Women's employment, work-life balance policies, and inequality across the life course: a comparative analysis of Japan, Sweden and the United States

Work and income instability and retirement financial wellbeing for women and men

Financial wellbeing in retirement is contingent on realizations of financial expectations developed earlier in life and may differ substantially by gender. People's standard of living in retirement is tied to stability in work and income trajectories during working years along with retirement benefits and savings. Women have a greater overall income disadvantage relative to men, including reduced life course labor force exposure that may restrict retirement savings and benefits. Using the Canadian Longitudinal and International Study of Adults (LISA) and 20 years of linked tax record data (N = 2,353), we explore the association between instability in work and income histories and lower perceived retirement standard of living (PRSOL), net of retirement benefits, for women and men in Canada. Results show that for women, life course effects shaping PRSOL are driven by cumulative disability exposure and bouts of social assistance. For men, PRSOL is influenced more by cumulative unemployment. Although retirement benefits do not offset histories of work and income instability for either gender, income assistance is protective for women in retirement while personal investments are protective for men. Overall, our findings suggest that despite Canada's relatively generous pension program in later life, life course instability in work and income have persisting, gendered effects on financial wellbeing in retirement that underscore financial and health disadvantage for women across the life course.

Awareness and Feasibility of Women Chairing Cardiology Sessions in Scientific Meetings: A Nationwide Survey by the Japanese Circulation Society

Background

Diversity and inclusion remain a concern in the field of cardiology. Female cardiologists have less opportunity to chair sessions in scientific meetings than men. However, cardiologists' awareness and perspectives on feasibility of chairing sessions is poorly understood.

Methods and Results

A web-based survey on awareness regarding the commitment of chairing sessions was sent to 14,798 certificated cardiologists registered with the Japanese Circulation Society (JCS). A total of 3,412 valid responses were obtained, such as 523 women and 2,889 men. Female cardiologists exhibited less interest in serving as chairpersons in Japanese and English sessions (71% women vs. 82% men, p < 0.001, 30% women vs. 40% men, p < 0.001). Influencing factors of chair acceptance in Japanese sessions for female cardiologists were being a cardiologist for over 10 years [odds ratio (OR) 1.84, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02-3.33], experience studying abroad (OR 3.35, 95% CI 1.93-5.81) and chairing sessions (OR 8.39, 95% CI 5.48-12.9), having a Doctor of Philosophy (OR 2.82, 95% CI 1.09-7.31), presence of 4 or more female cardiovascular specialists in the hospital (OR 1.70, 95% CI 1.10-2.61) and of role models (OR 2.86, 95% CI 1.93-4.24), and awareness of the JCS chairperson's manual (OR 10.7, 95% CI 6.67-17.1). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve revealed that the number of female cardiovascular specialists in a hospital was a more sensitive predictor of chair acceptance among male than female cardiologists.

Conclusions

Female cardiologists were less likely to accept chairing sessions compared with male cardiologists and the presence of female cardiovascular specialists positively influenced chair acceptance.