The Comparative Politics of Gender

Abstract

This paper supplements the usual economic and sociological explanations of women's economic status with an exploration of the effects of partisan and electoral variables. Using OECD-wide data, as well as on the basis of a more careful look at four very different countries, we find that women piggyback on the strength of organized labor for achieving relative hourly wage equality. Proportional electoral systems are more likely to give labor a strong political voice than are plurality systems, and are therefore more likely to compress the wage structure in a way that brings up the bottom quartile, where working women disproportionately are. A more complete look at the constraints on women's choices, using fertility as an indicator, suggests that strong labor unions may make it difficult for outsiders - including women - to break into the work force on an equal basis.