Women in the workforce

Hmmm somewhat I find these figures fishy. Very very fishy. There is absolutely no way for the Netherlands to rate four times lower than the Philippines.

If you look at the figures you realize that only 32 out of the 56 millions inhabitants aged from 16 to 65 are considered as in the work force. Where are the others?

I think they left the peasants out of the study and only considered industry and services in which case it is quite possible that women sell what men produce in the fields or that women take care of a shop while male work in a factory. This hypotheses is confirmed by the fact that nearly twice as many female managers as there are males and this figure is soring rapidly.

Nearly one woman on six in the work force is a manager while the ratio is one on twelve for male. Moreover the number of male and female college graduate is very similar while more than half of the women are simply not in the workforce.

This is very typical of a society divided between a traditional and poor majority and a small westernized elite (a third of the workforce but only 15% of the population). As paradoxical as it may seem I think a large number of female in top managerial position is a sign of economic retardation (i.e. small businesses and small elite class to recruit managers from).

The cases of HK and Taiwan are much more interesting in my opinion as they are on the other side of the U-shaped slide. Their dynamic economies need all the people their colleges can produce for real top positions.

Originally posted by elenos When a person has been to the Philippines they know the answer and it's not very pretty. Woman are on the very bottom of the ladder actually, but the figures are fudged to make the country look better. Gloria Arora is a bitch, pure and simple, and has turned the country into a dictatorship run by a female! Women can be more ruthless than men when in power and the situation of male domination is actually carried on by her. But she does have a point in that capable able bodied men are better off in the military.On the whole there are not enough males being born, so to help the country grow economically under qualified woman are often enough employed for there is no one else to fill the positions.

That's what I'm thinking, Elenos. The female population outnumbers the males.

Actually, I think the figure for the Netherlands is true. For all our westernness and modernness, we have the lowest womens empancipation rate in Europe, perhaps almost in the owrld (you think this might explain some of my feministic tendencies? )

Edited by Aelfgifu - 07-Aug-2007 at 09:17

I wager a guess that that has quite a bit to do with it yes. I would not know for sure, as my family and social circle does not think this way. But that is not the only thing, 'cause my housemate is studying to be a reverend, which makes about as calvinistic as they come, I suppose, and she is sure as hell not going to give up 7 years of intense studying when she gets married. It is also very much a thing that has a deep hold in completely unreligious people. Whenever the state comes with a (generally unworkeable) idea on improving day care, for example, even the quite lefish paper I mostly read is filled with readers letters asking why these parents (they at least do know about shared responsebility... a stay at home dad is just as acceptable) do not think it worth their trouble raising their kisd themselves... And I remember in secondary school, there were a fair deal of girls who stated they would give up their jobs when they would have kids, and a good amount of gus who would expect their wife to give up their jobs, or at least work part time, when they had kids, without the intention to work part time themselves to take care of their kids. Amazing, really. The thought had never even occurred to me.

Edited by Aelfgifu - 07-Aug-2007 at 18:15