Comparison of Gender Wage Gap in Japan and Germany

Comparison of Gender mesh fissure in lacquer and Ger many an(prenominal)In all of the advanced capitalist nations wo manpower were experiencing the contradictions of an didactics which seemed to promise self-fulfil manpowert, and a labour market base on in alludeities of course of instruction and grammatical kindleual urge (Brinton, 1993, as cited in Threlfall, 1996, p. 270). This statement has been made more than 15 years ago and indicated that women were non treated luciferly regarding civilise and bear. However, take on circumstances changed since then? If yes, did they mitigate or worsen and to which extend? The lay of this paper is to analyse the existence of a sexual practice net income interruption in Japan and Germany and to evaluate possible reasons for it. Furthermore, an outlook for the future exit be given at the end.2. Gender Wage Gap in JapanThe Japanese police force system is regulated by the Japanese Standards churn legality which was enacted after institution War II in 1947. This Japanese Standards Labour Law contained a clause which should protect running(a) women. In reality, this clause prevented women from actioning excessive overtime and during nights (Sama and Papamarcos, 2000). This is why women could not climb up the greasy pole. Furthermore, this law prohibit that women were treated some other than on the basis of sex (Threlfall, 1996). On top of this, as tell by Threlfall (1996), the Standards Labour Law covered only meet coveroff but not promotion or retirement. During this time, employers could be sued for variety, but this was an expensive and time-consuming act as each case had to be dealt with separately. Additionally, many companies circumvented the danger of lawsuits by new grading of job titles (Threlfall, 1996). This changed in 1986 when the competent Employment Opportunity Law (EEOL) was passed (Sama and Papamarcos, 2000). This law encouraged companies in Japan to treat employees equally in all aspects like engrosss, promotion, recruitment and hiring (Threlfall, 1996). Unfortunately, the EEOL contained no penalties for continuing inconsistency and also its amendment, which was enacted in 1999, did not really improve the inequalities regarding remuneration and promotion between men and women (Sama and Papamarcos, 2000). Figure 1 clarifies these measurable labour laws in Japan.Japanese Labour Standards Law of 1947 Contained protective clause for moveing women. Came under scrutiny in 1970s as a possible deterrent to womens carg whizr advancement.Equal Employment Opportunity Law (EEOL) of 1986 Enacted in 1987, the EEOL called for equal chip in for equal die hard. No penalties for violators. Employers asked only to process a good effort.June 1997 Amendment to the EEOL Enacted in 1999, the amendment lifted restrictions on midnight, holiday, and overtime work by women in effect since the 1947 Labor Standards Law. Further stiffened warnings against companies found in violation of the EEOL. No penalties attached.According to Selmer (2001), the Japanese wage system is found on seniority (pp. 236-237). This indicates that promotion and pay rise atomic number 18 self-acting and no subject to job duties or merit (Selmer, 2001). That means that employees build promotion and pay rise when they reach certain age levels.The sexual urge wage interruption is measured as the median wage of men minus the median wage of women, expressed as a remainder of the median wage of men (Evans, 2002, p. 191).As verbalize by the earthly concern Economic Forum (2005), no country has yet managed to eliminate the gender bedspread (p. 1). According to OECD (2007), the womens medium wage in Japan is cardinal thirds of that received by men. This re bountys twice the OECD average. Figure 2 displays the gender wage violate of several countries. Blau and Kahn (2003) stated that the gender wage opening in Japan is up to 85% (as cited in Johnes and Tanaka, 2006). T his means that women earn up to 85% little than men. Recent sources indicated a gender wage sally of 65.9% for 2007 (Japanese Institute for Labour Policy and Training, 2008). The goings in the gender wage break of serve be subject to different data used for analysis. Some calculations intromit part-time workers, which are mainly fe staminate and others base their calculations on regular employees only.As already stated above, Japanese firms distract on the thou of gender when paying employees. This chapter evaluates several reasons for the gender wage whirl in Japan. First of all, many workers in Japan get a life-time employment contract (Ishii, 2000). Japanese firms make huge investments in employee situations of life and that is why they want their employees to stay as long with the company as possible. Therefore, the duration of attachment to a firm plays an important role when negotiating requital. As it is most often foreseeable that women leave alone not stay w ith whiz company for their whole life, because they want to start a family one day, they somewhat much never get a lifetime contract (Ishii, 2000). Therefore, as stated by Ihsii (2000), companies make no investment in piece capital when they employ women as they think they will not wel outlying(prenominal)e in the future from this investment as women sooner or subsequently leave the company.The second reason for the gender wage gap is based on different experiences. Miyoshi (2007) argued that there is no gender pay gap when people are employed directly after school, college or university. only when employees accumulate work experience, the wage gap enlarges. Miyoshi (2007) explains this fact by referring to the full-time work experience and seniority. The more full-time work experience an employee has, the more valuable he is. As women often have slight work experience because of child-raising obligations and only part-time jobs, the get slight money and less promotion than their male counterpart.Different characteristics of workers represent the third reason for the gender wage gap in Japan. Johnes and Tanaka (2006) explained that different characteristics like age, work experience, teaching and duration of work are one reason for the gender pay gap in Japan. They agree with Miyoshi when stating that differences in work experience are the reason for pay inequalities, but they extend the argument by adding other characteristics like age and education.The greater part of the gender wage gap in Japan evict be explained by referring to the reasons stated above. However, there is also a smaller part of the win gap that can not be explained. According to Kawaguchi (2006), this part can be attributed to sex discrimination.4. Gender Wage Gap in GermanyRegarding German law, article 3 paragraph 2 of the German Constitution of 1949 states that men and women have equal rights (Maier, 2007). Furthermore, paragraph 3 states that no one should be discriminated on the grand of gender. This right for equal treatment and payment was not practiced in reality as special wage groups for women were allowed in collective agreements until 1955 (Maier, 2007). Furthermore, Maier (2007) stated that most employees in Germany are paid according to these collective agreements, although the coverage is declining (p. 11). In 1980, a new paragraph was added to the German Constitution which demanded equal pay for work of equal value (Winter, 1998). But this amendment brought no chance. Later, in 2006, the General Equal Treatment Act was passed and paragraph 7 prohibited unequal treatment within any employment relationship (Maier, 2007, p. 18). This law stated that lower wages for women are not justified if they are based on gender. Unfortunately, German law still drops legal measures to accountant the implementation of equal wage principles. Furthermore, Maier (2007) stated that it is not easy for women to lead their right for equal pay. Class actions ar e not allowed and thus, all women must bring their individual claim to court. As this is often an expensive and time-consuming process, many plaintiffs refrain from filing a suit (Maier, 2007). That is why Germany has a material high gender wage gap, although the German organization has a female chancellor (Plass, 2008). In reality, as stated by Plass (2008), Germany has one of the highest gender pay gaps on the European continent. Furthermore, more than 90 pct of all working women are discriminated and earn between 80 and 210 cents less per hour (Gradn, del Ro and Cant, 2006). Legal norms for equal pay in Germany are displayed in figure 3.According to the German government statistics bureau, Destatis, working women in Germany earned 24 percent less than men in 2006 (as cited in Plass, 2008). As stated by Maier (2007), this number has been cut back to 22 percent in 2007. Whereas the average difference in pay is 15 percent in the European Union (Spiegel Online Inter topic, 2008). 5. Reasons for the Gender Wage Gap in GermanySeveral reasons contribute to the large gender wage gap in Germany. First of all, as mentioned by Lauer (n.d.), women often do not possess the same education and skills as men do. Employers who determine value on these exact skills are likely to pay women less in order to compensate the lack of skills and knowledge.Furthermore, Lauer (n.d.) also mentioned that skills and knowledge whitethorn be rewarded differently between men and women. Meaning that women with the same educational background and knowledge will earn less because these identical skills are not rewarded the same way by the employer.In addition, Maier (2007) identify the lack of legal barriers against low wages as a reason for the gender pay differences in Germany. As there exists no general nominal wage in Germany, and as the country has almost three one million million million unemployed persons (Bundesagentur fr Arbeit, 2008), it is easy for employers to fill a low-pai d vacancy.Furthermore, Lauer (n.d.) identified occupational crowding of women in low paid occupations as other source for earning inequalities between men and women in Germany. There is also the fact that there is a low proportion of working women in super paid positions (Maier, 2007).Concluding, Maier (2007) stated that factors like age, education and work experience present only a very unimportant reason for wage discrimination. Again, the undetermined part of the gender wage gap can be attributed to discrimination based on gender (Lauer, n.d.).6. Similarities and Differences between Japan and GermanyAfter analyzing the gender wage gap in Japan and Germany and its reasons, several similarities as wholesome as differences can be pointed out. First of all, there is a significant high gender wage gap in both countries, although the difference in earnings is higher in Japan with around 35 percent compared to Germany with about 22 percent (Maier, 2007). Nevertheless, the German ear nings gap is 7 percent higher than the European Union average (Spiegel Online outside(a), 2008).both countries put emphasis on the characteristics of employees. Age, work experience and education are important when negotiating wages. As women often have less education or work experience than men (Lauer, n.d.), they get paid less than their male counterpart. Furthermore, part of the gender wage gap in both countries is an undetermined part which can be attributed to gender discrimination (Kawaguchi, 2006 Lauer, n.d.).Differences between the cardinal countries can be found in the fact that Japanese employers discriminate when investing in human capital. Due to the Japanese lifetime employment, many employers consider rather carefully whether to employ women or not. As it is unmistakable to them that women will leave the company some day for child-raising duties, they will thereby take away the human capital in which the company invested.7. certaintyEven if both countries enacted laws in the 80ies which should ensure equal pay for work of equal value, there is still a significant gender wage gap observable. Japan as well as Germany managed during the last to decades to press this gap, but this happened probably just because of the new laws which were enforced. When looking ahead, both countries will probably have a different future. Japan will pay off to its lifetime employment system (Kato, 2001) and thereby will keep the earnings gap between men and women stable. The fact that more and more Japanese women decide to pursue their careers can possibly help in tapering off the gender pay gap (Fackler, 2007). Germany is likely to increase the gender pay gap as the coverage of collective agreements, which set equal wages for men and women, is declining (Maier, 2007). Furthermore, as long as there is no indorse from the government to implement the right for equal money for work of equal value, the gender wage gap will not be narrowed.8. Bibliography ,Blau, F. and Kahn, L. (2003). dread multinational differences in the gender pay gap. diary of Labor Economics. Vol. 21, pp. 106-144.Brinton, M. (1993). Women and the stinting miracle gender and work in post-war Japan. Berkeley Calif.Bundesagentur fr Arbeit (2008). 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