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Gender, School and Work in Contemporary Britain

Gender, School and Work in Contemporary Britain. International Perspectives on Gender Lecture 2. Structure of lecture. UK has not ‘made it’ to gender equality Girls lose out in education Boys lose out in education Masculinities and education Characteristics of gendered labour market

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Gender, School and Work in Contemporary Britain

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  1. Gender, School and Work in Contemporary Britain International Perspectives on Gender Lecture 2

  2. Structure of lecture • UK has not ‘made it’ to gender equality • Girls lose out in education • Boys lose out in education • Masculinities and education • Characteristics of gendered labour market • Explaining the Gender Pay Gap • Masculinities and paid work • Gendering Austerity

  3. UK has not ‘made it’ • Women = 20% of MPs; 17% of ministers; 12.5% of FTSE Directors; 15% of High Court Judges; 44% of managers • Women’s hourly full-time earnings = 84% of men’s • Women’s average personal pensions = 62% of men’s • 1 million women abused annually by current/former male partner • Average of 2 women killed by male partners per week • Women have higher life expectancy than men • Young men 80% more likely to be victims of violent crime • 3 times more men than women commit suicide http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/documents/Facts%20and%20Stats-%20August%202011(1).pdf http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=1208 http://www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic_violence_topic.asp?section=0001000100220041&sectionTitle=Domestic+violence+%28general%29 http://www.train2000.org.uk/research-reports/pdfs/GenderEqualityIndex.pdf http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/human-rights/international-womens-day-2011/how-fair-is-britain-for-women/

  4. Girls lose out in education • 1970s and 1980s research on post WW2 education policies found them disadvantaging girls as a group over boys as a group. Why? - Educational achievement assumed to be less important for girls than boys   - Girls assumed to be less capable of rational, abstract thought than boys • Social class intersects with gender

  5. Boys lose out in education? • From late 1990s girls outperforming boys at school • GCSE: 63.7% of boys and 72.3% of girls awarded A*-C in Summer 2013 , 8.6% gap • 8.3% girls all A*s, 5.3% boys, 3% gap • A-level: overall pass rate for women higher since 1992 but gap narrowing • 25.9% of boys and 26.7% girls awarded A*-A in Summer 2013, 0.8% gap • 7.9% of boys and 7.4% of girls awarded all A*s, 0.5% gap • Why? Shift from modular assessment to exam Subject choice • Boys concentrated at top and bottom ends of achievement, girls more bunched

  6. Source: CEER, Buckingham The A’ Level Gender Gap, 1995-2011

  7. Higher Education • 1960s - 85% of University entrants were men • 1980 - 60% • 2011-12 UK – 44% of u/grad entrants men; 48.1% of p/grad entrants; 51.5% PhD entrants • 2011-12 16.6% of female graduates in UK got 1sts, 17.3% of male • Women over-represented in medicine, veterinary science, education and languages; men in engineering, computer science, architecture • Social class and ethnicity intersect with gender

  8. Why the gender gap in education? • Removal of systematic disadvantaging in educational system • Are girls naturally more able than boys on a level playing field? • Gendered socialization in the familyprepares girls • Gendered peer pressure limits boys • Boys not as suited to coursework • Little to aspire to in labour market (working class boys) • Greater exclusion of boys (nearly 80% of all excluded are male)

  9. Masculinities and Education • Jackson and Dempster focus on relationship between constructions of masculinity and boys’ approach to ed. • Multiple masculinities but hegemonic, dominant, form can be identified: most valorized • Hegemonic masculinity ‘repudiates [shuns, disparages] the feminine’ • Requires investment in social life, sport, having a laugh • Not trying hard (or not looking as though trying hard) protects boys from poor results • If results are good this proves superiority of male intellect, able to achieve effortlessly • Outcomes: assert male superiority over female; reproduce men’s underperformance

  10. Gendered Labour Market a) Labour Market Participation • Female labour force participation rate grown over 10%, male declined by about 10% • In 1971 women were 38% of total employees in employment, in 1983 43%, reached 50% but 2013 47% • British women of Afro-Caribbean and non-Muslim Asian origin more likely to be in paid employment than white women, British women of Bangladeshi and Pakistani Muslim origin less likely • Women with a male partner in paid work three times more likely to work themselves • Disabled people have lowest labour market participation

  11. b) Hours of Work • About 43% of women work part-time, only 13% of men (latter increasing slowly from very low base - 2.4% in 1975) c) Type of Work • 80% of all women workers are in the service sector • 40% of all women workers are in public sector (15% of men) • Horizontal Segregation: extent different groups clustered in restricted range of occupations • Vertical Segregation: extent different groups employed at different levels in organisations • ACTIVITY: What kind of jobs are especially male? What kind of jobs are especially female?

  12. Gender segregation boundaries not necessarily fixed • 65% of occupational groups dominated by either women or men • Soon there will be more female GPs than male, but women are only 10% of surgeons • Over 40% of academics are now female but there are 5 male University Professors for every 1 female • Two-thirds of top civil service jobs go to men Lady Hale, UK’s most senior judge 1 female among 12 male High Court judges

  13. d) Earnings • 1971: women’s average full-time earnings 64% men’s,1994: just under 80%, 2000: 82%, 2006: 83% , 2011: 84% • Despite Equal Pay Act of 1970 (came into force 1975) • Part-time gender pay gap is worse: 62% • Male managers earn on ave.£10 000 > female managers • EOC reported in 2011 women graduates earning 15% less than male within 5 years of starting work • Women graduates in their 50s earn 44% less than male • Age is an important variable: full time gender pay gap lowest for under 30s, around 5%, then grows steadily • Ethnic pay gap even more significant than gender pay gap(Law Society: BME solicitors earn 17% less than white, female 7.6% less than male) • Growing class divisions between women

  14. Explaining the Gender Pay Gap • Women don’t identify primarily as workers • Women’s disproportionate share of domestic work (78% more) & child- care (12% more) means choose part-time work, poorer pro-rata pay • Interruptions to employment due to caring work • Male career takes precedence • Women have ‘natural’ skills for particular jobs that don’t accrue a wage premium

  15. Masculinities and Paid Work • David Morgan: ‘Workplaces seem to be the crucibles out of which male identities are forged or through which they are given shape and meaning’ (p. 77 of Discovering Men) • Concept of dominant or hegemonic masculinity • Home: not identified as site of work or identified as site of female work only, but organised around male work • Shopfloor key site of working class masculinities • Contrasts with masculinity assigned to male managers • Contrasts with femininity • Irony: WC masculinity helps reproduces class inequality • Office shifted from mainly male to mainly female • In management, sporting and military metaphors abound and reflect specifically middle class masculinities

  16. Gender and Austerity • Equality Act and budgetary responsibility • Austerity worsening inequalities • Triple jeopardy for women: • jobs, wages, pensions worsened disproportionately • services and benefits cut disproportionately • extra work as try to ‘fill the gap’ • Inequalities between women widening • Who is hurting the most?

  17. Conclusions • UK has made progress but has not achieved gender equality • Austerity may see reverses • Gendered gaps in outcome • Women outperform men in educational achievement • Men outperform women in average earnings • Concentration of women and men into particular subjects in education and sectors in employment • Education and Work are both sites for performance of masculine and feminine identities • Next Week: UK Families and Sexualities

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