Social Policies to Support Women's Employment and Achieve Gender-Friendly Workplaces

我的研究着眼于福利国家政策与就业中的性别不平等之间的关系。我已经发表了两篇博士论文，研究了英国和其他地方的家庭和就业政策是如何帮助或潜在地阻碍单身母亲的就业前景的。这是因为，作为家庭中唯一的经济支柱和照顾者，单身母亲提供了一个很好的“试金石”，可以检验政策如何有效地帮助妇女平衡就业和儿童保育的需求，并独立于男性生存和抚养子女。我的研究结果表明，包括英国在内的许多发达经济体在协调就业和家庭责任方面做得不够，一些政策实际上是以牺牲女性的就业地位为代价来促进女性的照顾角色。在这些论文的基础上，我将提交另外两篇论文，以便在奖学金期间发表。根据我的博士研究，第一篇论文认为，让女性进入高层董事会和高管职位的政策，对于改善低收入工作中最弱势女性的福祉非常重要。有证据表明，高层管理中有足够多的女性可以带来有利于所有女性的组织变革，包括那些处于组织最底层的女性。在此基础上，第二篇论文将是一篇原创的研究文章，旨在理清各种福利国家特征（例如公共托儿服务的可用性）与最高职位中的性别平衡之间的关系。为了向学术界传播博士和原创研究成果，我将在各种国内和国际会议上发表演讲。为了接触到第三部门的政策制定者和利益相关者，我将编写一份非技术性的政策简报，并与英国倡导性别平等和妇女权利的主要慈善组织福西特协会（Fawcett Society）密切合作。这项研究还有助于提高公众对就业中持续存在的性别惩罚、公司高层的性别平衡与底层的性别平等之间的联系，以及福利国家在消除就业中的性别不平等方面的作用的认识。因此，为了将我的发现传达给更广泛的受众，我将根据我的研究制作一个网页和博客文章。该奖学金的另一个目的是为一项为期三年的研究经费提出建议。现有文献提出了福利国家的“悖论”。根据这一理论，在性别友好的北欧福利国家，拥有慷慨的家庭福利和服务的女性比不慷慨的福利国家（如美国）的女性更有可能就业；然而，在慷慨的福利国家，妇女也更有可能在性别刻板印象的部门和职业中工作，并且不太可能达到管理职位。然而，最近的趋势表明，有利于女性的福利政策与性别劳动力市场不平等之间的关系并不像悖论理论预测的那样简单。虽然近年来北欧劳动力市场已变得更加性别平等，但其他家庭政策和福利不那么慷慨的国家在就业方面正经历更大的性别隔离。因此，我提出的项目旨在对福利国家与性别就业隔离之间的关系形成一种新的理解，对其复杂性更加敏感。这对于确定减少就业中的性别不平等的政策解决办法非常重要，从社会正义的角度来看，这很重要，因为支持妇女充分发挥其潜力会带来集体利益（如经济繁荣）和个人利益（如妇女终身收入更高）。在奖学金期间，我还将在南安普顿大学提供少量教学，并接受高级定量方法和使用复杂的跨国数据集的培训，为我的三年资助做准备。

My research looks at the relationship between welfare state policies and gender inequalities in employment. I have already published two articles from my PhD which examine how family and employment policies in the UK and elsewhere help or potentially hinder lone mothers' employment prospects. This is because, as sole breadwinners and caregivers within the household, lone mothers provide a good 'litmus test' of how effectively policies help women to balance the demands of employment and childcare and survive and support their children independently of men. My findings indicate that many advanced economies, including the UK, are not doing enough to enable the reconciliation of employment and family responsibilities, with some policies actually promoting women's caregiving roles at the expense of their employment position.To build on these papers, I will submit two additional papers for publication during the Fellowship. Drawing on my PhD research, the first paper argues that policies to bring women into top board and executive positions are important for improving the wellbeing of the most vulnerable women in the lowest-paying jobs. Evidence shows that enough women in top management can lead to organisational changes that benefit all women, including those at the very bottom of the organisation. Building on this, the second paper will be an original research article that aims to disentangle the relationships between various welfare state characteristics (e.g.availability of public childcare services) and gender balance in the very top jobs.To disseminate the PhD and original research findings to the academic community, I will present at various national and international conferences. To reach policymakers and stakeholders in the third sector, I will produce a non-technical policy brief and work closely with the UK's leading charity campaigning for gender equality and women's rights, the Fawcett Society. The research can also contribute to increasing public awareness of persistent gender penalties in employment, the link between gender balance at the top of companies and gender equality at the bottom, and the role of the welfare state in closing gender inequalities in employment. Hence, to communicate my findings to a wider audience, I will produce a webpage and blog posts based on my research.An additional aim of the Fellowship is to develop a proposal for a three-year research grant. Existing literature suggests a welfare state 'paradox'. According to this theory, women in gender-friendly Nordic welfare states with generous family benefits and services are more likely than women in ungenerous welfare states (e.g., the US) to be in employment; however, women in generous welfare states are also more likely to work in gender-stereotypical sectors and occupations and are less likely to reach managerial positions. Yet, recent trends suggest that the relationship between women-friendly welfare policies and gender labour market inequalities is not as straighforward as paradox theory predicts. While Nordic labour markets have become more gender-equal in recent years, other countries with less generous family policies and benefits are experiencing greater gender segregation in employment. Hence, my proposed project aims to develop a new understanding of the relationship between welfare states and gender employment segregation that is more sensitive to its complexities. This is important for identifying policy solutions for reducing gender inequalities in employment, which matters from a social justice perspective, and because supporting women to realise their full potential brings collective benefits (e.g., economic prosperity) and individual benefits (e.g.women's higher lifetime earnings).During the Fellowship, I will also contribute a small amount of teaching at the University of Southampton and undertake training in advanced quantitative methods and using complex cross-national datasets to prepare me for my three-year grant.