abstract: 'Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the differences in the

  effects of gender equality legislation on employment outcomes among

  female and male workers in industries with different intensity of

  foreign investment (namely, foreign direct investment (FDI)-intensive

  industries and non-FDI-intensive industries). The specific employment

  outcomes that were studied to compare the effects of the legislation are

  the working hours, employment opportunities, and wages of female and

  male workers in Taiwan.

  Design/methodology/approach - Using data from the annual Manpower

  Utilization Survey, the authors applied a

  differences-in-differences-in-differences estimation method to test the

  effect of gender equality legislation on employment outcomes. By using

  multinomial logit, the authors measured the effect of the legislation on

  employment opportunities. To correct for simultaneity and selectivity

  problems/biases, the authors adopted Heckman two-stage selection

  procedures. Likewise, the authors used weighted least squares to solve

  heteroskedasticity in the wage and working hour equations. Further, the

  instrumental variable (IV) method was used to correct for simultaneity

  bias in the equation on working hour. The authors applied three stages

  estimation method following Killingsworth''s (1983) approach to measure

  the effect of the legislation on wages and working hours.

  Findings - The authors found the restrictions enforced by the gender

  equality legislation (namely the Gender Equal Employment Act (GEEA),

  enacted in 2002) in Taiwan to have made certain impact on the workers''

  working conditions in FDI-intensive industries. The major finding

  indicated that in a country like Taiwan, where the legislature tried

  tilling the perpetual gender gap in its labour market, by passing a law

  to counter inequality, could finally narrow the gender gap in wages

  among workers in the FDI-intensive industries. Although initially after

  the enactment of the GEEA (between 2002 and 2004), the gender gap in

  part-timers'' wages has widened, yet over a period of time the gap in

  their wages too has narrowed down, particularly during 2005-2006. The

  legislation, however, could not improve the job opportunities for

  full-time female workers'' in FDI-intensive industries. Besides, post

  2002, the female workers were found to have worked for shorter hours

  than male workers, which according to us, could be largely attributed to

  the enforcement of the GEEA.

  Practical implications - An in-depth analysis of the labour market

  effects of gender equality legislation should be useful to policymakers,

  especially those interested in understanding the impact of legislative

  measures and policy reforms on labour market and employment outcomes

  across industry types. If enforcement of a gender equality legislation

  has succeeded in reducing the gender gap more in one set of industries

  than the others (e.g. foreign owned instead of domestic industries), as

  the authors noticed in this study, then the same should have a bearing

  on revamping of future enactment and enforcement too.

  Originality/value - Current study findings would not only provide the

  broad lessons to the policymakers in Taiwan, but the results that have

  emerged from a country case study could be referred by other growing

  economies who are enthusiastic about improving female workers'' working

  conditions through legislative reforms.'
affiliation: 'Lai, YC (Corresponding Author), Shih Chien Univ, Dept Finance, Kaohsiung,
  Taiwan.

  Lai, Yu-Cheng, Shih Chien Univ, Dept Finance, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

  Sarkar, Santanu, XLRI Xavier Sch Management, Dept Human Resources Management, Jamshedpur,
  Bihar, India.'
author: Lai, Yu-Cheng and Sarkar, Santanu
author-email: br00846@yahoo.com
author_list:
- family: Lai
  given: Yu-Cheng
- family: Sarkar
  given: Santanu
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1108/IJM-08-2015-0133
eissn: 1758-6577
files: []
issn: 0143-7720
journal: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANPOWER
keywords: FDI; Gender equality; Gender gap; Labour market outcomes
keywords-plus: WAGES; WORK
language: English
number: '2'
number-of-cited-references: '24'
orcid-numbers: 'Sarkar, Santanu/0000-0002-1463-2258

  Sarkar, Santanu/0000-0002-1463-2258

  , ./0000-0002-1463-2258'
pages: 160-179
papis_id: d3112b080c57c77a9490c48a5585ed65
ref: Lai2017genderequality
researcherid-numbers: 'Sarkar, Santanu/AAR-8982-2020

  Sarkar, Santanu/Q-9170-2019

  , ./ABA-6247-2021'
times-cited: '5'
title: Gender equality legislation and foreign direct investment Evidence from the
  labour market of Taiwan ROC
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000401027000003
usage-count-last-180-days: '4'
usage-count-since-2013: '21'
volume: '38'
web-of-science-categories: Industrial Relations \& Labor; Management
year: '2017'