Features of Employment Relations Systems and Their Impact on the Position of Women in Labour Markets - Literature review Example

Features of Employment Relations Systems and their Impact on the Position of Women in Labour Markets Introduction Many labour markets have undergone tremendous changes over the past three decades (Verma 2003). During the 1970s, many well-paying jobs were dominated by men who were capable of working full time making most of these workers the sole bread winners of their respective families (Mahon 1996). Reduced levels of unemployment indicated that few households lacked a working adult. During this period, most of those working in different institutions were high school drop-outs with an estimated one third of the total population of the United Kingdom working in the manufacturing and agricultural industries. However, the 21st century has seen none of the above features in still existence in many economies across the globe. Most, if not all jobs are now evenly distributed across all genders with a host of households in each country having more than one member in the labour force. On the contrary, the steady rise in unemployment rates is an indicator that there are a number of families in which no member is employed or has a definite job. An increase in education and improved formal structures for learning has seen a rise in the number of high school graduates and college/university graduates as well; hence an increased mass of human resources available to the market. In addition, the emergence of other fields and or industries, for instance, finance, business services as well as property management, building and construction services has resulted in the creation of more stable jobs than the manufacturing and agricultural sector could provide. Furthermore, women in the present world have more and equal opportunities to employment just as men have, with both having the eligibility to command similar wages (Mahon 1996). These worldwide transformations of the labour market have provided a fundamental framework for the increasing research on issues of labour markets, with special attention given to women in the society. The objective of this paper is to examine the features of the employment relations systems, providing the reader with an incisive description of their impacts with respect to the position of women in various labour markets across the globe. The Employment Relationship An employee relations system can be referred to as a legal concept used by organizations and or institutions in different countries worldwide to refer to the relationship between an employer and their employees for whom the employees perform certain activities (work) under defined procedures and conditions but in return for salary and or wages. Employee relations help the employer and the employee to come up or develop obligations and rights to govern the performance of both the employee and the employer towards the success of their respective organizations and or institutions. Over period, this tool has acted as a medium through which employees gain access to various benefits, obligations and rights that are related to employment with respect to social security and laws of labour. According to Verma (2003), “an employee relations system is the key point of reference for determining the nature and extent of employers’ rights and obligations towards their employees.” (p. 519). Today, intense changes are taking place in the contemporary world of work with particular concern on the labour market. These changes have led to subsequent emergence of new types or rather forms of employment relationships. As a result, market flexibility has been increased as well as an increase in the number of employees uncertain of their status of employment and thus falling out of the normal protection scope of employment relationships. This is a challenge that is described by the International Labour Office’s Director as follows: “The State has a key role to play in creating an enabling institutional framework to balance the need for flexibility for enterprises and security for workers in meeting the changing demands of a global economy. At the heart of national policies to meet the social challenges of globalization is a dynamic strategy for managing labour market change.” (Verma 2003:521). Different features of the employment relations system do exist that have had a massive impact in determining the position of women in the prevailing labour market. These features are discussed in the next section of this paper. The Law and the Employment Relationship According to the contract labour discussions held by the International Labour Conference in 1997 and 1998, “the employment relationship is a legal concept which underpins the operation of the labour market in many countries.” A host of other discussions held resulted in the development and adoption of other laws governing workers across different platforms, for instance Private Employment Agencies Convention of 1997 (No. 181), the general discussion Conference held in 2003 highlighting the scope of the employment relationship, and the Meeting of Experts on Workers in Situations Needing Protection (Drahomíra 2005). Some laws are aimed at protecting women at their work places from sexual harassment as well as proving them with the voice they need to fight for their rightful place in the labour market. Different countries have different employment relationship systems, each varying with respect to different organizational set-ups. Above this is the fact that legal frameworks exist that allow for national authorities to intervene in legislation of employee issues since the relationship between the employee and their employer is legal. Determination of the existence of these legal relationships is dependent on some factors which vary coherently with respect to each country. Some of the common factors used to assess the existence of employment relations include examining of the workers and or works that are under instructions, the level of the employer’s subordination etc (Verma 2003). Labour Markets and the One Price Law This law provides a framework to examine and understand the determination of wages and or salaries. According to Seguino (2000), the law states that “in a competitive labour market, workers with similar skill and employed in similar jobs receive the same wage” (p. 1212). This principle applies to all workers regardless of their age, colour, race and or gender, underpinning the bulk presented by research into the determination of wages as well as identifying the existing wage gaps which are evidence that labour markets have been heavily been distorted by competitive outcomes. With continued formulation of trade unions as well as other significant institutions such as the legislation of minimum wages has seen the rise in number of women employees in the labour market. Many countries around the globe, for instance Sweden has shown a great improvement in employee equality with women occupying job positions similar to men in different organizations. Some experts argue that the law of one price is not applicable in the real world. Contrary to this argument is economist Seguino’s (2000) statement which states that: “There are numerous reasons why Adam Smith’s theory of compensating wage differentials and the law of one wage should not and does not strictly hold in real world labor markets. Yet the law of one wage provides a fundamental and remarkably useful approach not only to describe market wage determination, but also to identify and interpret existing wage gaps. It remains our single most powerful tool and the necessary starting point for most wage analyses. This is no small thing” (p. 1218). The existence of such laws in the employment relationship has enabled the rise in women wages, who earlier received different and generally lower wages than their male counterparts. Work Flexibility Women in many societies have always been undermined, with chores like baby care designated for women. This caused many employers to consider employing women on part-time basis due to their household or rather their marital obligations. With the emergence of new fields of work as opposed to previous dependence on manufacturing and agriculture coupled with development of technology and globalization, the nature of jobs have totally changed and as a result changing the nature of employment relations. Developed nations have seen a decline in the number of full-time employees since 1980s with most turning into self-employed and on-call employees. Today, as opposed to periods earlier than 1950 has seen women in organizations given maternity leaves and resume their servicers after successful delivery. These changes, together with the ability to work from home have made it possible for most women to enter into different many lines of work and as a result improving the employment figures around the globe. According to a survey in the EU region, out of the possible female employees in the region, part-time employees account for 32% as compared to that of men, this stands at 5% whereas women only occupy one third of the total full-time employee population in the region (Drahomíra 2005). Another study in the Netherlands revealed that female part-time employees accounted for 69% of the total female employment population with other countries like Germany and Belgium recording part-time female employment of up to ten times of the men (Jacoby and Burgoon 2004). There has been a recent change in the way employees work and this has played a major role in the increased number of women in the labour market today. A 1998 research indicated that only half of the employers in the UK provided for flexible job practices (Seguino 2003). However, a later survey indicated a rise in this figure as the survey revealed that 93% of employers operate flexible working practices. Tele-working has been the greatest benefactor of this practice with 66% of the employers currently making use of the practice as opposed to the 11% in 2004 (Wahl 2006). With such practices, it is possible for women, who typically spend most of their times at home attending to various chores to be part of the labour force. The scheme can entail either a home-based working structure where employees work from their home or occasional working where an employee spends some time at home working and the rest of time in the company environment, premises and or from the customer’s point of choice. Changes in the Business Outlines and Profiles Many business profiles in the contemporary world have changed with respect to the changing nature of work. During the 20th century, most jobs were manual with professional and managerial jobs accounting for a mere 7.5% of the workforce (Wahl 2006). Manual jobs are physical in nature and as a result did not favour female employees. Today, many jobs are continually becoming skill-based with a UK Commission study revealing that there have been significant changes in number of managers and professional from then to now. The research reported that each group of the professionals and managers increased by an estimated 1.6 million. According to a review of skills by Jacoby and Burgoon (2004), “most occupations already require greater levels of skills than in the past. Skills that were once seen as specialist and technical, such as in ICT, have increasingly become core requirements for most jobs.” (p. 868). Today, there is equality in provision of education to all gender and as a result competence has increased regarding managerial and related professional skills. This has provided room for female employees as organizations seek to establish or rather gain a competitive edge over their competitors. The difference between wages of women and men with respect to occupations exist in many countries across the globe; but the causes and scale of these differences also vary with respect to country of subject. These differences are evident in both developed countries as well as in transformation nations, existing for a given time frame and for certain organizational segments and socio-economic segments of the economy. The conditions and development of female employment in different countries and organizations is dependent on a number of aspects relating to the legal and social status of women. They include work regulations and legislation, the significance and phenomenon of the work of women, division and structure of labour, social behaviour and informal patterns, the concept of family and work roles, the extent to which women participate actively or rather play an active and or passive role in securing job opportunities in the labour market equal to those of their male counterparts as well as the timing of these changes. Women are human and deserve a better chance in life just as men do. References Drahomíra, F. (2005) The employment and status of women in the labour market, viewed 13 February 2013 from . Gregory, A. (2000) ‘Women’s Employment in France’, Modern and Contemporary France. Jacoby, W. & Burgoon, B. (2004). ‘Patch-work Solidarity: Describing and Explaining U.S and European Labour Internationalism’, Review of International Political Economy, vol. 11, pp. 849-879. Mahon, R. (1996) ‘Women Wage Earners and the Future of Swedish Unions’, Economic and Industrial Democracy. Rubery, J. (2003) ‘Gender Equality still on the European Agenda’, Industrial Relations Journal. Rubery, J. (2003) ‘Pay equity, minimum wage and equality at work’, Working paper 19, Nov 2003, ILO, Geneva. Seguino, S, (2003) ‘Taking gender differences in bargaining power seriously: equity, labour standards, and living wages’, MPRA paper 6508. Seguino, S. (2000) ‘Gender inequality and economic growth: a cross-country analysis’, World Development (Oxford), vol. 28, no. 7, pp. 1211-30. Verma, (2003) Global Labour Standards: Can we get from Here to There?’ International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations, vol. 19, pp. 515-534. Wahl, A.V. (2006) Gender equality in Germany, West European Politics. Read More