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 cant 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
theyve 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 average72.5 cents on the dollarand 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, its $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 its 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 Chinas 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 wouldnt 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.

Thats 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 didnt 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 its 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
Womens 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.

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