Women's Employment, State Legal Protection of Women's Economic Rights, and Gender Prejudice: Evidence from 52 Countries

Recognizing that gender inequality involves not only material aspects but also non-material aspects, this paper asks to what extent the nature of women's employment and legal protection of women's economic rights within a country is associated with gender prejudice in that country. To answ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Korea observer 2015, 46(1), , pp.181-210
Main Author: Kim, Minzee
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitudes
Egalitarianism
Employment
Equal rights
Essays
Female employees
Females
Gender
Gender differences
Gender equity
Gender inequality
Hypotheses
Inequality
Interaction
Labor force
Labor force participation
Labor market
Occupations
Prejudice
Productivity
Protection
Representation
Rights
Scott, Jacqueline
Segregation
Sex
Sexism
Social norms
Stereotypes
Values
Women
Women workers
Women's rights
Womens employment
Womens Rights
Working Women
정치외교학
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Summary:Recognizing that gender inequality involves not only material aspects but also non-material aspects, this paper asks to what extent the nature of women's employment and legal protection of women's economic rights within a country is associated with gender prejudice in that country. To answer these questions, this paper specifies individual level, country level, and cross-level interaction hypotheses, based on a multilevel, cross-national analysis of World Values Survey data from 52 countries over a 26 year period from 1981 to 2007. More specifically, I argue that three sets of women's employment contexts are particularly important: 1) women's labor force participation; 2) women's representation in high status occupations; and 3) national laws that protect women's rights to equal employment. I focus on the implications of these three factors on the level of prejudice. Results suggest that all three macro-level employment contexts are associated with a reduction of gender prejudicial attitudes in employment. However, the association was stronger for women than men, suggesting a widening gap between men and women. Based on results, I argue that policies that protect women's economic rights are essential not only for improving women's employment quantity and quality but also for changing gender norms on the ground. Adapted from the source document.
ISSN:0023-3919
2586-3053