Inequality affects some groups in society more than others. Discuss Flashcards
Introduction
Some groups that are more likely to experience inequalities than others are women and BAME. There are many factors which cause these groups to face more inequality than others and this essay will provide a detail analysis on what the factors are. Factors such as unpaid work, discrimination in women, racism leading to concentration in low paid jobs and stop and search are all factors which make these groups more likely to face inequality. Although all of these factors play a huge role in causing inequality it will be argued that discrimination in women is the most important as there are huge stereotypes about women and their role of parenting which causes them to be discriminated against.
Discrimination against women
The first cause of some groups being more likely than others to experience inequalities is discrimination in women. The glass ceiling is the invisible barriers through which women can see elite positions but struggle to reach them. The glass ceiling exists because women are underrepresented in high paid employment particularly within big business, the legal profession, media and politics. Evidence of the glass is according to the EHRC, a third of employers believe that women who become pregnant are less interested in career progression. This is causing inequality as it cannot be assumed that women do not want to progress just because they need time of to adjust to a huge change in their life after having a child. Presentieeism is when senior managers tend to be expected to work long hours but there tends to be a lack of flexible/part time working arrangements in senior positions again meaning that women may not be able to work these hours causing them to not progress in their career. Many employers have prejudicial attitudes about women including questioning their commitment and ambitions if they have a young family and may discriminate against them if they think they will take time off to have children which is again a stereotype as not all women may choose to have a child and if they do it is still possible to manage their career. For example over a fifth of uk national newspaper editors are women with just four women in the top jobs. This statistic emphasises just how difficult it is for women to progress in their career due to the discrimination against them. Pay secrecy is also a huge part of this as it means women do not know what their colleagues earn which may mean they are doing the same job but being paid less than they should be. This is important in causing inequality as stereotypes lead to men getting a bonus from parent hood as they are expected to go back to work and earn for the family whilst women pay a penalty and have much lower chances of progression.
Unpaid work
Another cause of some groups being more likely than others to experience inequality is unpaid work. Unpaid work is the jobs people do they they do not get money for for example cooking, cleaning, childcare, adult care etc. women on average do far more unpaid work then men. Evidence for this includes information which shows that women do an average of 60% more unpaid work than men each week. The impact of Covid on unpaid work was the fact that women were supervising their children more than men which again relates to the stereotype that women are responsible for taking care of the children. Research showed that mothers on average spent 3 more hours than men homeschooling their children during the pandemic. This is important j curing inequality as women are having to work more for no money while men relax and take part in leisure activities. This impacts women as it leaves less Time for them to work a job and actually earn money while working. Due to the stereotypes of women and caring for their child it may lead to them having to work part time which will be difficult if they are responsible for looking after their children so it may mean they cannot work at all. If unpaid work was equally shared between women and men gender inequalities would be less of a problem as women and men would share responsibilities such as cooking and childcare. This would give women more time to work and earn money to provide for their household as both parents would carry out a reasonable amount of paid and unpaid work. This is an important cause of inequality as women are undervalued and are expected to look after their children when they could be working if both men and women had a fair share.
Racism leading to concentration in low paid jobs
Another cause of some groups being more likely to experience inequality than others is racism leading to concentration in low paid jobs. One of the reasons that there are disproportionately high poverty rates among some ethnic groups is the concentration of BAME workers in low paid jobs. BAME groups are more likely to work in low paid sectors such as caring, catering, hairdressing and retail jobs. There are also occupations with limited progression opportunities and it is this lack of movement out of low paid work that increases the risk of poverty among ethnic groups. Although it is illegal to pay someone less for doing the same job based on their ethnicity research shows that the ethnicity pay gap is growing between BAME and white men who do broadly similar work. Despite increasing educational gains made by people from non-white backgrounds many are overqualified for the jobs that they do. Meaning they could be in a higher paying position but the racism causes them to work in a low paid job. For example 40% of African and 39% of Bangladeshi employees were overqualified for their roles compared with 25% of white workers. BAME workers also often report not being given pay rises when their white colleagues get them or being passed over for promotion. This restricts them to low paid jobs as they cannot help the fact that they could be working in a higher paying job but aren’t just because of their race. This is important in causing inequality as BAME people have to settle for less opportunity just because they are discriminated against.
Stop and search
The last cause of some groups being more likely to experience inequality than others is stop and search. The police have the power to stop and search anyone in a defined area for a limited period if serious violence is anticipated. Stop and search can cause inequality because it means that the police can stop anyone they want and due to stereotypes and racial prejudice it will mean that police will suspect BAME more than white people. Evidence for this includes that black people in England and wales are 40 times more likely than whites people to be stopped and searched under controversial powers. The inequality in stop and search is a problem because it means black people have a higher chance of gaining a criminal record of they are doing something illegal. Whereas of white people are committing crime they are much less likely to be stopped and searched which means they are far less likely to be caught committing crime, giving them an advantage as the chances of them gaining a criminal record are much lower. This is important in causing ethnic inequalities as it is assumed that ethnic minorities are more criminal however white people are never being questioned and can get away with it. This in turn continues the cycle of ethnic inequality.
Conclusion
In conclusion unpaid work, discrimination in women, racism leading to concentration in low paid jobs and stop and search are all factors which explain why some groups are more likely than others to experience inequality. Unpaid work causes women to have less opportunity and flexibility of working as they are responsible for taking care of their child/children whereas men get time to relax and have less burden. Racism leads to concentration in low paid jobs because BAME people are aware that they will be discriminated against which lowers their chances of progression therefore leading to them accepting that they will just have to be paid less. Stop and search assumes that BAME will commit more crime and therefore are more likely to be stopped giving white people an advantage allowing them to get away with taking part in crime. However I believe that discrimination in women is the most important cause as the stereotype that women will take time off to have children and care for them causes women to be highly underrepresented in jobs. This is due to the fact that it is assumed because women take time off after having a child they do not want to progress further, however this is not the case and employers should recognise that having a child/children comes with many responsibilities and should try to support women by making job opportunities more flexible for them.
