Sweden and German gender inequalities in employment Essay

Sweden and German gender inequalities in employment - Essay ExampleThe EU notes that, across Europe women earn on average 17.8% less than men, meaning that Sweden is slightly above the median and Germany is almost 4.5% below it. The inclusion of a EU-wide average facilitates comparability. In large nib the gender pay paste directly expresses that women do not receive equal pay for work of equal value. However, it still does not adequately exempt the nuances of the gender pay gap and inequality in employment. (EC, 2010) The existence of a glass ceiling barriers and limits to promotions is also a factor. If women are denied access to the highest paying (and most influential) management positions this allow manifest itself in an aggregate gender pay gap. Similarly, if a countrys pregnancy and parental leave programs are inadequate and family causes women to interrupt their career path this result be reflected in the gender pay gap. Simply put, inequality in employment influences m uch than only equal pay for work of equal value. This idea will examine key laws and policies aimed at promoting gender equality in employment in Sweden and Germany. It will identify and account for similarities and differences in the development and execution of instrument of gender equality policies in these two countries. History and type of well-being regime in Sweden and Germany Throughout the 1990s in Sweden the gender pay gap remained relatively static at approximately 17.5%. According to the European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO) Comparative study on gender pay righteousness The case of Sweden, the trend is that lately, over the last ten years, with some smaller fluctuations, the wage differences between men and women are about the same. There is a fall of the gap shown in some years, next year there is a small increase. Throughout this period, females earned an average of 83% of male wages. (EIRO, Sweden, 2002) The statistics for Germany were much more dynami c in this period. However, they are also incomplete and difficult to work with as the period included the reunification of the two Germanies. However, they parallel Sweden with little miscellanea and a slightly higher level of the gender pay gap. (EIRO, Germany, 2002) Philosophically there are more profound and apparent differences between the social welfare systems in the two countries. Mandel and Shale have developed a typology for social welfare regimes that is useful in this situation. They characterise European social welfare systems as conservative, patient of or social democratic. The differences between the three are predicated on the three roles the social welfare system can play. According to Mandel and Shalev (2009), Scandinavian social body politic is associated with patterns of intervention that exemplify all three roles the state substitutes for Source Mandel and Shalev, 2009. functions otherwise performed by markets or families and it does so with a distinct emphas is on improvement provision (as opposed to income maintenance), which turns it into a massive employer. It decommodifies and defamilializes social welfare. This is the model that Sweden exemplifies. The second country under consideration, Germany, is characterised as conservative by Mandel and Shalev. Germany, France and Spain form a second lump which is made up of conservative countries that are less