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Round-Table Discussion 2006/3/19

Round-Table Discussion 2006/3/19. Why Do Women Quit Jobs Upon Getting Married and/or Giving Birth? Chin-fen Chang. Definitions. Job quit: 1) take or change to other jobs (usually less work-intensive and more time-flexible), 2) withdrawal from formal labor markets.

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Round-Table Discussion 2006/3/19

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  1. Round-Table Discussion2006/3/19 • Why Do Women Quit Jobs Upon Getting Married and/or Giving Birth? • Chin-fen Chang

  2. 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

  3. 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 women’s burden of child care provisions in Gender Employment Equality Act---penalty for discrimination, paid maternal leave, unpaid paternal leave, flexible time arrangements…

  4. 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….

  5. 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.

  6. Misspecifications (3) • #3: viewing MPB as the cause would downplay the impacts of unfriendly labor market practices on women’s job quit decision: not all women quit upon MPB; women’s decision to quit at MPB contingent on other conditions or factors.

  7. #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.

  8. 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…

  9. 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

  10. Some basic facts Differences of average earnings between employed women and men (women/men): 1996: 71.9% 1999: 73.5% 2002: 74.7%

  11. Survey results of a national representative sample • Taiwan Social Change Survey, 2002 (%) Monthly Earnings Women Men <10,000 (usd$313) 10.0 6.8 10,000~19,000 22.3 (32.3) 12.6 (19.4) 20,000~29,000 26.5 (58.8) 16.1 (35.5) 30,000~39,000 19.8 (78.6) 18.1 (53.6) 40,000~49,000 9.8 (88.4) 14.8 (68.4) 50,000~59,000 5.8 (94.2) 13.6 (82.0) >60,000 5.8 (100.0) 18.0 (100.0)

  12. 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%)

  13. Table 1Frequency Distribution of Major Causes of Withdraw from the Labor Markets

  14. Table 2Causes to Quit Jobs upon MPB (married, pregnant, giving birth)by Married Women • The data came from 2001 “Taiwan Social Changes Survey”. It was conductedon 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.

  15. Table 3Multinomial Logistic Analyses of Reasons of Job Quit by Married Women in Taiwan(Ever quit upon marriage, pregnancy, or birth giving (MPB)=0) +: p<.10, *: p<.05, **: p<.01, ***: p<.001

  16. 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…

  17. 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)

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