The article discloses the pathway for enforcing gender equality via legal measures to stimulate economic growth enhancing economic security of EU member-states and Ukraine. Our calculations using Spearman coefficient have shown that the rank correlation coefficient of GDP per capita and gender gap in EU member-states is statistically significant. Therefore, there is a direct and weak connection between gender gap levels and GDP per capita at current market prices of EU member-states. Female empowerment overcoming stereotypes, including gradual eradicating of the false concept of so-called “masculine” jobs, still needs further expansion as only a small percentage of women reach the highest echelons of power influencing domestic and international political, economic and social processes. The global Covid-pandemic creates numerous threats and opportunities caused by social and economic restructuring including the expansion of flexible and remote works, online learning, welfare challenges, etc. The article proves that governments should concentrate on achieving gender equality in health care, education, finance, economy, politics and other spheres to respond to modern challenges. The experience of developed countries, including EU member-states, shows that guaranteeing gender equality results in social and economic progress, therefore, ensuring economic security of the state.
Ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men is top priority for any democratic nation. Gender equality is the value and goal to be achieved to guarantee justice and social development. Female empowerment and gender equality is one of 17 key goals of sustainable development adopted by the United Nations [13], also being the universal criterion for assessing the level of socioeconomic development and freedom. For instance, female empowerment in education improves health care, increases household incomes, and reduces infant mortality.
The United Nations and its different specialized institutions have adopted more than 100 regulations aimed at implementing the principle of gender equality. However, the lack of national legal mechanisms for enforcing international law results in terrible outcomes. For example, women are not entitled to have passports without the consent of their husbands in more than 30 countries that are parties to the Beijing Declaration on Gender Equality [14]. Married females are not allowed to decide which country's citizenship they will receive in 22 countries. Women can not work without the permission of their husbands in more than 20 countries. There are countries where women do not have the right to vote (Saudi Arabia, Vatican), or this right is limited, for example, you need to have primary or higher education (Brunei, Lebanon, UAE). The absence or insufficient number of relevant court precedents discourage females to fight for their rights as they do not believe in justice any more.
In contrast, the “Gender Equality in the European Union” states that equal treatment for men and
women has been one of the main principles of the EU since its inception, and the principle of gender
equality is central to all its activities [
The abundant literature on gender equality discloses a lot of components, problems and prospects
for achieving gender equality. For instance, Kabeer [
Agarwal [
Vinska and Tokar investigated the interconnection between political female empowerment and economic development and gender equality in European countries; revealed the interplay between gender equality and socioeconomic development, as well as innovation competitiveness of EU member-states; verified the adherence to European standards of gender equality in Ukrainian banks [15-19].
Despite numerous articles on different aspects of gender equality, only Tokar and Wasilewska [12] elaborated the conceptualization of gender equality within the framework of economic security of the state. Therefore, this article aims at expanding this topic disclosing legal measures designed to bridge the gender gap resulting in enhancing economic security.
We use the Spearman coefficient to investigate the interplay between GDP per capita at current market prices and values of gender gap index of EU member-states in 2016-2020.
Ошибка! Источник ссылки не найден. shows that the average growth of GDP per capita at current market prices in EU member-states was 11.6 percent in 2016-2020. Luxembourg had the biggest average value of 98235 euros, while Bulgaria was the laggard with only 7938 euros. Finland 39580 41080 43510 42940 Germany 38070 39440 41510 40120 Belgium 37960 39130 41460 39110 France 33430 34250 36140 34040 Italy 28210 28940 29980 27780 Malta 23190 25010 26920 24630 Spain 23980 24970 26430 23690 Cyprus 22230 23410 25270 23400 Slovenia 19590 20820 23170 22010 Portugal 18060 19020 20800 19660 Estonia 16670 18130 21220 20440
16790 18330 21140 20120
Greece 16170 16470 17110 15490 Slovakia 14920 15540 17220 16770 Lithuania 13560 14950 17470 17510 Latvia 12940 13890 15900 15430 Hungary 11830 12960 14950 13940 Poland 11110 12170 13900 13640 Croatia 11170 11920 13340 12170 Romania 8630 9580 11510 11290 Bulgaria 6820 7400 8780 8750 Average 27955 29225 31615 30584
Source: authors’ own calculations and compilation based on [
X Romania 0.708 0.711 0.724 0.700 0.711 -0.008 20 Italy 0.692 0.706 0.707 0.721 0.707 0.029 21 Slovakia 0.694 0.693 0.718 0.712 0.704 0.018 22
Republic 0.688 0.693 0.706 0.711 0.700 0.023 23 Greece 0.692 0.696 0.701 0.689 0.695 -0.003 24 Cyprus 0.684 0.684 0.692 0.707 0.692 0.023 25 Malta 0.682 0.686 0.693 0.703 0.691 0.021 26 Hungary 0.670 0.674 0.677 0.688 0.677 0.018 27 Average 0.736 0.738 0.745 0.753 0.743 0.017 X
Moreover, the logical and legal method has enabled us to identify the effectiveness of international law in ensuring gender equality. Finally, we used the system and structural method to substantiate possible legal measures aimed at enhancing the level of economic security of Ukraine.
Ошибка! Источник ссылки не найден. is the reshaped matrix due to the necessity to overcome the problem of the same ranks contained in Ошибка! Источник ссылки не найден.. = 1 − 6 Where: 90.25
4 196 49 121 25 9 2.25 36 25 16 25 16 1 100 210.25 121 324 196 64 49 9 36 4 36 30.25
4
Sum: 1799 = 378 (1) (2) (3) (4)
As Tcritical < , we reject the null hypothesis. Therefore, the rank correlation coefficient of GDP per capita at current market prices and gender gap levels of EU member-states is statistically significant and the rank correlation between the scores for two tests is significant.
The idea of the possibility of gender equality considering physiological features of males and females raises many questions to which there are not always unambiguous answers. Recently, there have been debates as to whether equal rights result in equal opportunities. After all, the very idea of gender equality is about the result. Will a woman and a man be able to achieve equal results as a result of the same actions and circumstances? Despite the fact that women, along with men, have the right to education, work, the right to vote in elections, etc., most women face a “glass ceiling” when it comes to top management in both public and private sectors. But why?
Women between the ages of 20 and 45 are not an “attractive” workforce for employers, as there is a high probability that such a woman will take a maternity leave. This stereotype creates fears in women who postpone the birth of a child indefinitely, and as a result have complications during late pregnancy, moreover, generally refuse to give birth, referring to the statistics of congenital malformations of the child, due to the “old” age of the mother.
Such situation negatively affects demographics and violates men’s right to parenthood! A woman who sacrifices her career for the sake of having a child, and at the same time gives the highest positions to men who do not have to leave social and working life due to childbirth and childcare. Ultimately, trying to combine a career, motherhood, and a large array of “family responsibilities” leads to mental disorders and shortens a female life expectancy.
Legislative support for a gender approach in the labor sphere, which includes ensuring the “absence” of women during pregnancy and care for children from the social and working environment can be a separate incentive for women and as a result positively influence national economies. It is economically responsible and efficient to equip children's rooms, ensure flexible hours for working mothers, etc. Moreover, the EU member-states proved that certain incentives can motivate men to take a childcare leave on a par with women. Thus, more than 80 countries ensure the right of a parent to take a paid childcare leave. Therefore, the creation of gender-friendly jobs, the provision of quality education, medical care and the creation of effective, gender-oriented social programs and full access to information are the prerequisites of a stable national economic growth resulting in enhancing economic security of the state.
Moreover, ensuring economic security of the state requires the consideration of gender equality. We support the idea of Tokar and Wasilewska [12] to amend the Order of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine “On Adopting the Methodical Recommendations on Evaluating the Level of Economic Security of Ukraine” including gender aspect in the process of evaluating economic security of the state.
Ошибка! Источник ссылки не найден. contains recommendations for modifying the set of indicators of economic security of the state.
and boys (mortality of children under 2 one year) per one thousand live births, percent
the existing population, percent
productivity indices and real average 5 monthly wages of women and men, percent
7 The ratio of long term unemployment (over 12 months) of women and men
and men in the informal sector of
average total earnings per capita per 10 month below 75 percent of median total income level, percent
11 men diagnosed for the first time per 100,000 population, percent
active tuberculosis diagnosed for the 12 first time per 100,000 population, percent
aged 15-70 years, percentage of 13 population of the relevant age group, percent Source: [12, p. 124]
We suggest that this Order should be modified considering the current pandemic, and new indicators, such as the ratio of females and males infected by the Covid-19 in total and different age groups should be added to it.
We agree with Tokar and Wasilewska [12], that gender security indicators, as component of the set of indicators for assessing the level of economic security of the state, should include findings of the World Economic Forum (Ошибка! Источник ссылки не найден.).
The mixture of supranational and national legislation on gender security, as well as international and national mechanisms for implementing measures aiming at female empowerment are the only solution for improving the status quo.
Our calculations have shown that the rank correlation coefficient of GDP per capita and gender gap in EU member-states is statistically significant. Therefore, there is a direct and weak connection between gender gap levels and GDP per capita at current market prices of EU member-states. Thus, ensuring gender equality stimulates economic growth and results in enhancing economic security of the state.
In spite of logical incentives for female empowerment and numerous efforts of the global community to create the international legal framework to ensure equal rights and opportunities for women and men, the latter ones continue to hold key positions in the management of large corporations and public authorities, control the technological and defense sectors. With rare exceptions, males are heads of national law enforcement agencies, armies, and the judiciary. Males hold key positions in international agencies and organizations.
The efficiency of ensuring gender equality depends on effective combination of national and international legal and institutional measures. Legal amendments include modification of regulations on economic security of the state by ensuring the consideration of gender while assessing the level of economic security and enhancing it, including the expansion of the set of indicators of economic security of the state. The prospects of further research include elaborating applied legal and administrative measures at local, national and supranational level aimed at eradicating gender stereotypes and inequality. [12] V. Tokar, N. Wasilewska, Conceptualisation of the Gender Component of a Country’s Economic
Security, International Economic Policy 1 (2019) 113–131. doi:10.33111/iep.2019.30.05. [13] United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, The 17 Goals. Sustainable Development. URL: https://sdgs.un.org/goals. [14] United Nations, UN Women, Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Beijing+5 Political Declaration and Outcome (1995, 2014). URL: https://www.ohchr.org/documents/professionalinterest/cedaw.pdf. [15] O. Y. Vinska, V. V. Tokar, European Values in Corporate Social Responsibility in Banking Business: Ukrainian Dimension of Gender Equality, Bulletin of the Academy of Labour, Social Relations and Tourism 3 (2018) 27–35. [16] O. Y. Vinska, V. V. Tokar, Gender Equality and Socioeconomic Development of the European
Union Member-states, Eastern Europe: Economy, Business and Management 2 (2016) 32–36. [17] O. Y. Vinska, V. V. Tokar, The Impact of Female Political Empowerment on Economic Gender Equity in the Black Sea Region Countries, Scientific notes of the University “KROK” 2 (54) (2019) 176–183. doi:10.31732/2663-2209-2019-53-176-183. [18] O. Y. Vinska, V. V. Tokar, Interdependence of Gender Equality and Innovation Competitiveness of the EU Countries, Global and National Economic Problems 12 (2016) 18–22. [19] O. Y. Vinska, V. V. Tokar, Political Emancipation of Women as a Factor of Economic Development of the EU Countries, Scientific Bulletin of Kherson State University 18 (1) (2016) 17–21. [20] World Economic Forum, Global Gender Gap Report 2017. URL: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2017.pdf. [21] World Economic Forum, Global Gender Gap Report 2018. URL: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2018.pdf. [22] World Economic Forum, Global Gender Gap Report 2020. URL: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2020.pdf. [23] World Economic Forum, Global Gender Gap Report 2021. URL: https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2021.