Women’s Labor Force Participation and Inequality in Turkey
Leyla Firuze Arda ÖzalpThe increasing income inequalities in many societies since the 1980s are generally considered within the framework of concepts such as globalization, international trade, technological changes, or transformations in the distribution of income and wages. However, the significant increase in women’s participation in the labor force represents another necessary social and economic transformation since the 1980s apart from the dramatic increases in inequalities. Some qualitative changes have also followed as women become a segment of waged labor in increasing numbers: for example, the feminization of the labor market. The emergence of women as paid labor and the contribution of their earnings to family incomes have undoubtedly caused transformations in income and wage distribution in many societies. This paper begins with this stated perspective to explore the impact women’s employment has exerted on income inequalities in Turkey. Two distinct inequality measures, the Gini coefficient and the Theil index, are used based on a literature study to observe in detail the effects of women’s labor force participation on income inequalities. The ARDL Bounds Testing methodology is employed with the time-series data (1988–2015) to accomplish the stated purpose. The estimation results reveal that the labor participation of women has reduced income inequalities in Turkey in the long run.
Türkiye’de Kadının İşgücüne Katılımı ve Eşitsizlik
Leyla Firuze Arda Özalp1980’li yıllardan itibaren birçok toplumda artan gelir eşitsizliği veya gelir ve ücretin dağılımdaki değişimler, çoğunlukla küreselleşme, uluslararası ticaret, teknolojik değişim gibi kavramlar çerçevesinde ele alınmaktadır. 1980'lerden bu yana, eşitsizliklerdeki çarpıcı artışların yanı sıra toplumsal ve ekonomik bir diğer önemli gelişme ise kadının işgücüne katılımındaki önemli artıştır. Artan sayıda kadının ücretli emeğin parçası haline gelmesini yani emek piyasasının kadınlaşmasını, bir dizi nitel değişim de takip etmektedir. Bu değişimlerin en önemlisi, kadınların daha önce bulunmadıkları mesleklere ve sektörlere girmesi, yönetici pozisyonlarında ve işveren pozisyonlarında yer almalarıdır. İstihdam oranındaki artışla birlikte kadının artan kazancı, aile gelirine katkı sağlamıştır. Kadının aile gelirine katkısı ve ücretli emeğin bir parçası haline gelmesi, kuşkusuz birçok toplumda gelir ve ücret dağılımında dönüşümlere neden olmuştur. Bu bakış açısından yola çıkarak, bu makale kadın istihdamının Türkiye için eşitsizlikler üzerindeki etkisini araştırmaktadır. Literatürdeki çalışmalardan yola çıkarak kadınların işgücüne katılımının eşitsizlikler üzerindeki etkisini ayrıntılı olarak gözlemlemek için, Gini ve Theil katsayıları olmak üzere iki farklı eşitsizlik ölçütü kullanılmıştır. Bu amaçla, zaman serisi verileriyle birlikte ARDL Sınır Testi yaklaşımı kullanılmıştır (1988'den 2015'e kadar olan dönem için). Tahmin sonuçları, kadınların işgücüne katılımının uzun vadede Türkiye örneğinde eşitsizlikleri azalttığını göstermektedir.
Economic inequalities causing troubled social and economic consequences are generally considered sources of social concerns related to equity and justice. Rising social tensions in many countries across the world since the 1980s are predominantly caused by increasing inequalities. The dramatic amplification in income inequalities over the last 30–40 years is generally attributed to factors such as skill-biased technical changes, globalization, the decline of unions, and international trade. The participation of women in the work market has also increased significantly since the 1980s, along with the dramatic surges in inequalities. Thus, a series of economic and social consequences have ensued from the transition of women from the home to the job market.
Economic outcomes, including incomes, inequalities, and employment-related gender disparities, differ significantly between societies. Similarly, the dynamics or trends of inequalities also vary across societies, which exhibit discrete reactions to the rise in women’s employment. Multidirectional transformations in women’s employment are experienced within the framework of the internal dynamics of every nation, even though industrialized high-income countries have witnessed a rapid augmentation in female employment. No significant numerical change has been observed in women’s labor force participation in Turkey compared to the 1980s; however, the higher education levels of women may be regarded as a harbinger of a more evident increase in women’s employment in the near future.
The consequences of the evolution of women’s labor from the household to the market on income inequalities are essentially evaluated through two major economic factors: (1) the impact of women’s employment on household income inequalities because of the growing contribution of women’s earnings to household incomes, and (2) how women becoming a part of a society’s paid labor affects pay inequalities. The impact of the marked work of women on inequalities also varies to a degree between societies, and studies on its effects have reported different results. Elveren (2014) found that women’s labor force participation increased pay inequalities in developing countries and reduced pay inequalities in developed countries. Esping-Andersen (2009) indicated that women’s employment tended to increase income inequalities because of the phenomenon of assortative marriage, a concept based on the similarities of spousal earnings and education. Conversely, ameliorated women’s employment rates tend to constructively influence inequalities when lower-educated women enter the job market in greater numbers.
This study is primarily aimed at investigating the effects of women’s labor force participation rates on inequalities in Turkey. The predominant contributions of this study to the current literature may be noted as (1) it longitudinally examines the influence of women labor force participation rates on the inequalities in the case of Turkey (1988–2015), (2) it examines this relation using two different measures of inequality (the Gini coefficient and the Theil index). The ARDL Bounds Testing methodology is employed with the time-series data (1988–2015) to accomplish the stated purpose. The estimation results evince that women’s labor participation in Turkey has reduced (1) the inequalities expressed by the synthetic Gini coefficient and (2) the pay inequalities articulated via the Theil index in the long run. These results differ from Elveren’s (2014) findings indicating that women’s labor force participation increased pay inequalities in developing countries. The results of the econometric model analysis based on the ARDL Bounds Testing methodology also reveal that women’s labor force participation rates exerted a constructive effect on inequalities arising from pay disparities (0.32%) rather than the divergences expressed by the Gini coefficient (0.16%) for Turkey. Consequently, the transitioning of women’s activities from within the household to the labor market has created a transformation that has reduced the dependency of women and thus enhanced their economic and social status. In addition, women’s labor force participation is also crucial for the alleviation of inequalities in Turkey.
