gender inequalities Flashcards
(119 cards)
1
Q
WORK AND EMPLOYMENT GENDER INEQUALITIES
A
2
Q
name some laws that protect workers from gender inequality
A
- 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
3
Q
evaluation of gender discrimination legislation
A
- 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
4
Q
facts and figures: how many women a year get sacked because of pregnancy
A
30k - UK Feminista
5
Q
facts and figures: how many women lose out on promotion as a result of pregnancy a year
A
440k - UK Feminista
6
Q
facts and figures: how many hours a week (on average) do women - with and without children - spend on chore compared to men
A
women: 15 hours
men: 5
- UK Feminista
7
Q
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
A
mothers: 15%
fathers: 8%
- Fawcett Society
8
Q
what did the Equality and Human Rights Commission 2021 find about Covid-19
A
- 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
9
Q
INCOME AND WEALTH
A
10
Q
facts and figures: what percentage of people on national minimum wage jobs are women
A
70%
11
Q
facts and figures: what % of the country’s personal wealth is owned by women
A
40%
12
Q
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
A
- 5% - UK Feminista
13
Q
facts and figures: what % of a woman’s income is made up of benefits compared to % of men’s incomes
A
women: 1/5
men: 1/10
- UK Feminista
14
Q
POVERTY
A
15
Q
facts and figures: what % of women will live under the poverty line when they retire, compared to what % of men
A
25% of women
12% of men
- Prudential survey 2011
16
Q
facts and figures: around how many single parents in the UK are women
A
9/10
17
Q
facts and figures: how can we compare life expectancy for women in the poorest parts of the UK to other parts of the world
A
life expectancy for women in the poorest parts of the UK is lower than in every OECD country in the world - besides Mexico
18
Q
facts and figures: what % of those in relative poverty are women
A
- 60%
19
Q
facts and figures: roughly how many women in the UK live in poverty compared to men
A
women: 7.5 million
men: 6.8 million
20
Q
what did the 2008 Joseph Rowntree foundation study find
A
- ‘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’
21
Q
gender pay gap
A
- 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
22
Q
list the reasons for the gender pay gap
A
- glass ceiling
- vertical segregation
- horizontal segregation
- motherhood penalty
- leaky pipeline metaphor
- glass escalator (Williams 1992)
23
Q
reasons for pay gap: the glass ceiling
A
- discrimination that prevents women from getting hired or promoted to the top jobs
24
Q
reasons for pay gap: ‘motherhood penalty’
A
- 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
25
reasons for pay gap: horizontal segregation
- concentration of men and women in different kinds of occupations
26
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
27
reasons for pay gap: vertical segregation
- describes mens' domination of he highest-ranking jobs in both traditionally male and female occupations
28
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)
29
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
30
reasons for the leaky pipeline
- family formation
- having a baby makes you a 'less serious' scientists
31
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
32
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
33
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
34
sociologist evaluation for the glass escalator effect theory? - race and gender
wingfield (2009)
35
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
36
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
37
ATTEMPTS TO REDRESS THE GENDER PAY GAP
38
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
39
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)
40
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
41
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)
42
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
43
how does Correll suggest we close the gender pay gap
- recruitment/training policies
- unconscious bias training
44
what is Correll's unconscious bias training
- identifying and challenging views
- can sometimes backfire and can increase Bias
45
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
46
evaluation of Correll's training and policy ideas
- does not address wider structural patterns of inequality
47
LIFE CHANCES - EDUCATION
48
patterns of education in terms of gender
- historically, boys outperformed girls in all areas of education
- educational reforms in the 1980s led to the introduction of the national curriculum
- girls started to outperform boys, reminding constant since the 1990s
- girls do better at GCSEs and A Levels
- more girls go onto uni AND achieve a first or upper second degree
49
what is the gendering of subjects
when there is an assumption that one subject is more for girls or for boys
50
how does the gendering of subjects explain the gender pay gap?
- careers in STEM and other male dominated areas tend to pay more, and since women don't tend to go into STEM, there's a gender pay gap
51
EDUCATION - impact on girls
52
how do changes in schools (introduction of the national curriculum) impact girls
- girls now have equal opportunities to pursue the same subjects
- can now equally learn and excel in education
53
Helen Wilkinson (1994)
- refers to the 'gender-quake' of the 1990s
54
what was Helen Wilkinson's 'gender-quake' of the 1990s
- young women increasingly striving for a career and high salary
- becoming confident, assertive and ambitious
55
evaluation of the impact on girls thought the introduction of the national curriculum and Helen Wilkinson's 'gender-quake'
- Perry and Francis
- the gender pay gap still exist
- sexual harassment in the workplace still exists
- horizontal/vertical segregation still exists
56
what did Perry and Francis argue
- girls entitled to FSM continue to do less well in education than boys and girls not on FSM
57
how might legal reform impact girls' education
- Equal Pay Act and Sex Discrimination Act 1975
- protects women from discrimination in the workplace and gives women equal opps. with increases job satisfaction and career prospects for women
- thus gives incentive for girls to work hard in school
58
evaluation of legal reform
- sexual harassment continues especially from men in higher power positions
- gender pay gap continues
59
how does the feminisation of education impact girls' education
- schools have become a female-dominated environment that benefits girls but makes boys feel less comfortable
- primary schools have predominantly female teachers
60
evaluation of the feminisation of education
- schools continue to be patriarchal
- vertical segregation exists in secondary schools
- more male headteachers despite more female teachers
61
what are the impacts on girls' education from changes in expectations
- in 1972, 67% of girls wanted to leave school at 16
- considered to be 'unfeminine' to try hard at school
- now it's boys who consider in 'unumasculine'
- less girls now want to leave school
- Sue Sharpe
62
what did Sue Sharpe comment on
- 1970s: girls wanted marriage, children, then jobs
- 1990s: jobs, career, and financial independence
63
evaluation of marxist and feminist views on the hidden curriculum.
- lots of female authors studies
- STEM is now being pushed towards girls more
63
(Marxist and feminist views) impact of the hidden curriculum on girls' education
- FEMINISTS believe it reinforces gender stereotypes: veers boys towards STEM and girls to humanities
- reading literature mainly by white men
- often learning mens' history
- MARXISTS believe the hidden curriculum helps to reproduce an unequal and unjust capitalist class structure in a capitalist system
64
life chances for women in other areas of life - HEALTH
65
facts and figures for HEALTH - what is a woman's life expectancy vs a man's
woman's: 83
man's: 79
HOWEVER, women experience poorer health
66
facts and figures for HEALTH - how many years of a woman's life will be spent in poor health compared to a man's
woman's: 19 years
man's: 16 years
- Public Health England
67
facts and figures for HEATH: how many young women experience poor mental health compared to young men
women: 26%
men: 9%
- ONS
68
evaluation of health impacting women's life chances
- social class: WC women are more likely to experience poorer heath
- ethnicity the risk of maternal death remains almost 4x more for black women than white women
69
reasons for increased death in childbirth for black women
- the role of racism in maternity care
- racism undermines women's access to treatment and the quality of care received
70
facts and figures for family: how many women experience domestic violence in marriage
1/4 women
71
what do radical feminists argue about domestic violence
- domestic violence is a result of patriarchy
- violence is used to control and intimidate women women to do what they want
72
what do DELPHY AND LEONARD argue about the family
- family is an institution that plays a major part in the oppression of women
- the family is an economic system in which men benefit and exploit the work of women
- women work for the male head of household (who holds the economic power)
- women do most of the housework
73
evaluation for family impacting women's life chances
- divorce reform laws have made it easier for women to leave marriages
- 2/3 of divorce proceedings are filed by women
74
liberal feminist evaluation of family impacting women's lives - sociologist
SOMERVILLE
75
what did Somerville argue about the family
- the process of gradual reform is effective
- the idea that the family exploits women in outdated
- points out the progress women have made to achieve equality
- eg. women have much more choice today
- acknowledges women may be unsatisfied with the share of home responsibilities and believes the gov should give more support to working parents
76
GENDER INEQUALITIES IN SOCIAL MOBILITY
77
what did Heath and Li find about social mobility regarding gender and ethnicity
- black Caribbean men (39.3%) and Chinese women (46.8%) were found to experience lower levels of upward mobility than black Caribbean women (67.3%) and Chinese men (56.9%)
78
what did the 2014 Global Gender gap published by the World Economic Forum find about the UK
- ranks countries according to how well they divide resources and oops made for males and females
- Britain ranked 26th place
- 33rd for political empowerment
- 32nd for educational attainment
- 46th for economic participation
- 94th for health and survival
79
what did Savage find on social mobility
- studied social mobility in the 2000s and found men were 40% more likely to climb the career ladder than women
80
what did Li and Devine find on social mobility
- women are still less likely to be upwardly movie and more likely to be downwardly mobile than men
81
facts and figures: social mobility - what is the fall in employment for black African and black Caribbean women compared to white women
- fall of 15-20% compared to stable rates for white women
82
FF - social mobility - what has happened to the rates of part time employment for Chinese and Indian men in the past 10 years
- doubled in the past 10 years
83
FF - what % of self employed Bangladeshi men work in the transport industry compared to the rest of the country
- 53% compared to 8% of the rest of pop.
84
MALES AND GENDER INEQUALITY - EDUCATION
85
what is the current pattern for education
- GCSE results show that girls outperform boys
- gov data shows that boys are 2x more likely to have a Special Education Need for 2x as likely to have literacy problems
86
how much more likely are boys to be excluded from school
4x more likely than girls to be excluded from school
87
what did the Department of Education statistics show for WC boys
- white WC boys are the largest underachieving group in education
- due to their anti-school subculture according to Ofsted
88
what did tests done by the OECD find about boys' reading rates
- boys lag a year behind at reading in every industrialised country
89
what does Richard Reeves argue about girls' and boys' education
- girls biologically develop faster than boys so they have a structural advantage at school
- girls are better at organising themselves etc. and other skills that are valued by schools
- education is designed in a way that suits girls more than boys
90
FF - education for boys: what % of kindergarten teachers are men in America
- 2%
91
evaluation of education's impact on boys' lives
- this doesn't mean that all boys are disadvantaged to the same levels
- eg. WC boys in the UK fall short compared to white MC boys
- the system is not designed for girls, it just so happens that it suits them more
- many boys are diagnosed with Special Needs because the tests are designed for boys - doesn't mean that there are less girls with Special Needs
92
health inequalities for men
- women have higher life expectancies
93
FF - what % of suicides are carried out by men
- 75%
94
FF - what % of rough sleepers are men
- 87%
95
FF - how much more likely are men to become alcohol dependent
- 3x more likely (8.7% for men, while 3.3% for women)
96
work and income inequalities for men
- men, on average, work more hours a week than women
97
FF - work and income: what % of people killed in the workplace are men
- 95%
98
what did David Banatar argue in his book
- least desirable and most dangerous jobs with the lowest pay and security remain largely dominated by men
- more boys drop out of school, fewer men earn degrees, men die younger, men are more incarcerated
- the issue is under- researched
99
what was Warren Ferrel's theory
- The Glass Cellar
- describes the invisible barrie that keeps men in the jobs with the most hazards
100
evaluation of work and income inequalities for men
- gender pay gap still exists and women, rather than men, are more affected
- labour market tends to favour men
- more men than women are in full time employment
- incarceration: men do more crimes??
101
what is the 'crisis of masculinity'
- men losing their traditional roles and taken for granted
- losing authority in the family, workplace and wider society and are left confused and unsure of their identity
102
family inequalities for men: sociologist
- Warin et al
103
what did Warin et al study an find
- families in Rochdale
- found that the majority of families believe that the family should be the main earner
- study claims that the efforts of the fathers go unrecognised
- men are in low paid jobs and frustrated and sad that they are unable to supply what the family wants
104
what did the Equal Opportunities Commission 2007 find
- fathers are more likely to be employed for longer hours than men without dependent children
- 1/8 fathers in the UK work 60+ hours a week
- many employers see flexible working hours and family friendly work policies as something for women
- fathers often feel discouraged by workplace norm and culture from taking time off for work and family
105
how has 'fatherhood' changed over the years
- changed have brought the role of 'breadwinner' into question
- increasing divorce rates, new concepts of masculinity, changing patterns of male employment
- fathers are constrained by long working hours and limited access to parental leave
- increased rates of divorce when many fathers lose contact with their children
106
what was the sociologist that studied fathers
Anne Gray
107
what did Anne Grey find
- many fathers emphasised the need to spend quality time with their children
108
FF - how many men in the UK are victims of domestic violence
1/6
109
evaluation of family inequalities for men - feminists
- tend to argue that male inequalities are minor in scale to those faced by women
- Natasha Walter - 'sexism against men doesn't exist in the same way because of the way the system is balanced'
110
other evaluation of family inequalities for men
- evidence shows that the labour market continues to favour men and that this is a crucial way in which inequality is maintained
- pay gap still exists
- even if women rely on their partners to work to help financially, women still have the dual burden and the triple shift
111
EVIDENCE THAT GENDER ROLES IN THE FAMILY HAVE CHANGED: sociologists
- Young and Willmott (symmetrical family)
- Caroline Gatrell (role of fathers)
112
what do Young and Willmott argue
- the existence of the 'symmetrical family'
- the roles of husband and wife are less segregated than in the east and there is more equality
- roles are opposite but similar: both contribute to the home
- the family spends more leisurely time together (rise of tech eg. TV)
- extended family count for less than before
- more financial partnership between husband and wifee
113
explain the move to a symmetrical family being the norm
- stratified diffusion (lots of social changes in values and attitude)
- rise of feminism in the 1960s had an impact on gender roles
- influenced women's attitudes to education and work (rejecting the typical housewife role)
- more effective forms of contraception means women can choose when to have family
- financially independent women now have more freedom and status
- key tech improvements mean men are more likely to spend time at home
114
EVIDENCE THAT GENDER ROLES IN THE FAMILY HAVE NOT CHANGED MUCH: sociologists
- Oakley (dual burden)
- Duncombe and Marsden (triple shift)
- Scott and Clery (supports Oakley's theory)
115
what did Oakley argue
- occasional help from the husband is NOT symmetry
- even women in paid employment still hold the responsibility of housework
- the behaviour hasn't changed much, even if the attitudes have
116
Oakley's 'dual burden'
- women who work full time have the dual burden of paid for and dimes work as ken are les willing to share the domestic work
117
what do Duncombe and Marsden argue
- triple shift
- paid work, housework/childcare AND emotional work
- (managing and soothing the emotions of partners and children)
118
what do Scott and Clery argue
- though the couple both tend to work full time now, women still work a double shift by doing paid work and household work
- gender inequalities in the home make it difficult to achieve equality in the workplace
