Women’s empowerment in many developing countries is in its early phases, but the right policies can set women everywhere on a path toward the same prosperity and freedom enjoyed by women in today’s advanced countries.
These low-, mid-, and high-range cost estimates are based on the most high-profile federal paid leave program proposed to date: The Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act (FAMILY Act).
The survey also did not ask questions about what paid leave policies Americans would like to see offered at private companies. Instead, the Cato 2018 Paid Leave Survey focuses on what people think about establishing a government-provided paid family leave program at the federal level.
Paid parental leave provides workers with financial compensation during temporary absences following the birth or adoption of a child. Private companies often provide paid leave and the federal government mandates 12 weeks of job-protected unpaid leave, but recently policymakers and advocates have become dissatisfied with the status quo.
Proponents of federal intervention argue that the private market does not or cannot provide sufficient paid leave. Moreover, proponents believe government supported leave would improve labor market outcomes and reduce gender and labor-market inequality.
Policymakers should not adopt paid parental leave policies. Instead, they should consider improving workers’ lives through reforms that increase economic efficiency, remove barriers to flexible work, and increase choice.
Nordic gender quotas laws have gained international attention in recent years, with policymakers advocating for similar legislation as Norway’s 2003 law requiring 40% of board members of public companies to be women. However, once the law went into effect in 2006, a challenge became apparent: there was a shortage of experienced individuals to fill the positions. Gender quotas led to less experienced board members, greater company leverage, higher company acquisition rates, and declining operating performance. Meanwhile, gender quotas have not meaningfully improved Nordic women’s professional outcomes in terms of leadership rates, pay, or career goals, and if anything act merely as a symbol of these countries shattering the glass ceiling.
The Nordic Gender Equality Paradox is important to keep in mind in countries such as the United States, where Nordic-style welfare policies are routinely touted as a way of promoting gender equality without tradeoffs.
Many years ago, thoughtful, well-intentioned, educated people in the United States all understood that socialism was the future. The average citizen might have retained a quaint belief in the American system of free enterprise, limited government, and individual rights, but among the cognoscenti — academics, artists, newspaper and radio pundits — it was widely recognized that the capitalist experiment had run its course. The overwhelming consensus was that the coming century would see economies managed by benevolent experts: the chaotic, dog-eat-dog competition of the market would give way to rational central planning.
Only 35% of professionals involved in securities, commodities, funds, trusts, and other financial investments and 25% of professionals involved in architecture, engineering, and computer systems design are women. On the other hand, women dominate the field of social assistance, at 85%, and education, with females holding 75% of jobs in elementary and secondary schools.
These are nearly 50-point shifts in perception from what women believe is generally happening in society at-large, and what they collectively report is happening based on their experiences in their own jobs.
Convincing women of widespread, overwhelming injustice against them isn’t helping. Instead, it risks holding women back by causing the very injury that equal rights advocates fight against.
96 years ago today, on August 18, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified.
The amendment—which marked the culmination of the U.S. women’s suffrage movement—prohibited any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex.
“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
“A libertarian must necessarily be a feminist, in the sense of being an advocate of equality under the law for all men and women, though unfortunately many contemporary feminists are far from being libertarians.”
“Mary Wollstonecraft…is increasingly acknowledged as one of the most influential thinkers on women’s rights…Although not consistently libertarian, she was consistently in favor of equal legal rights for men and women, and she operated within a generally classical liberal framework.”
“When human beings are regarded as moral beings, sex, instead of being enthroned upon the summit, administering upon rights and responsibilities, sinks into insignificance and nothingness.”
“A self-taught escaped slave, statesman, and leader of the American abolitionist movement, Frederick Douglass is best known for his speeches and autobiographies, in which he stressed the universal equality of all humans. While Douglass is well-known for his support for the abolition of slavery, he is less known for his outspoken support of the women’s liberation movement.”
“Some libertarians are not aware of the differences between libertarian feminism and other kinds of feminism. They even criticize libertarian feminists just for being feminist without any knowledge of what libertarian feminism or even feminism itself stands for…Those libertarians…have not done their homework. When libertarian feminists say they want liberty for all women and men, they really mean it.”
“What does libertarian feminism look like? How does libertarianism appeal to women?…How can issues that affect women be approached from a libertarian perspective? It seems that there are more women among younger generations of libertarians. Is there an explanation for this?”
March is Women’s History Month, and today (March 8th) is International Women’s Day. What better time to remember the role women played in launching the libertarian movement, as well as the role women with libertarian values have played in advancing women’s rights?
It’s no accident that feminism (and abolitionism) emerged out of the Industrial Revolution and the American and French revolutions. The equality and individualism that underlay the emergence of capitalism and republican government in the 18th century naturally led people to start thinking about the individual rights of women and slaves.
Many women involved in the American abolitionist movement took up the feminist banner, grounding their arguments in both cases in the idea of self-ownership, the fundamental right of property in one’s own person.
That classically liberal, individualist strain of feminist thought continued into the 20th century, as feminists fought not just for the vote but for sexual freedom, access to birth control, and the right to own property and enter into contracts.
Though, unfortunately, many contemporary feminists are far from being libertarians, a libertarian must necessarily be a feminist, in the sense of being an advocate of equality under the law for all men and women.
Happy Women’s Equality Day! On this day in 1920, women were granted the right to vote when the 19th amendment was certified by law. In honor of this occasion read Cato research on feminism and women in the libertarian movement.
“A so-called “libertarian moment” can only be helped along by expanded appeal among women, and among feminist-minded folks of all genders. Individual rights are at the heart of feminism. It’s time for libertarians to reclaim that.” — Elizabeth Nolan Brown at libertarianismdotorg
“A libertarian must necessarily be a feminist, in the sense of being an advocate of equality under the law for all men and women.” — David Boaz in huffingtonpost
A D.C.-based public policy research organization (or "think tank") dedicated to the values of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace.
