours required to hold senior positions didn’t fit in with school schedules.

The U.S. ranked right in the middle when asked if women can have a family without damaging their career. Forty-three percent strongly agreed, and 27% strongly disagreed they could juggle the two without hurting their careers.

4. Career Opportunities Nearly half (47%) of the women surveyed in the U.S. believe men have better access to professional development and career growth opportunities than they do. The U.S. ranked 10th in comparison to other countries in the G20, who believe men have better access to these types of opportunities.

They also believe it’s tougher for women to start a business, as 33% of women in the U.S. reported entrepreneurship was a level playing field, compared to 38% of women who agreed across the G20 countries.

The current state of women-owned businesses in the U.S. bears this out. Findings from the National Women’s Business Council revealed that there are 9.9 million women-owned firms in the country as of 2012, making up 36.2% of all non-farm businesses.

5. Harassment The U.S. ranked second highest among countries surveyed where 37% of women reported being harassed in the workplace. Yet not many speak out against it. Across countries polled, 61% of women say they never or rarely report being harassed on the job.

The numbers are different in India, where 53% of working women said they would likely speak out and report harassment. “Women in India today are asserting that they will not remain silent on this issue,” says Vrinda Grover, an Indian lawyer and human-rights activist who deals with many cases like these. ”They are asserting that they will no longer carry the baggage of shame and stigma that victims were previously plagued with.”

This is in sharp contrast to Russia, where a quarter of women said they faced some form of harassment, yet only 7% say they would speak out to report it.

Achieving pay parity and providing adequate and affordable childcare and career opportunities and a workplace free from harassment is an imperative for the global economy, according to Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation.

In a statement to Fast Company, Rodin said, “Inclusive economies are built on a foundation of equal opportunity and everyone wins when women and men are given the same opportunities. To get there, more opportunity for more women must be supplemented by public and private efforts to raise awareness of persistent workplace inequity, and to inspire women to press for change and unleash their full potential.�

Nanny Babe: In closing, the country specific statistics have a broad variation. In Australia women continue to battle for equal recognition for their work ethics that equates to equal pay.

I find to my astonishment that a number of women are humbled that they have a job and are prepared to work their guts out and do long hours to prove they are worth the job. Both types of work have their unique stressors but the difference is one gets a whole lot more money for their efforts.

In you want to read and update our storey then visit us: http://www.shebrisbane.com.au/