engleski

Gender discrimination in the labor market: Croatian experience

The issue of discrimination has been addressed by many academic scholars, including Nobel Prize winners for economics such as Gery Becker and Kenneth Arrow. Namely, Kenneth Arrow (1971) provided often cited definition of discrimination as the valuation in the market place of personal characteristics of the worker that are unrelated to worker productivity. Also, Gerry Becker (1971) has developed the theory of discrimination by examining the behavior of employers who have showed the «taste» for discriminatory policy. Discrimination can manifest itself in all aspects of life. This paper focuses on gender discrimination on the labor market. Much has been done around the world to reduce gender inequality in the labor market in terms of economic participation and economic opportunity, yet no country has managed to eliminate the gender gap. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the complex notion of gender discrimination on the labor market. After providing a theoretical review of why discrimination occurs on the labor market, this paper addresses two most known forms of discrimination against women - gender pay gap (i.e. women are being paid less than for doing the same or similar job) and glass ceiling (i.e. a limitation preventing women of upward advancement within the organization which is not immediately apparent, usually as an unwritten rule or unofficial policy). The theoretical perspective of the paper is illuminated by the example of Croatia, an EU candidate country, which has been investing en effort to promote gender equality in accordance with EU legislation. Taking into consideration that discrimination is economically inefficient and leads to lower wages for women and consequently to lower output of national economy, the paper provides selected suggestions how to support gender equality on the labor market. They may serve as a general guide for national or regional decision makers in promoting the status of women in the labor market which can positively impact the overall economic development.

discrimination, gender equality, gender pay gap, glass ceiling

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