Gender and Human Resource Management International Human .docx

Gender and Human Resource Management
International Human Resource Management: (PG:
15PFMC078) (UG: 151030018)
Dr Helen Macnaughtan [email protected]
Gender and Human Resource Management
o Measuring Gender
Globally
business, HRM
o Gender and Work
in Japan (and Korea)
o Gender and Work in MENA (GCC)
Measuring Gender Globally
o Gender has become an important measurement in the
assessment of social progress and economic development

o eg: World Economic Forum “Global Gender Gap Report”
has been measuring and ranking country progress in gender
equality since 2006 based on key indicators:
(a) educational attainment
(b) health and survival
(c) political empowerment
(d) economic participation and opportunity
o How to measure economic opportunities?
-male labour force participation rates
-male income values
-male ratios in senior positions
-male ratios in professional/technical sectors
Global Performance on Gender Gap WEF, 2017
o No country in the world has
fully closed the gender gap

completely, but the Nordic
countries show strongest
performance for some years
o UK = 15 / 144 countries
o What about East Asia?
o Japan = 114; Korea = 118
o China = 100
o What about MENA region?
Gender Gap: The top performing nations
Gender: the MENA region (WEF 2017)
o In the MENA region,
only Israel has closed
over 70% of the gender
gap, but region as a

whole has closed almost
60% of gap
o MENA region ranks last
globally on overall
index
o Only 40% of economic
index closed and only
9% of political index
closed
Gender: the MENA region (WEF 2017)
Why Gender Diversity in an Economy Matters?
o Studies suggest greater gender equality in workforce
contributes to
increased GDP (and increased profitability for business)
o As women become more economically independent, they
become

significant consumers of goods and services
(e.g. women make purchasing decisions in households)
o Women are more likely than men to invest a larger proportion
of
household income in education and health of children
o As economies age, labour force and talent shortages emerge;
integration of women is key to promoting sustainability and
dynamism
o Studies show that in an economy and society where it is
relatively
easy for women to combine work and parenting, there is higher
fertility and higher gender equality in employment
Gender Divide in Management
Grant Thornton Women in Business
Report (2016) reveals
global average of 24% of senior

management positions held by
women
• Even in countries where FLPR is high, this does not mean high
proportion of
females in senior business roles
• Indicates there are significant barriers to women progressing
through the
business (and public sector) pipeline to senior roles
2016
Japan and South Korea lag behind other nations with lowest
percentage of female representation on boards in the
Asia Pacific region…
Women in Management Positions in Asia-Pacific
The problem of pipeline progression
Despite good educational attainment and entry into employment
and

professions, there is low levels of pipeline progression to
middle and
senior management in firms (and in the public sector)
What factors are driving the Gender Gap?
• Women tend to predominate in
specific sectors of employment e.g.
teaching and nursing
• These tend to be lower paid
„feminised‟ sectors of an economy
Women also predominate in „part time‟ employment due to
requirements for caring responsibilities (part-time = less pay)
“Women work average 39 days a year more than men”
(WEF Report 2016)
n average 50 minutes more a day than men
spend more of their

time on unpaid work such as
housework, childcare and
care for older people
What factors are driving the Gender Gap?
6 countries do men work
more hours than women
countries where parental leave can
be shared relatively evenly
between men and women
hours for men
GAP in
„economic‟ work
versus
„domestic‟ work

Challenges for Gender in the Workplace
Factors affecting parenting & work:
ork as criteria for career advancement
Factors affecting career paths to managerial roles:
-managerial level (parenthood
links)
-senior level positions
ch‟
assignments
traits

Factors affecting gender bias:
-models and workplace „champions‟
-dominated or male-oriented
men given
stretch assignments due to availability to work longer hours)
Gender difference in „networking‟:
-work commitments more tricky for women (parents)
-work events for networking eg:
sport
for
sons before daughters

Recommendations &
Solution
s
Governments:
o Implement equality legislation; invest in childcare
infrastructure
o Monitor gender equality; encourage diversity quotas or targets
o Facilitate shared parental leave; Break down gender norms
(e.g. men and childcare leave / men and work-life balance)
Business:
o Invest in diversity and inclusion; Consider positive action

o Reconsider „criteria‟ and KPIs for leadership and promotion
o implement mentoring and coaching; encourage flexible
working
Women & Men:
o push ourselves out of comfort zone; put ourselves forward for
„stretch‟ positions; challenge workplace bias
Role of HRM functions in promoting gender diversity
place
tion)
policies,

re-training programmes and work-life flexibility )
he gender challenge
How can companies encourage greater gender balance in
management?
equality of
access
retention
goals
flexible
working

diversity
agenda
mentoring
for male and female employees
Gender Dynamics at Work
in Japan (and Korea)
to gender and equality have lagged behind other advanced
nations (and in Asia Pacific East Asia region more broadly)
Japan’s Post-War Gendered Employment System

Male = ‘breadwinner’
y‟ employment
-time
Female = ‘dependent’
Male Employment System Female Employment System

but with strong guarantees
but with limited guarantees
Japan’s Male Labour Force Participation Rate : 1960-2015
The Upside Down
„U‟
high in Japan
(low unemployment)
last 50

years
to work throughout their lives
employment is KPI in Japan
Japan’s Female Labour Force Participation Rate : 1960-2015
-curve pattern (which has shifted
up and to the right)
women working (second peak in M)

their 30s (flattening of dip in M)
(but fewer children born)
-30% of women not
working in their key productive
years (compared to only 5% of
Japanese men)
The M-Curve in Japan and Korea
0
10
20

30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64
Japan
USA
UK

Germany
France
Italy
Korea
-curve is
phenomenon in
Japan & Korea
upside down U
in OECD
countries

marriage/children
are a barrier to
continuous
employment for
women in key
years 25-40 in J/K
Source: FLPR by Age, Selected countries, OECD, 2014 data
Japan
S. Korea
Japan and Korea – similar gender context
• Both have demographic trend of low birth rate
(Korea lowest in OECD) and rapidly aging population

• Women are well educated but only half of Korean
women with a university level education are in the
workforce
• Both have M-shaped pattern of FLFP
• In both countries, women continue to drop out of the
labour force to marry and raise children in their prime
working age
• Both countries have very low proportion of women in
senior management positions
Increased participation of women could boost Japan’s GDP by
as
much as 13-15% overall and by 1% annually in South Korea
Female Labour in an International Context
0

10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Source OECD 2013, Female Labour Force Participation Rate
(%), 15-64 years, 2013
Gender Difference in Status of Work in Japan

Source: JILPT, 2014
Gender difference
in regular labour
58.1%
of
women
are
non-
regular
75.3
41.9
10.3
40.5

2.2
4
3.1 4
3.3 6.7
3.2
1.2 2.2 0.6
0.5 1
0
20
40
60
80
100
Males Females

(%)
Temporary workers
Transferred workers
Entrusted
employees
Other non-reg
Contract
Dispatched
Part-time
Regular
-regular contracts come with less pay but also less hours
Gender Equality is on Japan’s Political Agenda

o PM Abe backing „Womenomics‟ since Autumn 2013
(third arrow Abenomics)
Challenges for Japanese Women
Continuous employment for working mothers
Source: JILPT 2014
3.1 3.4 3.8 4.1 5.2
35.5 34.6 32.8 28.5 24.1
37.4 37.7 39.3
40.6 43.9

18.3 16.3 13
11.9 9.7
5.7 8.1 11.2 14.8 17.1
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%

100%
Continued employment
(with child care leave)
Continued employment
(without childcare
leave)
Resignation for
childbirth
Unemployed before
pregnancy
Unknown
taking childcare leave

increasing, but high
proportion of women
continue to quit jobs upon
marriage or childbirth (68%)
(2.6% men take childcare leave)
continuous employment and
commitment to determine
career/promotion
opportunities
(Women = 11.6% recruits into
main career track 2012)

Culturally difficult for men to take parental leave
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2016/01/13/issues/moth
ers-
want-word-ldps-old-guard-paternity-leave-
slap/#.Vpe5PvmLSUk
ers-want-word-ldps-old-guard-paternity-leave-slap/

Challenges for Japanese Women
Spousal tax constrains efficient allocation of female labour
within family

income tax
and social security, and husband gets income tax deduction
to women and
focus core compensation around male-breadwinner needs
-time
work / careers
14 million married women at the
optimum ¥1.03m yen ceiling
Failure of „men who do childcare‟
campaign

Japan’s Corporate Challenge re Gender
Japanese „cultural‟ work practices are slow to embrace
diversity
Japanese corporations still value a core linear (seniority)
career model
hours‟ dedication
(only 20% of firms allow reduced hours system for regular
employees)
ork reserved for mothers
(reinforces gendering)

be seen to comply with Abe‟s 20-30
targets
?
Key Issues…
•“Womenomics” is a „top-down‟ pressure from government
aimed
at executive 30% targets rather than a „bottom-up‟ social action
for
change

•Japanese employee management has in the past focused on
notions
of homogeneity and the group – a „one size fits all‟ mentality
•There is a need to shift Japanese HRM to a system that values
a
diverse mix of experience, skills, individuality
•Diversity is not about „adding‟ women (and others) to the
current
system
understand that flexible working and work-life balance is not
just
for women, but can benefit men too
Evaluation of Gender and HRM in Japan

The Social Challenge
“Husbands should work full time while their wives stay at
home”
Response Agreement (2014): average 40% agree
Married men: 42.5% Married women: 46.1%
Unmarried men: 34.2% Unmarried women: 37.9%
Respondents aged 20s to 40s, Survey : Meiji Yasuda Institute of
Life & Wellbeing
Social attachment to gender norms and male-female roles
o Women still expect men to be the core bread-winner
o Japanese women can‟t / don‟t want to work like Japanese
men

„policy‟
-making meetings in core working hours
(e.g. 10-4)
- technology and
remote working
family-care)
career tracks
career track – allow for career
pauses

of status
e.g. remove „status‟ barriers – regular vs. non-regular
employees
Potential Strategies for Japanese companies
The case for Gender Equality in Japan
Demographic
Shrinking labour force;
Talent shortage;
Low fertility trap;
Dependency Ratios

Economic Increased gender equality promotes, in addition
to GDP,
corporate performance, diversity, creativity and
agility
Wellbeing
Opportunities for work-life balance for men and
women
• The LPR for Korean women aged 20-to-24 was almost 55% in
2014
compared with 44% for men
sign of progress for women ...?
• NB: the figures are skewed by compulsory military service,
which
removes young men from the workforce for almost two years

• After this, the trend reverses as women hit their 30s and leave
the
workforce to have children
FLPR for Young Women in Korea increasing
Korea is seeking to redress status of female workers
• The share of regular female workers (within total
female labour force) in Korea
(in contrast to Japan where non-regular female
employment has increased)
• One cause of change in Korea

employment period for fixed-term workers to a
maximum of two years in order to encourage a
conversion of non-regular workers to regular workers
(Japan just enacted similar law in 2015)
• OECD reports suggest 1% would be added to South Korea's
GDP
growth annually if the female participation rate equalled that of
men
• The government has set targets for the ratio of female
managers in
central ministries and state-run enterprises, and plans to reflect
those results in the organizations' yearly evaluations

central government and 18.6 % in state enterprises by 2017.
"The targets aren't unrealistic," a government spokesperson
said.
"The government isn't saying promote women just to match the
target. We're trying to help women who are capable, but have
been
excluded from promotion just because of their gender."
Gender Targets and Initiatives in Korea
• The government gives loans or subsidies to business to build
childcare facilities, and more than half of all business are now
providing these
• It also pays subsidies to businesses that offer more than 30

days of
childcare leave a year, allow women to work less than full time,
and
re-employ women returning from maternity leave
Any problems with these initiatives ?
Gender Targets and Initiatives in Korea
Challenges for Working Women in Korea
• Women in Korea face great pressure to leave their jobs and

raise
their children once they have a family
business
to build childcare facilities, and more than half of all business
are
now providing these (but expensive for business and doesn‟t
always
reduce social pressures ?)
• 70% of women in a recent survey said that females in senior
management positions find it hard to maintain a balance
between
their family life and professional requirements, because long
hours is the norm in Korea's work environment
• Also, over half of the female executives in the survey say that

they and their peers lack the necessary networking skills to
integrate into male executives' networks
M-Curve in
Japan and
Korea
Employment of Women in China
A tension remains…
o Communist regime has considered women to be equal
o Chinese women have high rates of labour participation
o Anti-discrimination law exists for women‟s employment

Yet…
o Recognised that women have subordinate position in
employment, arising from deeply entrenched Confucian-
based hierarchy values in Chinese society
o Women face barriers
(e.g. discriminatory recruitment adverts and unofficial quotas)
o Existing legislation is weakly enforced; move away from
state employment has weakened protection of women
Overview Of Employment Discrimination In China
o 85.5% of women have experienced discrimination or
observed it
o Employment discrimination in China - overt and blatant.

o China has problems tackling employment discrimination
through its existing legal system.
o These problems include:
o 1. The limitation of Chinese laws
o 2. Difficulty in filing lawsuits in courts
Diversity Management in China
o China has 16.8% of women in managerial positions,
which ranked 58 in the world (2015)
o Sexual harassment is a growing problem (40% of women
experienced

sexual harassment in the workplace)
o Employment Discrimination against Migrant Peasant Workers
Gender and HRM
in MENA
The Employment of Women in MENA
Some broad underlying factors...

between public sector priorities combined with family-level
constraints resulting in low female participation
legislation is not strong agenda in MENA
wasta connections to find employment
Increased opportunities for female employment but…
jobs
(e.g. for government sector jobs) much longer than men
rather than private sector or MNCs

Case Study: Women in the GCC
o The GCC has higher female labour force participation than
other
countries in the MENA region
o However, Saudi Arabia is the exception in the GCC, with one
of
the lowest rates of female participation in MENA
Female Labour Participation Rates in the GCC
NB: higher
rates in

UAE, Qatar
and Kuwait
are partly
driven by
inclusion of
expatriate
women
e.g. other MENA: Jordan: 23% Egypt: 22% Lebanon: 22%
Challenges:
from education to employment
o Women in the GCC are as well educated as men

o 28% of women and 22% of men enrol in tertiary education
o However, well educated women remain a significant,
under-utilised talent pool
o There is a mismatch between education and employment
o In the KSA, 78% of unemployed women have a tertiary
degree (compared to 17% of unemployed men)
cted at
or linked to future employment ?
• Employment equality legislation is not a priority for
government

• This could be due to the high presence of expatriate labour
and the
protection of employment for nationals ?
• The issue of female guardianship can impact on employment
of
women particularly in KSA but also in other nations e.g. Jordan
• In the KSA: all public organisations employing women must
provide separate work spaces and facilities for women and men
• Women need support of male relatives to sign employment
contracts or set up a business
to employ women ?

Challenges: socio-legislative barriers
Lowest rates of women in top management positions
Challenges: from employment to leadership
• All GCC countries have shown signs of progress, but
employment
ratios – particularly in positions of leadership – remain low
• Women tend to make it to positions of leadership when there
is top
down support from male leaders (and from the state)
Challenges:

double-burden syndrome for women in the GCC
„anytime, anywhere‟ corporate performance model
few female leader role models for women
But, Signs of progress for women in GCC
Quotas
:

o Opportunity to utilise a well-educated but under-utilised
female
pool of labour ?
o Could improve creativity and innovation of business?
o Alleviate the over-reliance on imported expatriate labour?
o Further promote and protect „nationalisation‟ employment
strategies?
o Create sustainable sectors of employment?
Impetus for gender progress in GCC ?
A Framework for approaching HRM in Japan
Lifetime
Employment

System
Group vs
Individual
in the workplace
„Regular‟ vs
„Non-Regular‟
Workforce
Aging
Population
Gender
Homogenous
Society
Hierarchy

Economic
Stagnation
Large
Corporations
vs
SMEs
Employee Legislation
A Framework for approaching HRM in China
Presence of
FIEs & JVs
Political System Role of SOEs

Large & Diverse
Labour Pool
urban vs rural
Guanxi &
Confucian
values
Introduction
Western-Style
HRM
Demographic
trends & Gender
Regional
Disparity

Economic
Growth
Framework for approaching HRM in MENA?
(National)
Economic
Circumstances
Public Sector
vs
Private Sector

Range of
Countries in
MENA
Wasta & other
cultural values
Influence of
Religion
Local Workers
vs
„Expat‟ Workers
Demographic
Trends &
Gender

National
Localisation
Programmes
Level of inward
FDI
Tutorial Presentations for Week 8 - Gender and HRM
Key Readings:
McKinsey Report (October 2017) "Women Matter: Ten years of
insights on gender

diversity". Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/global-
themes/gender-
equality/women-matter-ten-years-of-insights-on-gender-
diversity
Male Champions of Change (Nov 2018) “A Gender Equal Future
of Work”
(particularly pages 1-10) Available at:
http://malechampionsofchange.com/wp-
content/uploads/2018/11/MCC_Gender-Equal-Future-of-
Work.pdf
Discussion Questions:
(1) How can companies enable women‟s participation and
equality in the
organisation? What are key barriers for women in the
workplace?

(2) What about men? How can companies engage and involve
men in the
gender equality agenda? What activities can organisations
implement to
ensure gender equality and how can men be agents of change
(„champions‟)
for gender equality?
https://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/gender-
diversity
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diversity
diversity
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diversity
diversity
diversity
diversity
diversity
diversity

diversity
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diversity
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diversity
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