Gender and Job Quality

Gender issues have received only limited attention in discussions about the emerging ‘knowledge’ economy in Canada. Understanding what men and women value in a job, how they experience the quality of their work life, and how they are experiencing the transition to a knowledge-based economy is important to designing effective approaches to human resource management and in skill development initiatives.

The CPRN study Men’s and Women’s Quality of Work in the New Canadian Economy by Karen Hughes, Graham S. Lowe, and Grant Schellenberg (2003) sheds new light on differences between men and women with respect to job quality.

Key questions addressed in this study include:

• Do women and men value the same things in a job?
• Are there differences in how men and women experience the quality of work life?
• To what extent are well-educated workers different from other workers in terms of work values and quality of work life?
• How does information technology affect the quality of jobs, and are there gender differences in this regard?