Women, Work and the Tax Transfer System: An Annotated Bibliography

Abstract

Women's labour force participation rates have increased during the last quarter of this century. At the same time, the bases for provision of social security payments to women and the treatment of women in the taxation system have also undergone changes. This bibliography draws together the strands of change and looks at research and comment on a number of factors affecting them. It covers works published in Australia or about the Australian situation in the period since 1975. During this time research methods themselves have altered dramatically. While field surveys are still carried out, much research now uses computer programs and microsimulation techniques to analyse the probable effects of policy changes.

In selecting the works to be included in this bibliography, it has proved difficult to mark the limits of the subject. There is a large literature on women's labour force participation but we have included here only those publications which deal with the taxation and welfare systems, omitting work on women's wages, segmentation of the labour force, discrimination or unemployment and the shortage of jobs. Similarly, there is a large body of work dealing with the tax-transfer system but here we have been interested only in those aspects which affect women's labour force participation. We have looked at some peripheral areas which affect both barriers (or disincentives) and incentives to women joining the labour force, such as maternity leave, provision and finance of child care places and training programs provided for especially in Department of Social Security policies. Another peripheral issue included is that of retirement income for women who may not have been able, because of their dependent status, to accumulate savings or superannuation for their own retirement years. For more details of the subject areas covered, consult the keyword list which follows the body of the bibliography. The usefulness of bibliographies such as this is largely dependent upon the choice of suitable keywords; much care has been taken with their selection for this publication in the hope that they will increase the ease of access for those interested in specific aspects of the subject.