2024
Gender gaps in perceptions of social protection: Insights from the OECD Risks that Matter Survey
International Social Security Review
https://doi.org/10.1111/issr.12374
Reflecting their weaker labour force attachment and lower earnings, women consistently report feeling greater economic insecurity than men across the Member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Similar gender gaps emerge in perceptions of social protection systems: women are far less confident than men in their ability to access benefits and services and receive adequate income support when they need it, both in working age and old age. Results from the cross-national OECD Risks that Matter (RTM) Survey illustrate that, on average, across countries, about half of women feel that they could not easily receive public benefits if they needed them, compared to 43 per cent of men. This perceived inaccessibility likely reflects gender gaps in perceived “hassle costs” associated with social programme applications and the intra-household allocations of administrative burden, but it also likely reflects women’s lower social security contributions. This article illuminates gender gaps in the design of social programmes and suggests ways by which governments can better mainstream gender when improving the accessibility and adequacy of social protection.
2023
Main Findings from the 2022 OECD Risks that Matter Survey
https://doi.org/10.1787/70aea928-en
Prices of essentials like energy and food have increased dramatically in OECD countries, adding uncertainty to household finances despite a persistently strong labour market post COVID-19. The latest edition of the OECD Risks that Matter (RTM) survey confirms that costs of living are at the top of people’s minds even in the world’s wealthiest countries: around nine in ten respondents, on average, report feeling concerned about inflation. Drawing on a representative sample of 27 000 respondents across 27 OECD countries, RTM illustrates respondents’ perceived economic risks, levels of satisfaction with current social policies, and preferences for future government action on social protection. People are calling on governments to help with the cost-of-living crisis, to spend more on health post COVID-19, and to reinforce support for older people, including in long-term care. Based on a comprehensive cross-national survey of perceptions of social protection, this report offers lessons for the functioning of social programmes as countries emerge from COVID-19, manage the cost-of-living crisis, and plan for future challenges.
Reporting Gender Pay Gaps in OECD Countries: Guidance for Pay Transparency Implementation, Monitoring and Reform
http://oe.cd/pay-transparency-2023
Pay transparency policies are gaining momentum throughout the OECD. Over half of OECD countries require private sector firms to report their gender pay gap statistics regularly to stakeholders like employees, employee representatives, the government, and/or the public. Gender pay gap reporting, equal pay audits and other pay transparency policies help advance gender equality at the workplace, as these measures present up-to-date information on a firm’s gender pay gap, encourage employers to offer equal pay for work of equal value, and give individual workers and their representatives valuable insights to fight for pay equity. This report presents the most thorough stocktaking to date of gender pay gap reporting policies and evaluations across OECD countries, and offers guidance to countries interested in introducing, reforming and monitoring their pay transparency systems to promote equal pay for women and men.
Promising practices, likely pitfalls: What works in national pay gap reporting systems
VoxEU – policy portal of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)
Gender pay gap reporting holds appeal in addressing pay disparities between women and men. This column summarises the findings of a recent survey of national gender pay gap reporting and equal pay auditing rules across the 38 OECD member countries. Digital tools and equal pay audits show promise in narrowing pay gaps, while the lack of enforcement of pay reporting is a major weakness. Systematic enforcement mechanisms and public disclosure of firms' pay gaps can help ensure compliance.
2022
Ensuring the availability, quality and affordability of childcare
in Joining Forces for Gender Equality: What is Holding us Back?
This chapter discusses the provision of early childhood education and care (ECEC) in OECD countries. It first considers differences in enrolment rates across OECD countries and age groups as well as recent policy efforts to increase childcare availability. It then discusses the variation in out-of-pocket childcare costs and how countries aim to support families that struggle with the affordability of ECEC. An overview of quality challenges in ECEC provision closes this chapter.
2021
Caregiving in Crisis: Gender inequality in paid and unpaid work during COVID-19
https://oe.cd/covid-caregiving-rtm
The recession shadowing the COVID-19 pandemic has been frequently characterised as a “shecession,” implying disproportionately negative effects for women. Yet the crisis might more accurately be called a “momcession,” as women’s work losses were driven in large part by the outcomes of mothers specifically. The OECD’s 2020 Risks that Matter survey presents cross-national evidence that when schools and childcare facilities shut down, mothers took on the brunt of additional unpaid care work – and, correspondingly, they experienced labour market penalties and stress. These findings serve as another reminder that governments must consider inequalities in unpaid work and take a gender-sensitive approach when building their policy responses to the COVID-19 crisis.