Cohort: ESOL 37°
Topic of the thesis: Women, Unions, and the European Gender Pay Gap: The Participation of Women in European Unions and Its Influence on Wage Inequality
Abstract: The gender pay gap (GPG) has been persisting adamantly across Europe to varying degrees. Apart from individual traits (such as education or years of experience), devaluation theory argues that structural discrimination against women is a main cause of the GPG, hypothesizing that the cultural devaluation of work done by women entails its lower remuneration (England, 1992 as cited in Hinz & Gärtner, 2005). Devaluation theory is the main theoretical framework to be applied and tested in this project. Considering labour unions’ traditional role as the fighters of the devaluation of work, they will be the main subject of analysis. Taking into account that the GPG differs vastly across the European Union (Arulampalam et al., 2007; Eurostat, 2021), the need to understand the relationship of women, unions, and the GPG in differing institutional settings across Europe presents itself. Thus, the following overarching research question shall guide this project: How does the participation of women in European labour unions affect the pay levels of their represented occupations? In order to answer the research question, mixed methods will be applied, drawing on both primary and secondary data. Secondary data will stem from databases such as Eurostat and the ILO. Here, a closer examination of the databases will be needed to examine the suitability of the data for differing forms of regression analyses. Ideally, a longitudinal study applying hierarchical linear regressions will be conducted, focusing on country, occupational, and union levels to gain a clearer picture of where the GPG contributors are located. Hereby, the dependent variable will be the wages set in collective agreements (as opposed to individual wages). This is to eliminate the possibility of individual traits clouding the proclaimed structural effects as individual characteristics do not influence the wages set in collective agreements. Primary data collection will occur via both surveys (asking for data not covered by databases; addressing female union members, union representatives, and negotiators engaging in collective bargaining) and qualitative interviews with union representatives. Hereby, the focus will be on specific measures that may have been introduced to promote women’s participation in unions (such as women’s quotas, see for example Kirsch & Blaschke, 2014). In principle, two “ideal types” of possible effects of labour unions on the (de)valuation of “typically female” occupations (e.g., work in the care sector) are anticipated: on the one hand, following hitherto published articles (see for example Christofides et al., 2013; Elvira & Saporta, 2001; Schäfer & Gottschall, 2015), a mitigating effect of women’s participation in unions on the GPG could be expected, given their presumably higher interest in advocating for women’s interests. On the other hand, if thinking strictly along the lines of devaluation theory, it might as well be that the “feminization of unions” has adverse effects on their bargaining power.
Research interests: Feminist economics; Ecological economics; Democratisation of work; Sustainable work.
Graduated from: University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences - Vienna (BA); Vienna University of Economics and Business (MA).
Degrees obtained: BSc in Environment and Bioresources Management; MSc (WU) in Socio-Ecological Economics and Policy.
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