Women's Employment and Educational Attainment : A Cross-National Comparison

Abstract

This study explores the variations in the relationship between women's employment and educational attainment, as well as in women's employment status itself, in 12 industrial societies, referring to welfare regime typology. The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP）2012 survey on 'Family and Changing Gender Roles IV' is used for cross－national analysis. The results suggest that women's employment rate can be explained by the type ofwelfare regime to a certain extent. However, once we break down the employment rate into full-time and part-time components, a great varlatlon emerges within welfare regime. With regard to the relationship between women's educational attainment and employment, welfare regime only partly explains the variation among the 12 countries. Furthermore the lselationship between womens full-time and part-time employment and their educational attainment varies within each type of welfare regime.