Why are women in the Caribbean so much more likely than men to be unemployed?

Seguino, Stephanie (2003): Why are women in the Caribbean so much more likely than men to be unemployed?

Abstract

Caribbean women are more likely than men to be unemployed, as evidenced by the economies studied here—Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago. This paper uses aggregate data to explore macroeconomic factors that contribute to gender differentials in unemployment. National economic conditions and job segregation explain a portion of gender differences in unemployment, with men more likely to find employment during an economic upturn. Even within job categories, though, women’s unemployment rates are higher than men’s, suggesting employment discrimination. The results imply that economic growth is not sufficient to ensure equitable job access, and more targeted efforts are therefore necessary to ensure gender equity.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Gender, unemployment, growth and development, Caribbean, inequality
• Subjects: J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J0 - General > J01 - Labor Economics: General; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J16 - Economics of Gender ; Non-labor Discrimination

References

Anker, Richard. 1998. Gender and Jobs: Sex Segregation of Occupations in the World. Geneva: International Labour Organization.

Azmat, Ghazala, Maia Guell, and Alan Manning. 2003. “Gender Gaps in Unemployment in OECD Countries.” Working paper. Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.

Bailey, Barbara. 1998. “Feminisms and Educational Research and Understandings: The State of the Art in the Caribbean.” In Christine Barrow (ed.), Portraits: Essays on Gender Ideologies and Identities. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers and Centre for Gender and Development Studies, University of West, Indies, pp. 208-24.

_____. 2002. “Gendered Realities: Fact or Fiction?” The Realities in a Secondary Level Coeducational Classroom.” In Patricia Mohammed (ed.), Gendered Realities: Essays in Caribbean Feminist Thought. Mona, Jamaica: University of West Indies Press, pp. 164-182.

Barrow, Christine.1998. “Caribbean Masculinity and Family: Revisiting ‘Marginality’ and ‘Reputation.’” In Christine Barrow (ed), Portraits: Essays on Gender Ideologies and Identities. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers and Centre for Gender and Development Studies, University of West, Indies, pp. 339-60.

Barro, Robert J. and Jong-Wha Lee. 2000 “International Data on Educational Attainment: Updates and Implications.” Center for International Development (CID) Working Paper No. 42. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.

Berik, Gunseli. 2000. “Mature Export-Led Growth and Gender Wage Inequality in Taiwan.” Feminist Economics 6(3): 1-26.

Boserup, Ester. 1970. Women’s Role in Economic Development. London: Allen & Unwin

Bruce, Judith and Daisy Dwyer. 1988. Homes Divided: Women and Income in the Third World. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Cagatay, Nilufer and Sule Olzer. 1995. “Feminization of the Labor Force: The Effects of Long-Term Development and Structural Adjustment.” World Development 23 (11): 1883-94.

Chant, Sylvia. 1985. “Single Parent Families: Choice or Constraint? The Formation of Female Headed Households in Mexican Shanty Towns.” Development and Change 16.

Coppin, Addington. 1996. “Male and Female Earnings in the Caribbean Economy of Barbados: A Human Capital Perspective.” Review of Black Political Economy 25 (2): 61-75.

Darity, William, Jr. 2001. “The functionality of market-based discrimination.” International Journal of Social Economics 28(1): 980-86.

Darity, William, Jr. and Patrick Mason. 1998. “Evidence on Discrimination in Employment: Codes of Color, Codes of Conduct.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 12(2): 63-90.

de Albuquerque, Klaus and Sam Ruark. “’Men Day Done’: Are Women Really Ascendant in the Caribbean?” In Christine Barrow (ed.), Caribbean Portraits: Essays on Gender Ideologies and Identities. Kingston: Ian Randle, pp. 1-13.

Fosu, Augustin Kwasi. 2000. “Racial and Gender Differences in Unemployment Patterns in an Urban Labor Market: The Case of Detroit.” Review of Black Political Economy 27 (3): 71-84.

Freeman, Carla. 2000. High Tech and High Heels in the Global Economy: Women, Work, and Pink Collar Identities in the Caribbean. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

French, Joan. 1994. “Hitting Where It Hurts Most: Jamaican Women’s Livelihoods in Crisis.” In Pamela Sparr (ed.), Mortgaging Women’s Lives. London: Zed Books, pp. 165-82.

Haddad, Lawrence, John Hoddinott, and Harold Alderman (eds.). 1998. Intrahousehold Resource Allocation in Developing Countries: Models, Methods, and Policy. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press for the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Henry, Ralph. 1999. “Jobs, Gender and Development Strategy in the Commonwealth Caribbean.” In Patricia Mohammed and Catherine Shepherd (eds.), Gender in Caribbean Development. Kingston: Canoe Press, pp. 176-196

International Labour Organisation. Yearbook of Labour Statistics (various years). Geneva: Author.

Jacobsen, Joyce. 1998. “Trends in Work Force Sex Segregation, 1960-1990.” In Marianne Ferber (ed.), Women in the Labour Market (Vol. 1). Northhampton, MA.

Jayasinghe, Daphne. 2001. “‘More and more technology, women have to go home’: Changing skill demands in manufacturing and Caribbean women’s access to training.” Gender and Development 9(1): 70-81

Kabeer, Naila. 2000. The Power to Choose: Bangladeshi Women and Labour Market Decisions in London and Dhaka. London: Verso.

Lall, Sanjay. 2000. “Skills, Competitiveness, and Policy in Developing Countries.” Working Paper 96, Oxford: Queen Elizabeth House.

Lázaro, Nieves, Maria Luisa Moltó, and Rosario Sánchez. 2000. “Unemployment Determinants for Women in Spain.” Labour 14(1): 53-78.

Leo-Rhynie, Elsa. 1998. “Socialisation and the Development of Gender Identity: Theoretical Formulations and Caribbean Research.” In C. Barrow (ed.), Portraits: Essays on Gender Ideologies and Identities. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers and Centre for Gender and Development Studies, University of West, Indies, pp. 234-54.

Lewis, W.A. 1985. Racial Conflict and Economic Development. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Lundberg, Shelly and Robert Pollak. 1997. “Bargaining and Distribution in Marriage.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 10(4): 139-58.

Massiah, Joycelin. 1989. “Women’s Live and Livelihoods: A View from the Commonwealth Caribbean.” World Development 17(7): 965-77.

_____. 1999. “Researching Women’s Work: 1985 and Beyond.” In Patricia Mohammed and Catherine Shepherd (eds.), Gender in Caribbean Development. Kingston, Jamaica: Canoe Press, pp. 197-222.

Miles, Rebecca. 2002. “Employment and Unemployment in Jordan: The Importance of the Gender System.” World Development 30(3): 413-27.

Miller, Errol. 1991. Men at Risk. Kingston: Jamaica Publishing House.

Morrissey, Marietta. 1998. “Explaining the Caribbean Family: Gender Ideologies and Gender Relations.” In Christine Barrow (ed.), Caribbean Portraits: Essays on Gender Ideologies and Identities. Kingston: Ian Randle, pp. 78-92.

Olsen, Reed Neil and Addington Coppin. 2001. “The Determinants of Gender Differentials in Income in Trinidad and Tobago.” Journal of Development Studies 37 (5): 31-56.

Rowley, Michelle. “Reconceptualizing Voice: The Role of Matrifocality in Shaping Theories and Caribbean Voices.” In Patricia Mohammed (ed.), Gendered Realities: Essays in Caribbean Feminist Thought. Mona, Jamaica: University of West Indies Press, pp. 22-43.

Safa, Helen. 1998. “The Magic of the Market and Price Women Pay.: Examples from Latin American and the Caribbean.” In Kartik Roy, Clement Tisdell, and Hans Blomqvist (eds.), Economic Development and Women in the World Community. Westport, CN and London: Praeger, pp. 183-196.

Seguino, Stephanie. 2003. “Is Economic Growth Good for Well-being?: Evidence on Gender Effects in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1970-2000.” Working paper, Department of Economics, University of Vermont.

_____. 2002. Gender, Quality of Life, and Growth in Asia, 1970 to 1990.” The Pacific Review 15(2): 245-77.

Senior, Olive. 1991. Working Miracles: Women of the English-Speaking Caribbean. London: J. Currey and Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Shulman, Steven. 1991. “Why is the Black Unemployment Rate Always Twice as High as the White Unemployment Rate? In R. Cornwall and P. Wunnava (eds.), New Approaches to Economic and Social Analyses of Discrimination. Westport, CN and London: Greenwood, Praeger, pp. 5-37.

Singh, Ajit and Anne Zammit.(2002). “Gender effects of the financial crisis in South Korea.” Paper presented at New Directions in Research on Gender-Aware Macroeconomics and International Economies: An International Symposium. Levy Economics Institute of Bard College.

St. Bernard, Godfrey. 1998. The Family and Society in Trinidad and Tobago: The Findings of the National Survey of Family Life. St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago: Ministry of Social Development.

Standing, Guy. 1989. “Global Feminization Through Flexible Labor.” World Development 17 (7): 1077-95.

______. 1999. “Global Feminization Revisited.” World Development 27 (7).

Sutton, Constance and Susan Makiesky-Barrow. 1981. “Social Inequality and Social Status in Barbados.” In Filomina Steady (ed.), The Black Woman Cross-Culturally. Cambridge: Schenkman.

United Nations. 2000. The World’s Women 2000: Trends and Statistics. New York: Author.

Whitely, Peter. 2002. “Gender Issues in Science Education.” In Patricia Mohammed (ed.), Gendered Realities: Essays in Caribbean Feminist Thought. Mona, Jamaica: University of West Indies Press, pp. 183-200.

World Bank. 1995. Trinidad and Tobago: Poverty and Unemployment in an Oil-Based Economy. Washington, DC: Author.

Wyss, Brenda. 1999. “Culture and Gender in Household Economics: The Case of Jamaican Child Support Payments.” Feminist Economics 5(2):1-24.

Yelvington, Kevin. 1995. Producing Power: Ethnicity, Gender, and Class in a Caribbean Workplace. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.