MPIDR Working Paper

Woman’s employment and union disruption in a changing socio-economic context: the case of Russia

Abstract

Drawing on data from new Russian retrospective surveys, this study examines the relationship between women’s employment and the risk of union disruption within both the centrally planned economy and transition period. Our results show that within the two periods, the risk of union dissolution was similar among women who worked and women who did not work. In the transition period, however, differences in the dissolution risk among women existed and were related to the characteristics of the job conducted: occupational status, hours worked and income from side employment activities. Since the collapse of communism, the most discriminating factor between women is the type of ownership of a company, with those who worked for newly established private companies having elevated risk of union dissolution. The results obtained in this study are interpreted in light of the independence effect of women’s employment.