Abstract

Jingqiu Guan

Women’s work conditions have an impact on their socio-economic status; however, because of the lack of a database of policies regarding women’s work conditions across countries, few studies have been done to establish the statistical relationships between them. In this study, multivariate regression was used to explore the relationships between these policy areas and macroeconomic indicators with a focus on women’s socio-economic status. An original Women’s Work Conditions Index (WWCI) was developed in the study to measure women’s work conditions in 192 countries. Results reveal a strong positive relationship between women’s work conditions and women’s socioeconomic status and support the hypothesis that better women’s work conditions may improve their socio-economic status and may positively impact a country’s macroeconomy, such as raising the per capita GDP and the adult literacy rate, lowering the fertility rate, and both the general and female unemployment rates. Contrary to the traditional view that providing better labor protections lowers productivity, this study proves statistically that a country would be better-off if it provides better work conditions for women.