Equality of opportunity and treatment in the workplace forms one of the critical components of an individual's ability to obtain and remain in employment and occupation. In a world where qualifications, experience and individual merit can be easily by-passed owing to diverse workplace discriminations, the ability of employees to enjoy their right to work cannot be fully achieved if the workplace is marred with inequalities. Sexual harassment has been characterised as one of the workplace hazards that impinges on the achievement and enjoyment of the right to equality of opportunity and treatment in the workplace and defeats the right of employees to decent work. Notwithstanding the acknowledgement of its existence and prevalence, sexual harassment is still treated as an unmentionable concept in Botswana in legal and academic circles. The labour legislative framework has been less emphatic when it comes to recognising and setting out the proper sanctions for sexual harassment in the workplace. At present, only public servants are assured of a legal remedy should they experience such harassment. The legal framework does not openly extend protection to employees in the private sector, leaving them uncertain of the proper forums to approach. There is not even the assurance that sexual harassment is prohibited and punishable at law. Since it is rarely discussed in academics and not prohibited outright, it is safe to assume that most incidents of sexual harassment are shrouded in secrecy owing to employees' lack of knowledge of their rights. In contradistinction, South Africa presents a legal framework conscious of the reality of sexual harassment in the workplace. It employs the use of equal opportunity laws to give authority to a Code of Good Practice that outlaws sexual harassment. The South African Courts have also played a pro-active role in ensuring compliance with legislative provisions and developing common law principles on sexual harassment in the workplace. In addition, legislation that outlaws harassment in a general sense has been enacted to add to laws prohibiting sexual harassment. Whereas the mere existence of laws is not an end in itself, it is submitted that sexual harassment laws may serve to deter this conduct, but most significantly, to inform employees that their rights in the workplace are not limited to, amongst others, a guarantee from unfair dismissals and withholding of wages. The argument is that sexual harassment should be seen as a violation of employees' human rights, as opposed to a mere misconduct. With that realisation in mind, the need to progress from sole reliance on Codes of Good Practice to unequivocal and binding laws reflects the concern that the government of the day has for the protection of the human rights of employees and the consonance of national labour laws with the international standard. This contribution presents an examination of the two legal frameworks in so far as sexual harassment in the workplace is concerned. The aim is to determine the shortcomings of Botswana's framework and outline lessons that may be learnt from the South African legal framework. The position of international law is also considered to ensure that the lessons to be learnt from South Africa are in consonance with the international standard. / LLM (Labour Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

O presente trabalho busca fazer a estimação de duas versões do limite superior de desigualdade de oportunidades para o Brasil e para dois grandes grupos regionais, o Norte-Nordeste e o Centro-Sul. Através do cálculo deste limite em suas duas versões, podemos distinguir os efeitos diretos e indiretos das circunstâncias individuais que influenciam o rendimento dos indivíduos, que foram captadas no estudo. / The present study seeks to estimate two versions of the upper limit of inequality of opportunities for Brazil and for two large regional groups, the North-Northeast and the Center-South. By calculating this limit in its two versions, we can distinguish the direct and indirect effects of the individual circumstances which were captured in the study, that influence the income of the individuals.

O presente trabalho busca fazer a estimação de duas versões do limite superior de desigualdade de oportunidades para o Brasil e para dois grandes grupos regionais, o Norte-Nordeste e o Centro-Sul. Através do cálculo deste limite em suas duas versões, podemos distinguir os efeitos diretos e indiretos das circunstâncias individuais que influenciam o rendimento dos indivíduos, que foram captadas no estudo. / The present study seeks to estimate two versions of the upper limit of inequality of opportunities for Brazil and for two large regional groups, the North-Northeast and the Center-South. By calculating this limit in its two versions, we can distinguish the direct and indirect effects of the individual circumstances which were captured in the study, that influence the income of the individuals.

Modern theories of economic growth emphasize the role of research and development (R&D) activities in determining a society's standard of living. In some advanced economies, however, higher education costs and the level of indebtedness among graduates have increased dramatically during recent years. Student loans are evident throughout the Western world, particularly in the United States, and within the bio-medical sciences. In this paper the authors develop a basic model of economic growth in order to investi-gate the effects of biomedical graduates indebtedness on the allocation of human re-source in the R&D activities, and thus on the process of economic growth. Using this modified model to understand the consequences of the rising cost in biomedical educa-tion, we derive a 'science-growth curve' (a relation between the share of pure researcher and the economy rate of growth), and we find two possible effects of biomedical stu-dent indebtedness on economic growth: specifically, a composition effect and a productivity effect. First, we outline the Romer's classical growth model, and we apply it to a 'biomedical' knowledge-based economy, and second, the model is developed by factoring the difference between pure and applied biomedical research. The 'biomedical science sector' is one of the key pillars of modern knowledge-based economy. The costs of higher education in biomedical sciences and the graduates level of indebtedness represent, not only a great problem of equality of opportunity, but also a serious threat to future prosperity of the advanced economies.

This thesis consists of four self-contained essays in the sociology of educational stratification. Study I draws on newly collected survey data to assess the biases that arise in estimating socioeconomic differences in achievement when relying on parent and student reported data on social background. The main finding is that student reports on parental occupation overcome both the problem of misreporting that plagues other data collected from children, and the equally damaging problem of selective nonresponse among parents. Conditional estimates of ethnic disparities are relatively unaffected by these issues. Study II deals with student survey reports on the number of books in the home. A prominent string of authors has favoured this variable as a social background proxy over parental occupation or education based on its strong associations with educational outcomes. The paper applies various methods to large-scale student assessment data to show that these associations rest not on higher reliability as commonly assumed, but rather on two types of endogeneity. Low achievers accumulate less books and are also prone to underestimate their number. Study III uses survey and register data to study immigrant parents' education and its associations with children's achievement in recent Swedish cohorts. Two aspects of parental education are distinguished: the absolute years of schooling and a relative place in the source country's educational distribution. Parents' absolute education turns out to predict children's test scores and grades, whereas relative education is a better predictor of their educational aspirations. The result is of some consequence for studies seeking to assess ethnic disparities net of observed parental characteristics. Study IV extends the positional approach of Study III to understand immigrants' self-perceived social status and income satisfaction in European countries. Those higher educated by origin country than host country standards make more dismal assessments of their current situation than do other immigrants in otherwise similar circumstances. This is attributed to a social contrast mechanism and argued to be of relevance in understanding longer-term patterns of social and economic integration, including educational decisions made by the second generation. / Avhandlingen består av fyra fristående studier som alla berör utbildning och social stratifiering. Studie I undersöker med nyinsamlade enkätdata hur sociala skillnader i skolprestation riskerar att felskattas med bakgrundsuppgifter inhämtade från föräldrar respektive elever. Den viktigaste slutsatsen är att elevuppgifter om föräldrars yrke undviker mycket av den felrapportering som behäftar andra elevsvar, liksom det utbredda problemet med selektivt bortfall bland föräldrar. Villkorliga skattningar av etniska skillnader är relativt opåverkade av dessa metodproblem. Studie II granskar elevers uppgifter om antalet böcker i hemmet. En betydande litteratur har förespråkat denna variabel som ett mått på klasstillhörighet framför föräldrars yrke eller utbildning på grundval av starka samband med elevers studieresultat. Uppsatsen tillämpar en rad metoder på data från en internationell kunskapsutvärdering och finner att sambandens styrka inte vilar på högre tillförlitlighet som tidigare förmodats, utan på endogenitetsproblem av två slag. Lågpresterande elever ackumulerar färre böcker och är dessutom benägna att underskatta deras antal. Studie III använder enkät- och registerdata för att belysa utlandsfödda föräldrars utbildning och dess samband med prestationer bland svenska skolbarn. Två aspekter av utbildningsbakgrund särskiljs: föräldrars utbildningsår samt deras relativa placering i ursprungslandets fördelning. Absolut utbildning visar sig predicera elevers testresultat och betyg, medan relativ utbildning är en bättre prediktor för barns aspirationer. Resultatet är av betydelse för studier av etniska skillnader där statistisk kontroll görs för observerbara föräldraegenskaper. Studie IV tillämpar den positionella ansatsen från Studie III för att förstå utlandsföddas självupplevda status och inkomsttillfredsställelse i europeiska länder. Migranter som är mer högutbildade med ursprungslandets mått mätt än värdlandets tenderar att ha en mer negativ bild av sin nuvarande situation än andra i objektivt liknande omständigheter. Detta kan förstås i termer av sociala referensramar och framhålls som relevant i tolkningen av långsiktiga sociala och ekonomiska integrationsmönster, inklusive de utbildningsval som efterföljande generationer gör. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Manuscript. Paper 3: Manuscript. Paper 4: Manuscript.</p>

Regardless of the promotion structures employed within the different educational systems of this country, men dominate the position of Principal of secondary schools. Despite legislation seeking to provide equality of opportunity and the apparent breaking down of deeply entrenched societal attitudes of women being the servers or followers, there still exist factors that give rise to the under-representation of women in Principal positions of secondary schools. This thesis was designed to investigate issues associated with the apparent gender imbalance in Principal positions in Victoria's government secondary schools. It will attempt to identify elements that have militated against women gaining such positions. The research methodology employed to investigate the problem is a case study approach. The study centered on a girl's school, Gilmore College for Girls, which has had a succession of female Principals. The research involved inviting women who were Principals of Gilmore College for Girls to participate in an interview. Within that format structured interviews were used to seek the women Principals' perceptions as to factors leading to this under-representation of women as Principals. The findings from this study are then interpreted in the light of factors by which the literature explains the problem. Various reasons emerged to explain the lower number of women Principals. It seemed to stem from perceptions about their roles, which limited the level of their involvement in schools: for instance once women teachers were married with children they were less likely to advance in their careers and to apply for Principal positions. The workload of the Principal was also identified as one of the factors inhibiting women from applying for Principal positions. It was seen to make marriage and child rearing almost impossible. Therefore most women were content to be classroom teachers and only apply for positions that suited their interests and allowed them to meet family, home and social commitments. It is suggested that further related investigations be pursued of women in Principal positions of our secondary schools.

Paper [I] studies equality of opportunity in Sweden. The distinction between circumstances that constrain an individual’s opportunities and the individual choices also affecting a particular outcome is the main idea of theories of equality of opportunity. In this study, equality of opportunity is analyzed for Swedish data using a large set of variables indicating different circumstances likely to affect an individual’s opportunities. A semiparametric model is estimated to allow for a possible nonlinear relation between parental income and the income of the adult child. The reason is a hypothesis that a constrained investment behavior would make the relationship nonlinear. The results indicate significant inequality of opportunities. However, they do not indicate a nonlinear relationship between parental income and the income of the adult child. Thus, the hypothesis that low income families will have a constrained investment behavior in human capital formation is brought into question as the explanation of intergenerational income correlation in Sweden. Paper [II] focuses on the persistence of poverty in Sweden. The purpose is to distinguish between two different reasons why poverty could persist on an individual level. By using a sample of identical twins, this study takes advantage of the similarity within pairs of twins to separate family specific heterogeneity from true state dependence, where the experience of poverty leads to a higher risk of future poverty. The results, based on a four variate probit model, show the importance of true state dependence in poverty. When using the information on whether an individual received social assistance as a measure of poverty, family specific heterogeneity explains between 24 and 31 percent of the poverty persistence in the sample. Paper [III] analyzes the consequences of unemployment for a Swedish sample of couples. The purpose is to estimate the possible income replacement that a spouse can provide. Unemployment can also affect the probability that the couples split up. Since not all couples remain in the analysis, a potential selection problem can occur. To deal with this problem, and also to take care of unobserved heterogeneity, a sample selection model for panel data is estimated. The results indicate that it is necessary to take into account the selection problem. A period in unemployment is found to be correlated with a higher female income only in the case of men who earned a fairly high income before becoming unemployed. Women who earned a fairly low income and were subject to a long period of unemployment are found to be compensated by a higher male income.

This paper examines common and past applications of affirmative action, including arguments for and against the application; presents John Rawls’ theory of justice, and proposes a framework using Rawls’ theory for future applications of affirmative action. The proposal relieves heavily on the principle of fair equality of opportunity, both as an indicator for when using affirmative action is appropriate as well as a tool to help identify the people that affirmative action programs should target. Using this framework, the public education system is identified as a sector of society that fails to provide fair equality of opportunity for all citizens, and an example of how the Rawlsian conception of affirmative action should be used in practice to help address the inequalities and help restore equality of opportunity within the public education system is given. Objections to affirmative action, both in general and more specifically tailored to the model proposed in this paper, are raised and responded to. This paper comes to the conclusion that affirmative action programs, when targeted towards individuals who are denied fair equality of opportunity and have low rates of social mobility, will help create a more just society.

Cette thèse se concentre sur la mesure des dissemblances dans la distribution des attributs économiques, et sur les implications pour l'inégalité des chances. L'égalité des chances a gagné en popularité pour définir l'objectif de la distribution d'une vaste gamme de résultats économiques entre les groupes sociaux. Cette thèse est motivée par le fait que l'évaluation des politiques publiques fondée sur l'égalité des chances s'appuie toujours sur des comparaisons de dissemblance entre des distributions conditionnelles, et nous proposons des critères empiriques pour vérifier ces comparaisons. Dans le premier chapitre, nous caractérisons axiomatiquement le pre-ordre de dissemblance permettant de classer les distributions conditionnelles au groupe d'origine, que sont définies sur des classes de résultats discrètes. Lorsque les classes sont permutables, nous démontrons que la dissemblance est rationalisée par un ordre de majorisation de matrices et mis en œuvre en vérifiant l'inclusion des zonotopes . Lorsque les classes sont ordonnées nous fondons le jugement de dissemblance sur un nombre fini de comparaisons au sein de la majorisation au sens de Lorenz entre les proportions des groupes, vérifiées à des étapes différentes de cumulation de la population agrégée. Dans le deuxième chapitre, on examine la pertinence du pre-ordre de dissemblance pour étudier la ségrégation au niveau individuel. On obtient une caractérisation complète d'une famille bien définie d'indicateurs de ségrégation et nous étudions l'un d'eux, l'indice d'exposition de Gini, en utilisant des données italiennes. Le dernier chapitre présente un critère d'égalisation des chances. L'égalité des chances est atteinte lorsqu'il n'y a pas de consensus, selon une classe de préférences donnée, sur l'identité du groupe défavorisé. Nous utilisons les changements de (manque de) consensus sur l'existence et l'étendue du désavantage pour caractériser le critère d'égalisation des chances. Les restrictions nécessaires, autant que des procédures possibles d'agrégations, sont également discutées. Nous démontrons que ce critère est identifié selon la classe de préférences représentées par les fonctions d'utilité dépendantes du rang et on obtient des résultats innovants d'inférence sur la dominance stochastique inverse qui nous permettent de tester ce critère. Deux applications sur des données françaises illustrent l'impact en termes d'égalisation de chances des politiques éducatives qui ont lieu tôt dans la vie des étudiants. / This thesis focuses on the measurement of dissimilarity in the distribution of relevant economic attributes and inequality of opportunity. Equality of opportunity has gained popularity for defining the relevant equalitarian objective for the distribution of a broad range of social and economic outcomes among social groups. I show that equality of opportunity concerns in policy evaluation always rely on dissimilarity comparisons between conditional distributions, and I provide empirically testable criteria to implement these comparisons. In the first chapter, I characterize axiomatically the dissimilarity partial order for discrete conditional distributions of groups across outcome classes. I prove that, when classes are permutable, dissimilarity is rationalized by matrix majorization and implemented by checking zonotopes inclusion, while when classes are ordered the dissimilarity criterion resorts on a finite number of Lorenz majorization comparisons among groups' proportions, performed at different cumulation stages of the overall population. In the second chapter, I discuss the relevance of the dissimilarity partial order for the study of segregation at individual level. I fully characterize a well defined family of segregation indicators and I study one of them, the Gini exposure index, by using Italian data. The final chapter presents the equalization of opportunity criterion for outcome achievements. The guiding principle is that equality of opportunities is reached if there is no consensus, for a given class of preferences, in determining the disadvantaged group out of pairwise comparisons. I use the changes in (lack of) consensus on the existence and on the extent of the disadvantage to characterize the equalization of opportunity criterion. Meaningful restrictions and possible aggregation procedure are also discussed. I motivate that this criterion is identified within the rank dependent utility model, and I provide innovative inference results for inverse stochastic dominance to test it. Two applications on French data illustrate the equalizing impact of educational policies taking place early in students life.

Cette thèse est la compilation d’essais qui appliquent les méthodes expérimentales et d’enquêtes à deux sujets portant sur la prise de décisions en groupe. La prise de décision en groupe est un type de processus participatif dans lequel plusieurs individus agissent collectivement, analysent des problèmes ou des situations, examinent et évaluent les solutions alternatives d’action, et choisissent parmi les différentes alternatives, une ou plusieurs solutions (Van den Ven et Delbeq, 1974). Une des caractéristiques parmi les plus importantes dans la prise de décisions en groupe est que les individus ont une responsabilité individuelle (Katzenbach et Smith, 1993). Par conséquent, cette thèse s’intéresse à la fois aux décisions effectivement prises au niveau du groupe, mais également aux opinions individuelles.Le premier sujet s’inscrit dans le domaine du bien-être et du choix social et porte sur l’égalité des chances (désignée EOP par la suite). Nous testons d’abord les fondements intuitifs de l’EOP au moyen d’une enquête, pendant laquelle les individus sont "des spectateurs impartiaux" sans aucun gain personnel. Cette enquête nous permet d’illustrer la notion de justice impartiale en absence d’intérêt. Nous testons ensuite les fondements au cours d’une expérience non coopérative, où les décisions prises ont des conséquences sur les gains des individus. L’expérience utilisée dans ce sujet s’intéresse aux préférences révélées en matière de justice par les preneurs de décisions. Le deuxième sujet porte sur les systèmes de vote à majorité pondérée (désignés WMV par la suite). Nous réalisons d’abord une enquête auprès de différents groupes d’étudiants pour découvrir que les individus ne tiennent pas compte de la relation non monotone entre le nombre de votes et le pouvoir de vote associé. Nous menons ensuite plusieurs expériences de laboratoire afin de tester si cette relation non monotone peut être apprise dans le cadre d’un jeu répété. Ainsi, la première partie de cette thèse comprend deux chapitres à propos de l’EOP, tandis que la deuxième comprend deux chapitres à propos des WMV. Le premier chapitre est une introduction générale, le Chapitre 6 expose les conclusions.Le Chapitre 2 présente l’enquête de l’EOP, laquelle est une enquête sur les préférences utilisant de nombreux visuels pour présenter des scénarios hypothétiques. Ceci nous permet de révéler les préférences des individus sur les principes de l’EOP. À notre connaissance, notre enquête est la première tentative pour explorer pleinement le concept de l’EOP du point de vue d’un “spectateur impartial”. Nous avons analysé systématiquement cinq facteurs qui relèvent de l’EOP dans deux vignettes et plusieurs scénarios. Entre les deux vignettes : ventes et alcool, nous avons trouvé un niveau élevé de consensus sur les circonstances. Toutes les personnes ne devraient pas subir les conséquences liées aux circonstances dans toutes les situations pour au moins deux raisons : premièrement, cela serait clairement arbitraire du point de vue moral et deuxièmement parce qu’il faut ajuster la péréquation résultante. Le maigre consensus sur l’effort et la chance brute est également présenté dans nos résultats. Puisque la chance brute est définie par rapport au décroissement des risques liés à la chance de non-option, elle peut entrainer des résultats non souhaitables au regard de l’EOP. Inversement, l’effort est défini comme un reflet du comportement des individus. Ils contrôlent cet effort, lequel exerce une influence sur leur statut. Ainsi, les effets des différents niveaux d’effort pourraient être non neutralisés. / Decision making in groups largely exists in almost every aspect of daily life. In this thesis, we use survey and experimental methods to examine decision making in two different areas, equality of opportunity (EOP) and weighted majority voting (WMV). The goal of the research efforts is to understand the importance of achieved decisions for the functioning of the group, involving taking into account the needs and opinions of every group member.In the survey study of EOP, we used the attitude survey consisting of vignettes to elicit stated preferences of quasi-spectators over the conceptions of EOP problems. Impartiality in this study is achieved by considering only evaluations of individuals who have no stake in the situation they are judging. We analysed whether individuals are considered to be held responsible for outcomes by different factors: circumstances, effort, talent, brute luck and option luck. Apart from the baseline treatment, another compared treatment was designed to test context effect, with the introduction of ``need'' and social-cognitive age. In these two treatments, we found a high level of consensus on non-responsibility of circumstances, slight consensuses to responsibility of effort but non-responsibility of brute luck, and no agreement on talent and option luck. When other considerations are not involved, inequality caused by differential option luck and talent is unobjectionable. While with other considerations, people should not fully be held responsible for the outcomes resulting from option luck and talent.We then tested revealed preferences over the conceptions of EOP problems in an experiment, where subjects were stakeholders of each decision. People were recruited to form a micro society, and engaged in actual decisions about redistribution of their own money they earned in a previous phase through four factors: circumstances, effort, brute and option luck. Yet despite a lot of self-interested behaviours when participants have a stake in the redistribution, we clearly observe that participants are sensitive to the different factors through which people can earn their money. There were three treatments in our experiment: the baseline, prior reflection and talent treatments. The voting results among three treatments are very homogeneous, with only one exception on effort in the talent treatment, and present a very high level of self-serving bias.For WMV, the survey study investigates whether people have the knowledge of the relation between the number of votes and corresponding power which they have in a committee that takes decisions with a WMV system. Power indices show that actual voting power is often quite different from the nominal distribution of voting weights. Our survey observed that subjects cannot see through the non-monotonic relationship between the number of votes and voting power. In addition, we found that subjects trained in political sciences had more acquaintance on this issue.The experiment on WMV wanted to see whether people could learn this non-monotonic relation between the number of votes and the actual voting power. In the laboratory experiment, people played similar games 20 times. The first stage of games was the votes apportionment stage, where two out of four subjects in a group independently and simultaneously made decisions to determine the distribution of votes among four members. The second stage of games was the point allocation stage, where four member bargained to divide fixed amount of resources among themselves through the WMV determined in the first stage. The results of our experiments show that initially subjects tend to choose an option that gives them more votes ignoring how remaining votes are distributed among others. But, as subjects ``learn'' about the payoffs they can obtain in the points allocation stage, they start to choose the option in the first stage that could have chance to give them higher payoffs.