GENDER GAP AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH

Gender Inequality

Gender inequality remains a major barrier to human development. Girls

and women have made major strides since 1990, but they have not yet
gained gender equity. The disadvantages facing women and girls are a
major source of inequality. All too often, women and girls are
discriminated against in health, education, political representation, labour
market, etc.—with negative consequences for development of their
capabilities and their freedom of choice.

Gender Gap

In the workplace, gender gaps refer to job opportunities and salary

differences. Statistics show that men often earn more for the same work
than women. The difference may be a result of the fact that men have
been at the top of their professions longer. It takes a long time to undo
the past, but bit by bit, the playing field has become more even.

When economists speak of the “gender gap” these days, they usually are
referring to systematic differences in the outcomes that men and women
achieve in the labor market. These differences are seen in the percentages
of men and women in the labor force, the types of occupations they
choose, and their relative incomes or hourly wages. These economic
gender gaps, which were salient issues during the women’s movement in
the 1960s and 1970s, have been of interest to economists at least since
the 1890s.

PROFIT VS EXPENSES

Gender-Related Expenses

Most small business owners that maintain a paid staff will, at one time or
another has a pregnant employee in the workplace. In fact, “Bureau of
Labor Statistics” figures indicate that fully 80 percent of all working
women will become pregnant at some point in their working lives. A while
research says that big companies have been more likely to behave in a
discriminatory fashion against pregnant employees than small businesses.

For the most part, companies of all sizes have adopted more enlightened
views of workplace pregnancy issues in recent years. This change can be
traced in part to their need to comply with legal protections that have
been established on behalf of pregnant workers, but it can also be
attributed to increased recognition of the vital importance of women in
the workplace and increased awareness of the negative impact that
discriminatory practices can have on other women employees and on
bottom line performance.

PREGNANCY DISCRIMINATION AND FEDERAL LAW (UNITED STATES)

Over the past few decades, the United States has passed three major
federal laws that provide legal protections to pregnant employees as well
as employees who might become pregnant. These are Title VII of the 1964
Civil Rights Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, and the Family
and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993.

“Treat your pregnant employees no differently than you would any other
employees.”

THE LOSS OF EMPLOYEES DURING PREGNANCY AND MATERNITY LEAVE

Obviously, pregnant employees should not have to endure discrimination

from their employers. Indeed, many researchers, executives, and business
owners contend that employers that are understanding and treat their
pregnant employees fairly can often count on a heightened level of loyalty
from that employee upon her return from maternity leave. But businesses
also have to recognize that employee pregnancy means the loss
sometimes temporary, sometimes permanent of workers, some of whom
may be quite valuable to the firm's operation.

EMPLOYER MATERNITY COSTS (UNITED STATES)

Although the U.S. has no federally mandated paid family leave policy,
states such as New Jersey and California have offered workers six weeks’
time off with pay (at two-thirds pay and 55% of their total salary,
respectively). So in California, for example, if a worker takes six weeks off
at the maximum allowance (up to $1,067 per week in 2013), that costs
$6,402. Of course, the state pays that worker, and according to the
California Employment Development Department, workers contribute an
average of $30 per year into a fund for paid leave.

Maternity pay is based upon the number of working days in a month and,
therefore, the actual costs in any particular month depend upon the
working days that month, when the maternity leave started etc. National
Insurance costs in particular will vary depending upon the exact payment
in the month and therefore the spreadsheet provides only a very
approximate indication of these.

MATERNITY LEAVE

Maternity leave is the period of time when a mother stops working

because she is about to have or has just had (or adopted) a baby. While
we most commonly hear the term “maternity leave,” sometimes it’s called
family leave, family medical leave, pregnancy leave, or even parental
leave and paternity leave, because it may apply to not only birth mothers,
but also to adoptive mothers, fathers or domestic partners.
The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

This Act requires employers to give workers up to 12 weeks off to attend

to the birth or adoption of a baby, or the serious health condition of the
employee or an immediate family member. After 12 weeks of unpaid
leave, you must reinstate the employee in the same job or an equivalent
one. The 12 weeks of leave does not have to be taken all at once; in some
cases, employees can take it a day at a time.

MALES BENEFITS

Although benefits don’t intentionally exclude men, studies show that men
fail to take advantage for fear it will be “career limiting.”

A 15-year study in the U.S. found men get a “daddy bonus.” Men’s salaries
increase 6% for every child they have, while women working full time see
a 4% decrease in their salaries for every child. Men often work more hours
after having children, while women tend to shift to jobs with more
flexibility and shorter days, but men pay a price for those extra hours.
NON GENDER-RELATED EXPENSES

The Basics of Employee Benefits

Heading the list of must-have benefits is medical insurance, but many job
applicants also demand a retirement plan, disability insurance and more.

Benefit Basics (United States)

The law requires employers to provide employees with certain benefits.

 Give employees time off to vote, serve on a jury and perform

military service.
 Comply with all workers' compensation requirements.
 Withhold FICA taxes from employees' paychecks and pay your own
portion of FICA taxes, providing employees with retirement and
disability benefits.
 Pay state and federal unemployment taxes, thus providing benefits
for unemployed workers.
 Contribute to state short-term disability programs in states where
such programs exist.
 Comply with the Federal Family and Medical Leave (FMLA).

Not required to provide:

 Retirement plans
 Health plans (except in Hawaii)
 Dental or vision plans
 Life insurance plans
 Paid vacations, holidays or sick leave

Most employers provide paid holidays for New Year's, Memorial Day,
Independence Day, Labor Day and Thanksgiving day and Christmas day.

Most full-time employees will expect one to two weeks paid vacation time
per year. In explaining your vacation policy to employees, specify how far
in advance requests for vacation time should be made, and whether in
writing or verbally. There are no laws that require employers to provide
funeral leave, but most do allow two to four days' leave for deaths of close
family members.
GENDER ROLES AND ECONOMIC/SOCIAL INDICATORS OF COUNTRIES

Women’s work in the home is also undervalued. In all countries,

women perform the bulk of household duties without pay, even
while working in the labour force. It is estimated that women would
account for more than half of GDP in the OECD area if the value of
housework and childcare were included in national accounting. But
female “non-financial” activities go unreflected in official statistics,
thereby undercutting the contribution of women’s unpaid work to
the economic growth of countries.

What are gender indicators?

Gender indicators can refer to quantitative indicators based on sex

disaggregated statistical data which provides separate measures for
men and women on literacy, for example. Gender indicators can
also capture qualitative changes, for example :increases in women´s
levels of empowerment or in attitude changes about gender
equality. Measurements of gender equality might address changes
in the relations between men and women, the outcomes of a
particular policy, programme or activity for women and men, or
changes in the status or situation of men and women, for example
levels of poverty or participation.

An example of the relationship between gender roles and social

indicators

The Context of a Honduran Woman

The generic division of labor has delimited the public and private work
space of women and men, based on sexual differences. This is a distinction
between skills of one and the other, consecutively assign tasks and
responsibilities in life social bases in genre, biologically determined, and
attributed characteristics to each genre, according to different cultures
and eras.
In this way, the conditions of women's lives are affected in the political,
social, cultural and economic spheres.
This generic division has a negative impact on them, since it causes a
distribution unequal in the occupational hierarchy, less qualified or similar
tasks, but with lower wages, with less job security and less possibilities of
professional promotion.
At home, women almost exclusively assume family victims and domestic
work, which lead to double or triple working hours, thereby reducing their
employment, qualification, promotion, and the lack of social protection.

The economically active population (EAP) at the national level is

2,792,261, in which men are 1,825,815 (65%) and women, 966,446 (35%),
with a national participation rate of 50.7 % with respect to the total
Working Age Population (PET), 10 years old and over. During the
presentation of the 2006 Human Development Report, UNDP
representatives stated that "the improvements recorded by Honduras in
the Gender Development Index (GDI) estimated at 0.650 are explained by
the fact that the main progress is due to the greater achievements of
women in the area of health and education; while the main delay is
revealed by the disparity in perceived income between the sexes. " The
UNDP Human Development Report 2004, when calculating the GDI,
showed that men nearly tripled the income of women, estimating it at $
3,792 and $ 1,402, respectively.

Social Position of females

Earlier on in the century women lacked the rights to own their own
property no matter their rank in society. Women were forced to give
obedience to their husbands, and had minimal opportunity to be divorced
from their without going through numerous explanations and trials in
courts. Women usually had to prove more than one offense against their
husbands to be granted a divorce. Even cases of rape and maltreatment
worked more to the advantage of the husband. Women were encumbered
with the fact that they had little chance to go beyond being a house wife.
Men on the other had were the head of the family, obtained the property
rights, had more educational opportunities, and much more legal rights.
Society was not for the benefit of women.
 Many women were illiterate because they were denied any type of
primary or secondary education other than care taking. Many colleges
didn't begin to accept women until after the 1860s. When they did accept
women the numbers were limited because women lacked the education
to be prepared for any type of higher learning. They were too helplessly
unqualified to be admitted to universities. Often, the reasons for men not
wanting women to be admitted included the fact that the schools might
become overcrowded and women might create too much change and
challenge traditional ways of gender roles. Without access to higher
learning institutions women had no chance of advancing their individual
social or economic status.