{"id":144594,"date":"2021-07-06T11:07:46","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T21:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=144594"},"modified":"2021-07-06T11:07:46","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T21:07:46","slug":"women-work-life-balance-policies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/07\/06\/women-work-life-balance-policies\/","title":{"rendered":"New work-life balance policies could help economically vulnerable women"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"Gartley
The Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health is located in Gartley Hall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Women make up nearly two-fifths of the global workforce, but have suffered more than half of total job losses due to COVID-19, according to an expansive study on women by University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at M\u0101noa researchers at Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health<\/a>. The study utilized life course, age and gender research to provide new information regarding work-life balance policies, which could impact women\u2019s employment and economic security in later life. <\/p>\n

Associate Professor Jing Guo<\/strong> and Professor Emerita Colette Browne<\/strong>, both of the Department of Social Work<\/a>, examined the patterns of women\u2019s employment over women\u2019s lifespan in Japan, Sweden and the U.S.<\/abbr> Differences emerged in work-life balance policies and social norms on gender roles.<\/p>\n

Patterns, differences in inequality<\/h2>\n

Using the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development<\/a> (OECD<\/abbr>) and other large data sets, Guo and Browne found there was a consistent pattern of women\u2019s employment across the three countries. Employment gaps were highest during a women\u2019s childbearing and childrearing years. Differences included Sweden\u2019s universal family policies which resulted in higher female employment rates and a lower gender gap, in contrast to the U.S.<\/abbr> and Japan, both of which had lower female employment rates and a higher gender gap. The U.S.<\/abbr> had the largest gender poverty gap among the three countries coupled with older women in the U.S.<\/abbr> facing a greater risk of poverty.<\/p>\n

“Women\u2019s economic status is often tied to the unequal distribution of family and care responsibilities occurring across the life course. Improving access to quality, affordable child care—and eldercare—has been essential to women\u2019s progress. Equally important is for workplace norms, policies and structures to change so that both women and men are enabled to access child and\/or elder care services without career risk and stigma. Changing mindsets around gender roles and worker rights will require protocols and policies that not only understand the challenges to women\u2019s equality, but commit to cultural, political and legal strategies to overcome them.” Guo said.<\/p>\n

Browne added, “In the U.S.<\/abbr>, it may be too soon to know if COVID-19 will be a catalyst for promoting new work-life balance policies. Nations can support women\u2019s immediate economic needs via policies such as work-life balance policies but must also commit to longer term strategies for creating stronger systems, policies and institutions that reflect women\u2019s diverse experiences and ages. As the World Bank, the OECD<\/abbr>, and other global institutions have noted, smart nations and companies that understand this will prosper.”<\/p>\n

This research was supported by Richard S. and T. Rose Takasaki Endowment Fund<\/a> and was published in the June issue of Journal of Women & Aging<\/em><\/a>. <\/p>\n

This work is an example of ¶«¾«Ó°Òµ<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s goal of Excellence in Research: Advancing the Research and Creative Work Enterprise<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), one of four goals identified in the 2015–25 Strategic Plan<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), updated in December 2020. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The study examined patterns of women\u2019s employment over women’s lifespan in Japan, Sweden and the U.S.<\/abbr> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[1411,1417,1194,1467,1363,158,244,596,9],"class_list":["post-144594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-covid-19","tag-covid-19-research","tag-gender-inequity","tag-manoa-excellence-in-research","tag-manoa-research","tag-publication","tag-social-work","tag-myron-b-thompson-school-of-social-work","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144594"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144689,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144594\/revisions\/144689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}