Work Life for Women
By: Jessica Calaoagan
Tags: HR, Work Life Balance, Women In Business

It was never easy for a working woman to captivate between her career and family. According to a survey woman account only for 38.7% of total workforce all around the world. In certain countries it’s as difficult as hoping it snows in summer. A working woman lives a life where she must juggle between work and home chores, balancing out both with equal perfection will eventually lead them to stress and breakdown resulting in work imbalance eventually. Lets all hope things change for better, but while it happens here are few problems women face.

Critical Problems faced and Reasons why Women have Less Contribution in Labor Workforce

1. Juggling between Work and Home- It is hard for a woman to maintain a perfect balance between working life and keeping a happy home(childcare, cooking, cleaning), in balancing both equally effectively it takes a toll on her mental health and gradually on physical health as well. According to a survey woman are more than twice as likely than man to be contributing in family works.

2. Family Culture- Regions, religions, and households. We are in 21st century and people still have fixed mindset regarding man earning bread and butter and woman catering home needs. Families don’t promote woman to go and work because they consider it’s something, they are not suited to do.

3. Tough to Find a Right Job- It’s much harder to find a right job for women than it is for men because they aren’t provided the job hierarchy in accordance with their qualifications. This doesn’t encourage them to take that job up which eventually is filled by some other male.

4. Gender Pay Gap- With equal qualification and same position to work for there is a significant gender pay gap, men are paid more for the same thing while women are paid less. According to a survey for a man earning every $ a woman earns only 0.81 cents which means women are paid nearly 20% less than man.

5. Lack of Transport Facilities- As seen above women account for less than 40% of workforce and on above that there is lack of safe transporting facilities available for them to their access.

6. Child Birth- Due to no maternity leaves or not so sufficient leaves woman are forced to make choice between being with her child or taking up the job and in most of the cases a women chooses to give-up their job in order to stay with her child and take care of.

7. Gender differences in Laws affects women in both developing and developed economies- Around the world, over 2.7 billion women are legally restricted from having the same choice of jobs as men. Of 189 economics assessed in 2018, 104 economics still have laws preventing women from working in specific jobs, 59 economics have no laws on sexual harassment in the workplace, and in 18 economies, husband can legally prevent their wives from working.

Countries Providing Initiatives and things that could be done to Encourage Women Workforce

1. Flexible Working Hours- Women who do both work as well as do household chores they need flexibility in their working hours because they need to give time to their children as well as household chores sometimes there are emergencies so if flexibility in their working hours is provided that would help them a lot.

2. G20 25x25 Goal- G20 economies are working on achieving a reduction in gender gap by 25% by the end of 2025. They aim to be- increasing women’s workforce participation rate, improving the quality of women’s earnings, increasing labor market security, and achieving better working conditions.

3. Promote Work-Family Balance- Countries as well as individual firms can promote work-family balance and make policies such as providing flexible timings to women who returned to work after her maternity leave or providing unpaid additional leaves for those who want to extend their maternity leaves doing this would encourage them to join back soon.

4. Create Quality Care Jobs- Women’s are found in large number in quality care jobs and it also a fact that a lot of improvements are needed in that sector there is low protection and poor regulations which can be changed with promoting decent work for care professionals also the unpaid care should be reduced through development of infrastructure.

5. Transportation- In India, Delhi government announced free transportation for women using pink tickets in Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC). Giving such facilities not only encourages them to work but also saves their cost and creates a sense of security.

6. Pay Gap- The Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) have made a policy and made it mandatory for corporations to pay equal amount if appointed for same work irrespective of gender. There are HR consultancies in the GCC region that provide advisory and consultancy services to companies on employment law and implementation of HR best practices too.

7. Promote Higher Education- Countries promoting higher education for women has seen to be having a significant impact on those countries with women having more contribution in workforce. E-9 countries are some of the many countries doing it.

8. Zero Tolerance Policy for Harassment- Countries such as Netherlands and Luxembourg have tough bans against workplace harassment which significantly removes the evil and encourages women to work.

It is evident that there is low contribution of women in workforce as they face many difficulties (social, cultural, regional) and they still prevail but it is also fact that firms as well as economies are trying to make some amendments so that they can promote more women to work. Having said that, here are some facts you we must know and be self-motivated (Top 10 Most Powerful Female Leaders In the World). Also encouraging more women to join workforce will boost countries economy and Per Capita income.