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Business & Economics

SIGNIFICANCE OF INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF GENDER EQUALITY IN THE LABOUR MARKET
Ilona Kiausienė, Dalia Streimikienė

ABSTRACT. Equality between men and women is not only an element of human natural rights, but it is also a presumption for the development of harmonious society and an indicator for development. Consequently, one of the most significant aims of the modern society is sufficient attention paid to strengthening of the ways and methods to implement equal opportunities for women and men. In the following article there is analyzed the significance of institutional factors for the implementation of gender equality in the labour market in Lithuania. The aim is to analyze the residents' approach towards the significance of institutional factors for the implementation of gender equality in the labour market in Lithuania after having reviewed implementation regulations of gender equality policy. Objectives are to review the institutional machinery for the implementation of gender equality policy, find out the residents' approach towards the ability of authorities to form and implement the underlying fields of activities and analyze women's and men's approach towards the significance of institutional factors in the implementation of gender equality in the labour market. The analysis of literature presents that implementation success of gender equality policy has to be secured by relevantly operating institutions, their clear structure, distribution of competences and functions, and close cooperation between different structures. The outcomes of the questionnaire survey enable to argue that women's and men's state in the labour market a lot depends on the decisions taken by the authorities, their executed policy and ability to distinguish underlying activity fields. It is also necessary to highlight that there are more women than men stating that decisions of administrative institutions do not secure equal rights for men and women in the labour market in Lithuania, and they say that institutional factors are significant or very significant.

KEYWORDS: women, men, gender equality, labour market, institutional factors.

JEL classification: J01, J16, J21.