Round-Table Discussion 2006/3/19

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Round-Table Discussion2006/3/19

• Why Do Women Quit Jobs Upon Getting Married
  and/or Giving Birth?
• Chin-fen Chang

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Definitions

• Job quit 1) take or change to other jobs
  (usually less work-intensive and more
  time-flexible), 2) withdrawal from formal labor
  markets.
• Getting married, becoming pregnant, and/or giving
  birth (MPB) should be viewed as events in the
  life course, rather than as causes accounting for
  job quit decision by women

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Events vs. Causes

• By treating MPB as causes, we would naturally
  focus on how to prohibit discrimination against
  married or pregnant women, and how to alleviate
  womens burden of child care
  provisions in Gender Employment Equality
  Act---penalty for discrimination, paid maternal
  leave, unpaid paternal leave, flexible time
  arrangements

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Misspecifications by treating MPB as causes (1)

• 1 Marital status cannot replace gender as the
  only factor of determining who would be major
  care-taker MPB women not the only cares in the
  family e.g. single women taking care ageing,
  handicapped family members, or siblings
  children care work including youth, old
  children, and other adults.

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Misspecifications (2)

• 2 MPB are not the only stage when women
  involuntarily choose to quit jobs Many women
  quit their jobs when children below age 6 or in
  the primary school age. Providing more, cheaper,
  and/or better-quality day care facilities would
  not reduce the likelihood of job quit for these
  women.

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Misspecifications (3)

• 3 viewing MPB as the cause would downplay the
  impacts of unfriendly labor market practices on
  womens job quit decision not all women quit
  upon MPB womens decision to quit at MPB
  contingent on other conditions or factors.

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3 is the focus of the subsequent discussion

• Gendered labor market segmentation most women
  could only find jobs in the secondary jobs in the
  labor markets, less-respected occupations in
  specific industries, or peripheral positions in
  the organizations.

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Outcomes of gendered labor market segmentation

• Lower job securities, promotion opportunities,
  satisfaction, employment stabilities, and
  EARNINGS in female-dominant jobs, occupations, or
  industries.
• Focus on earnings
• women earned less than men after controlling
  for marital status, education, tenure, region,
  industries, occupations

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Why women earned poor?

• Discriminations in opportunities and rewards
  1)Job segregation Less likely getting better-
• paid jobs,
• 2) Unequal pay for equal work Being paid
• lower than male counterparts,
• 3) Low pay for equal contributions Female-
• dominant jobs or occupations underpaid

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Female Labor Force (10,000 persons) Female Labor Force Participation Rates in Selective Countries () Female Labor Force Participation Rates in Selective Countries () Female Labor Force Participation Rates in Selective Countries () Female Labor Force Participation Rates in Selective Countries () Female Labor Force Participation Rates in Selective Countries () Female Labor Force Participation Rates in Selective Countries () Female Labor Force Participation Rates in Selective Countries () Female Labor Force Participation Rates in Selective Countries ()
Female Labor Force (10,000 persons) total age 15-24 25-49 25-49 25-49 25-49 50-64 gt 65
Female Labor Force (10,000 persons) total age 15-24 25-29 30-39 40-49 50-64 gt 65
Taiwan 2001 397.7 46.1 37.2 63.4 71.2 64.7 58.0 30.4 3.5
1991 321.4 44.4 43.9 55.0 59.9 54.3 51.7 30.7 4.1
Hong Kong 2000 142.3 49.1 44.7 66.6 86.6 68.5 55.9 32.5 1.7
Korea 2000 900.1 48.3 36.2 58.2 55.9 54.0 64.0 50.7 22.5
Japan 2000 2,752.0 49.3 46.6 66.1 69.9 59.2 70.7 56.8 14.4
Singapore 2000 86.8 55.5 55.7 69.2 84.9 68.4 59.3 33.7 4.1
Canada 2000 735.0 59.5 62.9 79.9 79.9 79.5 80.2 54.0 3.3
USA 2000 6,561.6 60.2 63.2 77.3 77.1 75.7 78.9 61.0 9.4
Germany 2000 1,736.0 48.2 47.3 77.7 74.7 77.0 79.8 44.8 1.5
G.B. 2000 1,308.4 54.9 65.6 76.8 - 75.3 77.8 29.0 -
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Some basic facts

• Differences of average earnings between
  employed women and men (women/men)
• 1996 71.9
• 1999 73.5
• 2002 74.7

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Survey results of a national representative sample

• Taiwan Social Change Survey, 2002 ()
• Monthly Earnings Women
  Men
• lt10,000 (usd313) 10.0
  6.8 10,00019,000 22.3 (32.3)
  12.6 (19.4)
• 20,00029,000 26.5 (58.8)
  16.1 (35.5)
• 30,00039,000 19.8 (78.6)
  18.1 (53.6)
• 40,00049,000 9.8 (88.4)
  14.8 (68.4)
• 50,00059,000 5.8 (94.2)
  13.6 (82.0)
• gt60,000 5.8 (100.0)
  18.0 (100.0)

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Survey results of a national representative
sample

• Average monthly earnings of women quit upon MPB
  in the survey
• below NT 10,000 (about U.S.313) 23
• between NT 10,000 and 20,000
  34 (57)
• between NT 20,000 and 30,000
  26 (83)

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Table 1Frequency Distribution of Major Causes of
Withdraw from the Labor Markets
Frequency
Getting Married 214 27.0
Work-related factors 199 25.1
Getting Pregnant 176 22.2
None-specified reasons 136 17.1
Take Care of Family Members 36 4.5
Expectations of Husbands or Family Members 33 4.2
Total Number of Cases 794 100.0
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Table 2Causes to Quit Jobs upon MPB (married,
pregnant, giving birth)by Married Women
Singular Choice () Singular Choice ()
1. Wish to Take Care Children 147 (33.49)
2. Cannot Manage between Work and Family 68 (15.49)
3. Request by Husbands 57 (12.98)
4. Work Site Unsuitable 56 (12.76)
5. Help Family Business 26 ( 5.92)
6. Other Reasons 22 ( 5.01)
7. Good Financial Conditions 20 ( 4.56)
8. Bad Health or Injured 16 ( 3.64)
9. Request by Parents-in-Laws 11 ( 2.51)
10. Asked to Resign by the Employers 8 ( 1.82)
10. Earnings Lower than Childcare Expenses 8 ( 1.82)
Total 439 (100.0)

• The data came from 2001 Taiwan Social Changes
  Survey. It was conducted on a random sampling at
  the national level with 1,979 valid cases in the
  sample. Among them 1,391 are married or
  cohabitating with spouses during the survey,
  which is composed of 70.3 of the total sample.

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Table 3Multinomial Logistic Analyses of Reasons
of Job Quit by Married Women in Taiwan (Ever quit
upon marriage, pregnancy, or birth giving
(MPB)0)
Variables A. Wives job status A. Wives job status B. A Husband job status B. A Husband job status C. B socio-cultural factors C. B socio-cultural factors
Variables Quit due to work reasons Quit due to other reasons Quit due to work reasons Quit due to other reasons Quit due to work reasons Quit due to other reasons
(omitted )
Education (University0)
Primary .18(.38) -.57(.37) .10(.48) -.29(.47) -.07(.51) -.26(.50)
Junior High -.46(.37) -.58(.34) -.36(.43) -.31(.42) -.47(.46) -.35(.44)
Senior High -.10(.28) -1.13(.28) -.14(.33) -.83(.34) -.16(.34) -.80(.35)
Wifes then Earnings 1.16(.30) .76(.30) 1.16(.33) .84(.33) 1.22(.35) .81(.34)
Prior Occupation (Professional0) Prior Occupation (Professional0)
White Collars .75(.40) .01(.35) 1.06(.46) .05(.37) .99(.47) -.03(.39)
Blue Collars .93(.45) .15(.41) 1.21(.52) .16(.44) 1.21(.54) .15(.46)
Husbands Education
Primary .74(.42) .43(.44) .71(.45) .38(.46)
Junior .18(.39) .55(.40) .17(.42) .53(.42)
Senior .07(.30) .35(.32) .08(.32) .27(.34)
Husbands Then Earnings .04(.05) .08(.04) .01(.05) .08(.05)
Liberal Gender Role Attitude .37(.22) .47(.22)
Satisfaction with Work
Unsatisfied 1.29(.28) .70(.32)
Constant -1.85 -2.36 -2.90 -3.73 -3.24 -4.08
Log Likelihood -731.0 -731.0 -636.6 -636.6 -589.0 -589.0
Pseudo- R2 0.061 0.061 0.080 0.080 0.109 0.109
743 743 666 666 665 665
plt.10, plt.05, plt.01, plt.001
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End note

• When women are paid lower in their formal labor
  market jobs, there are many consequences
  treatments in the workplace, family pressure to
  quit jobs at MPB, no career, falling into poverty
  easily when getting older

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What are to be done?

• Equal pay for equal work prohibited by law, but
  still prevalent in the private workplace.
• Comparable Worth specified in Gender Employment
  Equality Act, but not further actions by the
  state, e.g., job analysis.
• Men do more caring work and other household
  duties (see appendix)