Managing Gender Diversity in Asia: A Research Companion

Citation

Lee Cooke, F. (2011), "Managing Gender Diversity in Asia: A Research Companion", Personnel Review, Vol. 40 No. 3, pp. 398-400. https://doi.org/10.1108/00483481111118685

Managing Gender Diversity in Asia (Özbilgin and Syed, 2010) is an edited volume on gender equality and diversity management in selected Asian countries. It is one of the few volumes in the field that are devoted to the region, with a particular focus on gender diversity, that have extended the equal opportunities discussions. On the whole, it is a scholarly volume contributed by researchers from a number of countries and at different stages of their academic career.

The volume contains a total of 13 chapters, in addition to a short Introduction chapter. It begins with two chapters of macro level studies. Chapter Two, by Haya Al‐Dajani, provides an overview of diversity and inequality issues among women in employment in the Arab Middle East region. It covers both the formal and informal segments of the labour market in both the public and private sectors. The chapter highlights the extent to which employment sectors, gender segregation in the labour market, and intra‐regional migration may interact as sources of influence in gender equality and diversity in the region. Chapter Three, by Faiza Ali, offers a comparative account of equal employment opportunity (EEO) in three south Asian countries: Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. It contains an overview of macro employment statistics and state policies as well as some insights into organisational practices of EEO, particularly in the public sector, across the three countries.

These two broad chapters are then followed by three chapters that focus on specific HRM issues from the gender angle in a specific country context. In particular, Chapter Four, by Norsiah Aminudin, investigates diversity issues within the context of a particular human resource management practice – employee involvement in the form of employee share ownership schemes – in Malaysia. Whilst no significant difference was found between men and women in their attitude towards work, organisational commitment and satisfaction, some small gender‐based difference was observed contingent upon individuals, leadership and organisational environment. In a similar vein, Syed Saad Andaleeb (Chapter Five) examines gender participation in decision making in organisations in Bangladesh. This survey study (91 respondents) shows that men and women perceive their participation differently. In Chapter Six, Burke, Koyuncu and Fiksenbaum continue the line of enquiry on gender differences in work experiences, satisfaction and well‐being. They do so by focusing on managers and professionals in manufacturing firms (with 877 survey respondents) in Turkey. The authors observe that despite considerable demographic and work situation differences, female and male managers and professionals in Turkey report similar job behaviours, satisfactions and psychological well‐being. Nevertheless, they argue, organisations still need to proactively support the career development of women managers and professionals. This is undoubtedly one of the most systematic studies in this volume.

In Chapter Seven, Courmadias, Fujimoto and Härtel bring the focus of the volume back to a macro level by examining EEO issues in Japan, with a particular focus on the enactment and enforcement of the EEO law in the last three decades or so. They argue that a soft approach to law is ineffective in eradicating gender inequality and call for organisations' voluntary initiatives on diversity management to support the working of laws.

Jamali and Abdallah (Chapter Eight) analyse how diversity management has been interpreted and enacted in the context of some Lebanese organisations. Through reviewing secondary data, they question whether the rhetoric of diversity management has been translated into improved realities, opportunities and experiences for Lebanese women employees and managers. Jamali and Abdallah's findings are echoed by Metcalf (Chapter Nine) who examines the human resource development and empowerment of women in the Middle East, with a specific focus on Muslim women in the region. The chapter draws together a wide range of studies on women's empowerment and policy interventions which seek to promote human development in the region. The chapter connects political economy with socio‐religious contextual assessment and offers insights into the history and future prospect of gender and development in the Middle East.

The volume then moves to China and other south‐eastern Asian countries as sites for study. This begins with Jane Nolan's overview (Chapter Ten) on gender (in)equality in employment. Nolan assesses the success and failures of state interventions and equal opportunity legislation in the country. Entrepreneurship issues are briefly covered. Rowley, Yukongdi and Wei (Chapter Eleven) explore diversity management from the women and management perspective. This chapter offers a summary of progress on gender equality in management as well as barriers to women's career advancement in nine Asian economies: China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

In Chapter Twelve, Jawad Syed offers an international perspective on gender empowerment and diversity in Muslim majority countries. The chapter highlights some major differences between Arab and non‐Arab Muslim countries in terms of gender ideology and the corresponding implications for gender empowerment and diversity management. The validity of the conceptual construct of the United Nations' Gender Empowerment Measure is questioned.

The volume concludes with two chapters of single‐country studies in the non‐Muslim context. Vo and Strachan (Chapter Thirteen) examine employment issues of white‐collar and professional women workers in Vietnam during a period of economic reform and labour market transformation. They offer interesting findings of organisational practices in the steel industry. In the final chapter, and one of the most scholarly chapters in this volume, Zheng offers a historical overview of the development of the sex industry in China and how the state interventions have shaped the industry. It reveals how the economic policy of the state and the development of the urban economy since the 1980s have attracted a large number of rural residents to the urban areas who constitute the main sources of labour supply to various industries in the urban sector, including the sex industry. Here the intersections of state power, rural‐urban migration and the development of the entertainment industry fuelled by corruptions at the grassroots level have created a dynamic and highly risky environment within which sex workers make their livings.

Collectively, these country‐specific chapters have tackled gender equality and diversity issues at work from the state (social and political) policy paradigm as well as the managerial and organisational paradigms. They cast a rich political history and cultural traditions within which gender equality and diversity is managed at both the national and organisational levels in the region. A number of themes and arguments resonate across the chapters. One is that diversity management remains an under‐recognised notion in academic studies and social policies. Whilst progress has been made in most countries studied in terms of state interventions and organisational policy initiatives to advance gender equality, much more can be done, particularly at the organisational level. Third, international organisations (e.g. the United Nations and the International Labour Organisations), international pressure groups and transnational policy initiatives do have a positive role to play in advancing women's cause in Asian countries, though their policies and actions need to be context sensitive.

There are a couple of related drawbacks, in my view, in the way the volume is presented. One is that the Introduction chapter is rather short. It could have been a more extended piece that provides an informative overview of the field, for example, some indications of theoretical perspectives that inform the issues investigated in the chapters, and a summary that draws the key themes together that goes beyond individual chapter descriptions. Such an undertaking would have been valuable given the diversity of the volume in terms of the topics that the authors have focused on, countries covered, and levels of analysis attempted. Second, I am somewhat unclear about logic for the structure of the volume. It is neither by themes, cultural similarities, nor by political systems, geographic proximity.

Nonetheless, this volume is a valuable addition to the field of equal opportunities and diversity management with a focus on gender which intersects with national culture, religious beliefs, labour market environment and state of economic development of a large number of Asian countries, many of which have remained under‐studied. The volume will be useful as supplementary readings and case study materials for undergraduate and postgraduate learning, as well as for researchers and practitioners who may be interested in the topic and the region.