The General Report : Plenary Section1
General Report
Cing-Kae Chiao
Research Fellow
Institute of European and American Studies
Academia Sinica
E-mail:
International Society for Labour and Social Security Law
8th Asian Regional Congress
October 31~ November 3, 2005 - Taipei, Taiwan
I. Introduction
Over the last twenty years, women in the Asia Pacific region have made progress in workforce participation. Greater numbers of women are working more than ever, and in some countries they have achieved wage parity with their male counterparts. There are many factors that account for the greater labor participation by women in this region. One factor would be economic development, especially in the Newly Industrialized Countries such as South Korea and Taiwan, where in order to sustain economic growth, women are needed in the labor force. Secondly, the rise of education and literacy helped many women become skilled workers and hence greater opportunities for better paying jobs. Finally, the development of legal regimes that offer protection for working women also greatly enhanced labor participation. Unfortunately, in spite of the advances made by women in labor participation, gender discrimination in employment remains a serious problem and threatens the economic and social security of women workers if not properly addressed. Wage disparity and occupational segregation continue to demonstrate the need for policies and programs which would bring about greater equality and security for women, have often have to balance family responsibilities with work.
The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into how five Asia-Pacific countries—Australia,New Zealand,Japan,Korea and Taiwan—have responded to the rise in female labor participation and the perennial problems caused by sex discrimination at the workplace and its related issues. Besides the introduction and the conclusion, the paper is divided into five sections. Section one covers the phenomenon of the feminization of labor markets in the past two decades, primarily looking at female labor participation rates. Section two presents and discusses some indicators on the prevalence of sex discrimination in the five countries’ respective labor markets. Section three provides an overview of the legal regimes of the five countries in combating sex discrimination in employment. Section four evaluates the effectiveness of each country in resolving major issues pertaining to sex discrimination in employment. Finally, the last section examines future prospects of gender equality in employment for the five countries observed.
II. Feminization in the Labor Market in the Past Two Decades
The purpose of this section is to examine the various socio-economic and cultural transformations that have occurred which has led to greater female work participation.
(1) Australia
Women’s labor participation rates in Australia have increased substantially in the last thirty years, especially the participation rates of mothers. Like in many other countries, women tend to enter the labor market as part-time employees in jobs, to which to a large extent are characterized by a lack of employment security and poor conditions of employment. In the 1990s, Australia moved from a system of centralized wage fixation to a system of de-centralized bargaining at the enterprise level with a minimum standards safety net. This shift in the legal framework has been criticized as limiting the equal opportunity agenda for women (Chapman and Trabsky).
(2) New Zealand
Education was the primary driving force for women’s labor participation in New Zealand. Women now are in the majority in all fields of higher education except science, where there is parity. The rise in educational levels among women opened up greater opportunities, as women with higher education achievements has lead to a greater proportion of women working as professionals or quasi-professionals in various jobs and occupations. The proportion of women has also increased in the more traditional male dominated skilled and semi-skilled areas of employment. In spite of such progress, however, there is still a considerable gap to be overcome before women’s overall and occupational labor participation rate are comparable to that of men (Cox).
(3) Japan
In Japan, it was revisions and enactments of legal statues that had a positive impact on female employment. The passage of the Equal Opportunity Law in 1985 went a long way towards encouraging women to join the workforce and to seek equality. The Family Care Leave Law helped lower the social stigma in putting children into childcare centers which in turn encouraged greater labor participation by Japanese mothers. Globalization, on the other hand, has had an adverse effect on women’s employment in that part-time work is becoming the norm, and women tend to occupy those jobs. Many young women who leave school for employment tend to be unskilled and remain so throughout their working lives (Aizawa).
(4) Korea
After South Korea’s industrialization in the 1960s, the transition from manufacturing to service-oriented jobs in the 1970s and 1980s coincided with growing numbers of educated female workers, which lead to increased numbers of working women. There was significant demand for labor, as skilled and professional workers were needed in order to sustain South Korea’s economic growth. Highly educated women contributed to a steady increase of female workers as professionals, but as a whole, the average female worker was typically hired as a temporary worker. Especially in the aftermath of the Asian Financial Crisis with IMF mandated reforms on the country’s labor law, greater numbers of temporary workers and temporary work agencies became a part of everyday life, with many female workers used as part-time or temporary workers. There are numerous legislation and legal reforms conducive to female labor participation, but discrimination remains a serious problem (Kim).
(5) Taiwan
In Taiwan, education has been the primary factor for increased female worker participation in the labor force. The extension of the compulsory education system encouraged women to remain in school longer and upgrade the overall labor force potential on Taiwan's job market. However, female participation is still confined to a few sectors and they typically assume fewer responsibilities than their male counterparts. On the other hand, marriage and family responsibilities are the key reasons that limit female worker participation. Upon marriage and childbirth, women withdraw from the labor market, and for those who do stay, they face difficulties in harmonizing their jobs with the demands of their households. Surveys by the Council of Labor Affairs indicate that these difficulties are compounded by a lack of childcare services for working mothers and therefore there is a high demand for government sponsored family support measures (Chiao).
III. Prevalence of Sex Discrimination in Employment
The purpose of this section is to examine the occurrence of sex discrimination in employment as it occurs in the five countries, specifically in regards to direct, indirect or mixed motive discrimination, wage disparity between the genders, existence and sources of occupational segregation, sexual harassment in the workplace, and discrimination on the grounds of marital status and pregnancy.
(1) Australia
Although there was a lack of data to draw comparisons between the frequencies of direct discrimination cases versus indirect discrimination cases, a review of empirical work and judicial decisions in this area suggest that direct discrimination complaints far outnumber indirect discrimination complaints (Chapman and Trabsky). As of August 2003, women workers in Australia earned 65 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts. For full time adult employees, female workers earned 81 cents for every dollar earned by males and have on the whole made gains in the last 20 years (Chapman and Trabsky). Australia continues to be characterized by high levels of occupational and industry sex segregation and there has been little change in this situation. In looking at horizontal segregation, the more apparent imbalances are in the traditionally male-dominated industries such as agriculture, forestry and fishing, mining, manufacturing, construction, wholesale trade, transport and utilities as well as the traditionally female dominated industries of education and health services. The genders seem to be equally represented in retail trade, accommodation, finance and insurance, property and business services (Chapman and Trabsky). Vertical segregation is also high, while women have made some advances in the last two decade. For instance, the proportion of female parliamentarians and office holders rose from 3.4% in 1986 to 21.7% in 1996. Female legal professionals have nearly doubled, from 18.9% in 1986 to 36.4% in 2001. In the corporate world, females have also made steady gains, as they comprise 10% of board members in private sector companies, a figure that has continually increased since 1995 and 1998, when they comprised of 4% and 7.6% respectively. However, as of 2001, women only occupied 1.3% of the most senior executive positions in corporations (Chapman and Trabsky).
Sexual harassment is a serious workplace problem in Australia. According to a national telephone survey conducted by the Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, 28% of the surveyed women have experienced some form of sexual harassment at their workplace, and 72% of the victims of sexual harassment were women. The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) received numerous inquiries and processed a number of complaints regarding sexual harassment. For instance, in the period between 2003 and 2004, there were 702 inquiries made to the Commission on sexual harassment, compared to 606 inquiries in the year before. In 2003-2004, the number of complaints lodged on the grounds of sexual harassment numbered 179 or 28% of the total complaints lodged on the grounds of sex discrimination (Chapman and Trabsky).
In addition to sexual harassment, The HREOC have also had to deal with cases of pregnancy and marital status discrimination. From 2003-2004, inquiries brought forth on the grounds of marital status discrimination numbered 146 while complaints made on the same grounds amounted to just 14, or 2% of the total complaints filed for sexual discrimination (Chapman and Trabsky). For cases on pregnancy discrimination, 513 inquiries were made, while 177 complaints or 28% of the total complaints filed for sexual discrimination were made, as much as complaints of sexual harassment. As for the large discrepancy between the number of inquiries and complaints, Chapman and Trabsky attributes this to the fact that a majority of discrimination victims feared retribution or did not believe that the effort and time for lodging a complaint would result in better outcomes (Chapman and Trabsky).
(2) New Zealand
Cox points out that sexual discrimination, although unlawful, still exist. The Human Rights Commission in New Zealand is charged with processing inquiries and complaints related to employment discrimination. Of the 19,000 inquiries received, around 6% was related to sexual discrimination and 4% related to pregnancy discrimination, while of the 893 formal complaints, another 6% and 1% were related to sex-based and pregnancy discrimination, respectively. New Zealand has enacted laws to counter both direct and direct sexual discrimination, notably the 1990 New Zealand Bill of Rights Act, the Human Rights Act and the Employment Relations Act. From the available statistical data, women workers in New Zealand are working more hours than in previous years, much of it in part-time work. The respective median weekly income and hourly income for females were about 71.8% and 85.5% of their male counterparts (Cox).
Like the other countries examined by this project, there is wage parity in services and occupations traditionally dominated by female workers, such as retail and secretarial work. Figures show that there is a widening in the wage gap for industries such as agriculture and fisheries, but a narrowing in many other occupations such as professionals, plant and machine operators and assemblers. The Equal Pay Act of 1972, enacted with intent to eliminate wage disparity, has been credited to have been relatively successfully in eliminating gender-based wage differentials for those jobs whose rates were set in collective agreements. This law may have been effective in those days when such practices applied to 60% of the workforce, but changing employment trends and practices such as individualized employment contracts may nullify the benefits of such a law. New Zealand seems to have made great progress in reducing occupational segregation, as shown by the 1999 report by the country's Ministry of Women Affairs. However, Cox points out that there still remains the problem of women being underrepresented in the top tiers of management, which is still predominantly occupied by males (Cox).
The norms in New Zealand on sexual harassment are robust, thanks in part to the numerous court decisions that have conditioned employers to adopt zero tolerance policies on sexual harassment in the workplace. Cox finds that employers who fail to prevent or deal with sexual harassment faces significant legal risk from the victims of harassment, with heavy financial penalties. In short, increased awareness of this issue and legal protections has reduced the cases of sexual harassment (Cox).
Although there is a lack of statistical information, discrimination based on marital status and pregnancy exist in New Zealand, as there are inquiries and complaints submitted to the Human Rights Commission, but there are various laws which outlaw these types of discrimination. Cox finds that the New Zealand government has been increasing support for programs that encourage women to enter or return to the work force. As there are serious skill shortages in a number of areas, including areas of employment dominated by women such as teaching and nursing, a strategy to mitigate these shortages would be to encourage mothers to rejoin the workforce (Cox).
(3) Japan
Direct discrimination is the most often occurring form of discrimination in Japan, made apparent by the number of court cases in this area. Aizawa mentions hiring discrimination as being only recently outlawed. Hiring practices prior to the enactment and subsequent amendments of the EEO Law was frequently discriminatory to women. The 1985 EEO Law did not explicitly prohibit gender discrimination in hiring and only following the 1997 amendment was discriminatory hiring practices banned under Japanese law. Wage disparity appears to be pronounced in Japan. As of 2003, women earned about 66.8% of what their male counterparts earned. The industries showing the smallest wage gap is in transportation and communications, where women earned 76.3% of what men earned, followed by the service industry, where women earned 68.7%. Wage disparity was greatest in the financial-insurance and production industries, with females there earning only 52.9% and 59.7% of their male counterparts (Aizawa).
Aizawa also finds that the industry with the greatest horizontal segregation to be in the service industry, where women were mainly performing clerical work while fewer performed technical skilled work (Aizawa). In regards to vertical segregation, it was found that women occupied only 5.8% of all administrative and managerial positions. Mining, construction and transportation were the most vertically segregated (Aizawa).
Sexual favoritism is the most commonly occurring form of sexual harassment, when a male boss demands sexual favors from a female subordinate. Occurrences of sexual harassment are frequent especially in after-hour social activities that are perceived to be part of business culture, where improper behavior leading up to sexual harassment is often tolerated (Aizawa). Workplace romance can sometimes lead to cases of sexual harassment, as there has been one reported case in which an employer was held liable for a romance which degenerated into sexual harassment. The prevalence of workplace romance is difficult to gauge and Japanese employers in general do not prohibit or discourage workplace romance for fear of lawsuits (Aizawa).
(4) Korea
Kim attributes the bimodal structure indicative of the female labor participation in Korea to gender discriminatory traditions that still prevents Korean women from truly participating in the labor market. Like in many East Asian countries, due to the heavy responsibilities of child-rearing and household duties, as well as social expectations, married women and mothers typically withdraw from the labor market. Although concepts concerning gender equality were included in the Labor Standard Act of 1953, this law has been ineffectual in eliminating habitual gender discrimination, and it was only at the behest of women’s organizations that an Equal Opportunity Act was enacted in 1987 which afforded better protection(Kim).
(5) Taiwan
In Taiwan, surveys show that sex discrimination is a deep-rooted societal problem. Female workers are typically subjected to discriminatory employment practices such as in assignments, transfers, promotions, welfare, lay-offs and even terminations. In terms of wage disparity, from Taiwan’s experience thus far, there is a strong link between wage inequity and discriminatory employment practices. Wage disparity is evident in virtually all industries except for the service industry. Occupational discrimination can be divided into horizontal and vertical discrimination. Female workers in Taiwan face both, as the male dominated lines of businesses such as mining, quarrying, water, electricity and construction tend to have greater male to female ratio. Vertical occupational segregation is also visible across many industries, as well as within the public sector. Female workers are often relegated to dead-end non-professional jobs near the bottom of the hierarchy. According to official statistics, of those who reach positions entailing brighter prospects for promotion or career development, such as managerial staff, heads of business entities and political office, women represent only 12.3% of those who can make it to the top (Chiao).