Gender Inequality in the Labour Market

Gender Inequality in the Labour Market

Women in paid employment

As Giddens and Sutton (2013) explain until the later part of the twentieth century paid work in western societies was predominantly male dominated. According to Fulcher and Scott (2007) this situation is changing with more and more women moving into paid employment, this is described as the feminisation of work. The gender gap in employment rates has almost disappeared due to the rising employment of women and the declining employment of men (Fulcher and Scott 2007). As Giddens and Sutton (2013) explain does this mean that men are doing more domestic work? Are these employment rates all that they seem? This article will discuss gender inequality within the labour market.

[Teaching] n.d. [image online] Available at:< http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/19/news/economy/women_jobs/>[Accessed 14 February 2017]

Occupational segregation of women 

As Giddens and Sutton (2013) explain many jobs are considered to be ‘women’s work’. As Fulcher and Scott (2007) explain women tend to be drawn into occupations which involve emotional labour, such as nursing, teaching and secretarial roles as these are seen as an extension of their caring role within the household. Whereas men tend to occupy positions which are more skilled and convey more power such as security and management positions (Abercrombie, et al 2000). As Fulcher and Scott (2007, p. 175) cite “unfortunately for them, it is these occupations that are the lowest paid”.

Part Time Employment

As Petit and Hook (2009) explain the amount of women in part time employment contributes to their concentration into particular occupations and jobs. According to Giddens and Sutton (2013) part time work is often favoured by women as it offers more flexibility and means women are able to balance work and family obligations whereas they would otherwise forgo employment. However as Drew, et al (2002) explain part time work has disadvantages such as, low pay, job insecurity, lack of training opportunities and little or no chance for promotion.

[what is the gender pay gap] n.d. [image online] Available at:< http://visual.ons.gov.uk/what-is-the-gender-pay-gap/>[Accessed 14 February 2017]

The Professional Market and gender inequality

As Abercrombie, et al (2000) explain many of the higher professions, such as doctors are staffed by men. Witz (1991 as cited in Abercrombie, et al 2000) found that there were six male employed professionals for every one female employed professional. This shows that patriarchal power was used to exclude women from higher professions and ensure occupations filled by women were subordinate for example nurses (Abercrombie, et al 2000). However as Giddens and Sutton (2013) explain a more recent trend is that more women are moving into higher paying professional positions and go on to say that young women with good qualifications are just as likely to gain lucrative jobs as their male counterparts. Colomo-Palacios (2012) supports this by explaining that statistics gathered in 2010 show that the gender gap in employment within the European Union is decreasing as more women have gained academic and professional qualifications and are actively pursuing working careers. Colomo-Palacios (2012) believes that better child care facilities and more flexible working arrangements have all contributed to women’s progress in the work place. However as Giddens and Sutton (2013, p. 274) cite “yet this progress at the top of the occupational structure is offset by the enormous increase in the number of women in low-paid, part-time jobs within the rapidly expanding service sector”.

[women in the labour market 2013] n.d. [image online] Available at:< https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/womeninthelabourmarket/2013-09-25>[Accessed 14 February 2017]

Women in male dominated occupations

As Wright (2016) explains some sectors seen as being traditionally male have been resistant to change when it comes to gender balance, with women only accounting for twelve percent of those working in construction and only twenty two percent in transport and storage. Prescott (2012) supports this by explaining that the same is true of the science and engineering industries with few women working within these sectors. Prescott (2012) believes there are many reasons for this including that stereotypes play an important role in personal choice, such as the typical view that men are better at maths, this perpetuates gender divisions within schools and leads to many women choosing not to pursue careers within these sectors as they believe they are bad at maths. As Brooks (2014) explains in his article for the Huffington post women who wish to work in traditionally male roles have a better chance of being hired if they show masculine traits such as assertiveness and independence whereas more feminine traits such as warmth and supportiveness were much less likely to land them the job. Available to read at http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/08/12/women-act-like-men-masculine-job-study_n_5671415.html

Men in female dominated occupations

Occupations such as teaching, nursing and midwifery are mainly female dominated for example in America ninety one percent of registered nurses are women (Prescott 2012). However as Prescott (2012) explains that this becomes disproportionate at senior level positions with more men occupying these roles, for example within the NHS it was found that male nurses achieve senior positions much quicker than their female counterparts.

[male nurses worldwide] n.d. [image online] Available at:< https://realmanswork.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/male-nurses-worldwide/>[Accessed 18 February 2017]

The gender wage gap

As Giddens and Sutton (2013) explain the average pay of employed women is still below that of men the gap has narrowed over time but still remains. As the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (2015) found that women working full time were paid less than men in ninety percent of sectors, with male workers being paid on average nineteen percent more than women, however in the insurance and financial sectors women were the worst affected as they can be paid up to forty percent less than men. The report is available to read at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/research-finds-women-paid-less-than-men-in-90-of-sectors

why is there are gender wage gap?

As Giddens and Sutton (2013) explain there are many reasons for the wage gap such as many women take time off to preform caring work such as raising families and occupational segregation as more women are represented within the poorly paying job sectors such as catering, cashiering and cleaning. The wage gap has narrowed over time since the introduction of the national minimum wage in 1999 but still remains (Giddens and Sutton 2013). As Abercrombie, et al (2000) explain being on the wrong side of the gender wage gap can have consequences such as a poorer quality of life and less long term life success.

Conclusion

Gender inequality is rife within the labour market, whilst advances have been made with more women entering top professions and gaining degrees there is still a significant inequality which is seen by the persistent wage gap between men and women.

Reference List

Abercrombie, N., Warde, A., Deem, R., Penna, S., Soothill, K., Urry, J., Sayer, A. and Walby, S. (2000) Contemporary British Society. 3^rd ed. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Brooks, C. (2014) Women Still need to act like Men if they want ‘Masculine’ Jobs, Study Finds. The Huffington Post. [online] 26 September. Available at:< http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/08/12/women-act-like-men-masculine-job-study_n_5671415.html>[Accessed 18 February 2017]

Colomo-Palacios, R, ed. (2012) Professional Advancements and Management Trends in the IT Sector. [e-book] Hershey USA: IGI Global. Available at: Google Books<https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=8qSeBQAAQBAJ&dq=professional+jobs+and+gender+inequality&source=gbs_navlinks_s>[Accessed 15 February 2017]

Drew, E., Emerek, R. and Mahon, E. (2002) Women, Work and the Family in Europe. [e-book] London: Routledge. Available at: Google Books<https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=nomFAgAAQBAJ&dq=disadvantages+of+part+time+work+women&source=gbs_navlinks_s>[Accessed 14 February 2017]

Fulcher, J. and Scott, J. (2007) Sociology. 3^rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Giddens, A. and Sutton, P. (2013) Sociology. 7^th ed. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Pettit, B. and Hook, J. (2009) Gendered Trade-offs: Women, Family and Workplace Inequality in Twenty-One Countries. [e-book] New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Available at: Google Books<https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=N_8FYe0bIm8C&dq=gender+inequality+in+the+workplace+occupational+segregation&source=gbs_navlinks_s>[Accessed 14 February 2017]

Prescott, J, ed. (2012) Gendered Occupational Differences in Science, Engineering, and Technology Careers. [e-book] Hershey USA: IGI Global. Available at: Google Books<https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=W-AAvNc2q3YC&dq=women+in+male+dominated+occupations&source=gbs_navlinks_s>[Accessed 18 February 2017]

UK Commission for Employment and Skills (2015) Equality, Labour market reform and Employment. [online] London: HMSO. Available at:< https://www.gov.uk/government/news/research-finds-women-paid-less-than-men-in-90-of-sectors>[Accessed 18 February 2017]

Wright, T. (2016) Gender and Sexuality in Male-Dominated Occupations: Women Working in Construction and Transport. [e-book] USA: Springer. Available at: Google Books<https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=DPADAAAQBAJ&dq=women+in+male+dominated+occupations&source=gbs_navlinks_s>[Accessed 18 February 2017]