gender inequalities Flashcards
WORK AND EMPLOYMENT GENDER INEQUALITIES
name some laws that protect workers from gender inequality
- Equal Pay Act 1970 - men and women have to get paid the same for the same job
- Sex Discrimination Act 1975 - made it illegal to incriminate against women (prior to this you could be refused a job over your gender)
- Equalities Act 2010 - gender made a protected characteristic so a person cannot be discriminated against based on their gender
evaluation of gender discrimination legislation
- women still experience sexual harassment at work (and it is a very expensive procedure)
- because you now have to pay an upfront cost (rather than only if you lose) cases have fallen
facts and figures: how many women a year get sacked because of pregnancy
30k - UK Feminista
facts and figures: how many women lose out on promotion as a result of pregnancy a year
440k - UK Feminista
facts and figures: how many hours a week (on average) do women - with and without children - spend on chore compared to men
women: 15 hours
men: 5
- UK Feminista
facts and figures: during the 2021 pandemic how many mothers reported to have taken time off work to look after children with school closures/sick children compared to how many fathers
mothers: 15%
fathers: 8%
- Fawcett Society
what did the Equality and Human Rights Commission 2021 find about Covid-19
- the pandemic highlighted the precarious (insecure) nature of the gig economy, where women and certain ethnic minority workers are overrepresented and are more likely to be shut down during the pandemic eg. in hospitality
- women, disabled people ethnic minorities and young people are over-represented in part time work and the gig economy - making it a key causal factor for pay gaps
INCOME AND WEALTH
facts and figures: what percentage of people on national minimum wage jobs are women
70%
facts and figures: what % of the country’s personal wealth is owned by women
40%
facts and figures: by how much is it estimated that a women’s future wage will decrease every year she is absent from the workplace
- 5% - UK Feminista
facts and figures: what % of a woman’s income is made up of benefits compared to % of men’s incomes
women: 1/5
men: 1/10
- UK Feminista
POVERTY
facts and figures: what % of women will live under the poverty line when they retire, compared to what % of men
25% of women
12% of men
- Prudential survey 2011
facts and figures: around how many single parents in the UK are women
9/10
facts and figures: how can we compare life expectancy for women in the poorest parts of the UK to other parts of the world
life expectancy for women in the poorest parts of the UK is lower than in every OECD country in the world - besides Mexico
facts and figures: what % of those in relative poverty are women
- 60%
facts and figures: roughly how many women in the UK live in poverty compared to men
women: 7.5 million
men: 6.8 million
what did the 2008 Joseph Rowntree foundation study find
- ‘there is no (government) strategy to challenge women’s poverty specifically
- ‘poverty was experienced as a constant sense of financial insecurity and instability and the lack of any real opportunity to improve the situation’
gender pay gap
- on average women learn
- this does not mean that men and women are earning different salaries for doing the same jobs
- gender pay gap has decreased since 2019 (17%) - 2023 (14%)
- there remains a large difference in the gender pay gap between employees over and under 40
- the gender pay gap among higher earners is much larger compared to lower earners
list the reasons for the gender pay gap
- glass ceiling
- vertical segregation
- horizontal segregation
- motherhood penalty
- leaky pipeline metaphor
- glass escalator (Williams 1992)
reasons for pay gap: the glass ceiling
- discrimination that prevents women from getting hired or promoted to the top jobs
reasons for pay gap: ‘motherhood penalty’
- gender pay gap increases after childbirth
- 70% of UK mothers are scaled back reduces working hours or less demanding job) after their first child compared to 11% of fathers
- women who work after maternity leave earn 33% less an hour that men and are more likely to choose part time work an miss out on promotion opportunities
reasons for pay gap: horizontal segregation
- concentration of men and women in different kinds of occupations
reasons for horizontal segregation
- lower paid occupations are done traditionally by women and often involve skills that are stereotyped as ‘feminine’ such as caring roles eg. teaching, nursing etc
- higher paid jobs are often dominated by men eg. STEM jobs
reasons for pay gap: vertical segregation
- describes mens’ domination of he highest-ranking jobs in both traditionally male and female occupations
reasons for vertical segregation
- opps. for career progressions for a particular gender within a company/sector are limited
- social attitudes allow men to focus on their career by working long hours while women are expected to ruse families and focus on the home
- due to rise in tech, people are expected to work longer hours eg. responding to emails etc
- women with carer responsibilities are less likely to prioritise these long working hours and tend to miss out on senior positions (minimal flexible working conditions)
reasons for pay gap: leaky pipeline metaphor
- the phenomenon in STEM that uses women are progressively abandoning their chosen field of work
- resulting in an overwhelmingly male-dominated environment at the highest levels
reasons for the leaky pipeline
- family formation
- having a baby makes you a ‘less serious’ scientists
reasons for pay gap: glass escalator effect (Williams 1992)
- how men often rise higher and faster up the career ladder than women, particularly in female-dominated careers like teaching and nursing
- men have ‘hidden advantages’ that assist them to get promotions
glass escalator effect: mens’ ‘hidden advantages’
- gender stereotypes that have men being viewed as natural leaders
- men and women making emotional and rational decisions
- views about women’ obligations to childbearing
- rarity of men in certain occupations, which makes them stand out
facts and figures: in 2020 what % of secondary school teachers were women, compared to what % of headteachers were women
teachers: 63%
headteachers: 40%
- Department for Education
sociologist evaluation for the glass escalator effect theory? - race and gender
wingfield (2009)
what did Wingfield evaluate about the glass escalator effect
- not all men experience the glass escalator effect in the same ways
- most studies on it don’t consider how racial dynamics impact ethnic minority men’s encounters with the mechanisms of the glass escalator
what did Wingfield find in her study of black male nurses
- upward mobility implied by the glass escalator is not uniformly applied to black male nurses doing that are doing ‘women’s work’
- black male nurses do not enjoy the same advantages that white men in the nursing enjoyed which enables them to ride the glass escalator
ATTEMPTS TO REDRESS THE GENDER PAY GAP
what was the 2017 UK gov requirement for gender pay
- UK gov introduced the requirement that all companies employing more than 250 people report the earnings of male and female staff
- they must provide explanations for the pay gap and provide an action plan
A02 - glass ceiling at the BBC
- outcry when the BBC annual report revealed that DJ Chris Evans was the top earner (being paid £2.2 million), while Claudia Winkleman (the highest paid female worker at the BBC) was only being paid £500,000
- this, along with other injustices within the BBC
- the scandal was embarrassing for the BBC but led to changes (bringing in equal pay and change of practises)
what are the potential problems with requiring companies to publish male and female earnings
- companies may lie or start promoting women to present themselves to be better
- tokenism/postive discrimination
- doesn’t focus on other aspects of inequality
- resentment may form between male/female employees
how do feminists propose we fix the gender pay gap
- need to restructure the workplace around women’s circumstances
(placing more value on feminine skills and pay those than involve them more, ensuring training and promotion for part-time staff, reorganise senior roles)
what does Hakim (2006) argue about ‘domesticating’ jobs
- not all jobs can be domesticated in this way eg. jobs that require a lot of travel at short notice
how does Correll suggest we close the gender pay gap
- recruitment/training policies
- unconscious bias training
what is Correll’s unconscious bias training
- identifying and challenging views
- can sometimes backfire and can increase Bias
what is Correll’s recruitment/training polices
- offering bias training while carrying out an adult of policies
- aim is to creative objective performance checklists to eliminate bias from people using them
evaluation of Correll’s training and policy ideas
- does not address wider structural patterns of inequality
LIFE CHANCES - EDUCATION