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on Gender |
| By: | Jolanta Maj (Opole University of Technology); Piotr Bebenek (Opole University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | The so far conducted studies have not been able to answer the question of whether there is a relationship between gender composition of the board and the firms financial performance. Because of the tendency to legally regulate the gender balance of boards of directors as it was, among others, planned in the draft of the EU Directive on improving the gender balance among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges, which admittedly has been rejected, however, indicates the existence of certain trends among decion-makers, the issue of determining the relationship between gender composition of the boards and firms performance becomes an extremely important issue. The paper aims to answer the question on the number of women in the highest organizational bodies in Polish enterprises and whether there is a relationship between the compositions of boards due to gender of their members and financial results achieved by the companies. For the analysis companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange were analyzed. Following indicators: debt ratio (DR), debt to equity ratio (D/R) and the long-term debt to total assets ratio were chosen. Using statistical analysis the financial indicators were juxtaposed with the number of women on boards. The paper provides insight into the composition of boards in Polish companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange due to gender. It shows that boards of these companies are highly masculine. Nevertheless the paper tries to show if there are any dependencies between the amount of women on boards and the financial performance of the companies. |
| Keywords: | gender diversity; corporate governance; board composition; firm performance; financial performance |
| JEL: | M14 M12 |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pes:wpaper:2017:no11&r=gen |
| By: | Bracha Efroni (Poznan University of Economics and Business) |
| Abstract: | Research background: Today countries have realized the importance ofsmall and medium enterprises (SMEs) to economic and social development. Entrepreneurship currently provides the most critical source of economic growth for countries. In most countries women own about 30% of small businesses. Since small businesses are the pillar of the economy, entrepreneurship is its growth engine, and women constitute about 50% of the population, it is important to research businesses and entrepreneurship among women so as to strengthen the economy. Women who decide to engage in entrepreneurship encounter many challenges, during both the establishment and management of the venture. Some of these challenges are shared by both male and female entrepreneurs, while some are relevant only to women. Purpose of the article: Since female entrepreneurship is extremely vital to a country’s economy, entrepreneurship among women must be encouraged. To do this, it is first necessary to understand the gaps between male and female entrepreneurs. Such gaps can only be reduced bycontinuing to research their origin and how they can be decreased. Methodology/methods: This article is based on literary research focusing on the differences between male and female entrepreneurship. Nearly one hundred articles, reports, and books were reviewed. The study results were synthesized on the basis of 40 works. Findings & Value added: Three main types of entrepreneurial gaps were found between women and men: social capital, financing capital, and human capital. The gender gap in entrepreneurship is explained in women’s structural disadvantages regarding the achievement of the resources relevant to the success of the business. |
| Keywords: | female entrepreneurship; gender gap; human capital; financing capital; social capital |
| JEL: | L26 J16 |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pes:wpaper:2017:no24&r=gen |
| By: | Keane, Claire; Russell, Helen; Smyth, Emer |
| Abstract: | This article examines the impact of a large increase in female participation on occupational segregation. Increases in female participation may decrease occupational segregation if women enter male dominated sectors but may increase segregation if they enter already female dominated sectors. Using Ireland as a test case due to the recent large increase in female participation rates, we firstly carry out a decomposition analysis between 1991 and 2006 and find that the rise in female employment was driven predominantly by increased demand while between one tenth and one fifth of the rise was due to women increasing their share of occupational employment. Formal measures of segregation show that occupational segregation fell over this time period. The formal measures of segregation show that the level of occupational grouping is important with stagnation or smaller falls in segregation using a broad occupational grouping and sharper falls using a more detailed occupational grouping. Our findings support previous U.S. research that found a rise in female participation resulted in a decline in occupational segregation. |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp564&r=gen |
| By: | Beata Bieszk-Stolorz (University of Szczecin) |
| Abstract: | Numerous studies show that men’s and women’s situation on the labour market differs. Women’s disadvantageous position on the labour market has been confirmed by statistical data. Finding a job is just one of many causes why an individual is crossed out from the labour office register. The registered unemployed can retire, apply for invalidity pension, receive early retirement benefits or start full time studies. One of the most common causes of de-registering is the unemployed person’s unjustified refusal to accept a job offer. The above causes are regarded as competing risks of various kinds. The purpose of this article is to assess the effect of the unemployed individual’s gender on the probability and intensity of de-registering from the labour office lists due to finding a job, de-registering or other causes. The study made use of the survival analysis methods. The assessment of the probability of de-registration due to a specific cause was made by means of the cumulative incidence function. The intensity of de-registration was tested with the Lunn-McNeil model. Differences in the effect of gender on the de-registration possibility were tested with the use of Gray’s test. The study was based on individual data of people registered by the Labour Office in Szczecin. Among women, job-finding was the most common cause of de-registration, followed by the removal from the register. In the case of men the order was reversed, the most probable de-registration cause was the removal, followed by job-finding. The remaining causes were of marginal significance, both for men and women. Women took up a job more intensively than men and were less intensively removed from the register. The differences between males and females in the intensities of de-registering due to the remaining causes were not statistically relevant. |
| Keywords: | competing risk; cumulative incidence function; the Lunn-McNeil model; unemployment; gender |
| JEL: | C41 J64 |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pes:wpaper:2017:no14&r=gen |
| By: | Veronica Kostenko (Laboratory for Comparative Social Research, Higher School of Economics, Russia); Eduard Ponarin; Musa Shteiwi; Olga Strebkova |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on transformations of gender attitudes in a set of Arab societies covered by the Arab Barometer. We analyze age and cohort differences in thirteen countries using generalized additive modeling (GAM). We argue that stagnation or even retrogression of gender attitudes in some societies may be caused in part by an ideological shift of the 1970s–1980s, from largely secular and socialist-oriented national movements of the 1950s–1960s to the more conservative period often associated with the rise of political Islam. On the other hand, the youngest cohorts in those societies that have always promoted conservative gender attitudes are getting somewhat more liberal, although they remain slightly less gender egalitarian compared to other societies. We test our assumptions using the example of Yemen that was divided into two parts between 1967 and 1990: The South supported by the Soviet Union and the North influenced by Saudi Arabia and the Western bloc. We trace the support for gender egalitarianism across generations in the two parts of Yemen and show that the secular socialist ideology made a profound imprint on the attitudes of a whole generation and made those who were in their twenties back in the 1960s more egalitarian than the young people these days. The same is true for the other countries of the region that had some socialist experience. |
| Date: | 2017–05–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1105&r=gen |