Aaron Taylor

Professor Alonso

ECP 3254

4/22/11

Chapter 12 Assignment

1. To what extent are comparisons of women's labor force participation among various countries a reliable indicator of women's contribution to the standard of living in those countries? Women’s labor force participation among various countries is an obvious indicator of women’s contribution to their countries standard of living, because with the rise of women’s income and financial contribution, when considering women's economic status and making comparisons among different countries there are two serious difficulties. First, many do not provide detailed data on the occupational distribution and second, the degree of segregation is affected by the distribution of all workers occupations. The majority of people in the labor force in one country were employed in a single occupation like agriculture, while in another they are distributed among a considerably larger number of occupations. The indexes of sex segregation would surely differ.
The occupational segregation by sex remains "very extensive in each and every country," but it also varies, particularly across regions. One study, which looked at more than 200 cultures over time, found that metal working and hunting were exclusively male activities, while activities such as cooking, laundering and spinning were predominately female. occupational differences cannot be explained simply by inherent differences between women and men or by difference in their preference or human capital investment decisions alone but, factors such as social norms, traditions, and religious beliefs also appear to play an important role. Also families have access to various activities, entertainment, and are able to obtain a higher level of utility; which would have been otherwise unavailable.

2. Women’s labor force participation rates in economically advanced countries vary considerably. What economic and noneconomic factors might explain this disparity? The economically advance countries with the highest female labor force participation rates also have the highest fertility rates and vice versa. the three factors behind the positive relationship between female labor force participation and fertility in economically advance countries are the degree to which family-friendly policies are available, the flexibility of the labor market including the availably of part-time work, and the extent to which child care is distributed more equally among parents. Also as a note, The cost of living and the social standard of living varies considerably amongst the economically advanced countries. Various factors: annual earnings, religion, location, type of work available, discrimination, population, culture, tradition, and laws/policies/tax, importance of child bearing vs. career varying for country to country. All of which could be possible indicators for the women’s labor force participation rate to vary considerably.

3. What are some specific policies that might improve women's well-being in the poorest countries? What are the difficulties and challenges entailed in undertaking them? In some countries fertility rates and female labor force participation are boosted by their strong family-friendly policies of long paid parental leave and subsidized childcare combined with the fact that fathers share substantially in childcare. in the united states, the workplaces less family-friendly then in other countries. Many families in the transition economies also face new challenges trying to balance paid work and family because of the shift from public enterprise to private firms