'Gender equality in work is a myth' - Discuss.

1. Addressing the question: what is work?

Essentially work can be regarded as being ‘paid or unpaid’ (Abercrombie and Warde, 1998, 66). Gender equality in work is not traditionally associated in the domestic sphere of the home. In this essay plan, I am concentrating on a heterosexual couple whom live together in a household. What is being investigated here is how women who are employed in jobs, be it part-time or full-time, have the additional responsibilities of domestic chores when they return to their home. This is an intrinsically structural inequality that exists in society and the data which follows serves to illustrate this.

1. Sources to consider using

Division of Household Tasks, 1983 and 1991 in Great Britain

Percentages

Source:         Social & Community Planning Research

Edition:        25 Published 1995

1. How I would utilise the source

The source was published in the mid-nineteen nineties, though the most recent material that it contains is over ten years old, and compares to the start of the previous decade in 1983. However, I do believe this exemplifies to what extent women are dominant within the house, doing work that is unpaid. Though over the period of the study there is slight dissuasion in the figures, with men doing slightly more work with regards to household shopping, making the evening meal and doing the evening  dishes and the sharing of work is slightly larger, it is obvious there has been little change since the early 1980s. It would be intriguing to locate further studies which are more contemporary than the source I have used that is embodied in the essay. However, using speculation I do not believe there would be a great variance in the figures, and there is a definite disparity between gender roles. The man is the fixer, as identified in the predominance of repairing household equipment. Thus seeing the ‘female as caring’ (Warren, 2001, 548), as most other chores are shared equally between husband and wife, or it is mainly the woman. I would expect to conclude that the woman being principal in household chores will inextricably link to the further predominant role of a woman being employed in part-time work. However this shall form the latter part of the essay, and I shall now concentrate on the evident wages gap between men and women, which is further hindered by women being mothers.

1. Consideration: the gender disparity in earnings

Headlines at the turn of the twenty-first century informed of the ‘Raw deal for women’ (Ward, 2000a, 7) and ‘Female forfeit’ (Ward, 2000b, 13). Thus there is evidence showing that women are disadvantaged in the labour market, and this is regardless of educational qualifications and employment breaks for women who choose to have children. A study conducted by the London School of Economics in 2000 showed that there was a distinct pay gap between men and women. This is an alarming study due to legislation implemented in the 1970s to try and curb this problem. Abercrombie and Warde are justified in their belief that the ‘implementation of the Equal Pay Act between 1970 and 1975 reduced the wages gap little’ (Abercrombie and Warde, 1998, 195). The table below will highlight the problems women face in employment in the twenty-first century.

1. Source: The Guardian, 21st February 2000, 13.
3. **********************

Gross Earnings: by gender and whether working full-time or part-time

Great Britain                                                £ per hour

Source: New Earnings Survey, Office for National Statistics

1. How I would use the sources

Demonstrated above, the sources which I uncovered during my research are excellent examples to show the gender inequalities which have been previously discussed. Further the London School of Economics study exposes the plight and lost earnings of women in part-time employment with children. Using this as a catalyst I would actuate this to link to the next section of the essay, which involves specifically women with children in part-time employment, and why they are disadvantaged.

1. Consideration: Part-time employment

1. Unsurprisingly the most disadvantaged woman has children and is employed part-time in the lower skilled and lower paid jobs. This is seemingly reinforced by society in that ‘Britain has limited childcare provision, which restricts the employability of women with young children’ (O’Reilly and Bothfield, 2002, 410). Warren’s 2000 study affirms that female part-time workers in the lowest wage sector are disadvantaged as their wages fall below the level to which National Insurance Contributions are mandatory. Thus if NIC’s are not paid then workers do not accrue a state pension and additionally they are excluded from other benefits (Warren, 2000, 11). Evidently, the low pay is only one factor in the disadvantage of women in the employment market. Their employment in a predominantly ‘less unionised service sector produces a distinctly low quality part-time labour market in Britain’ (Warren, 2001, 550).
3. A question which could be raised is why women with children have to accept only part-time employment. Implicated in this argument is the unpaid work that women are engaged in. Such that ‘an argument has been that many women with family responsibilities have no choice, they are forced into jobs of short hours,’ (Warren, 2000, 1). Thus a patriarchal society that serves to reinforce the male as the dominant breadwinner further coerces the woman into a position that is reliant on the man being the main earner due to lack of welfare provision for mothers who have to work. This is manifestly a structural inequality in society that simultaneously advances the dominance of men, while impoverishing the position of women. In the form of the essay I would inextricably link this to each of the points explored in the essay, and this would lead me to draw my conclusions.

1. Drawing my conclusions

4. Pulling the strands of the essay together, I would seek to present my evidence in a summarised and coherent form. In answering the question, I would expect to find that there is a distinct lack of gender equality with the dual pillars of paid and unpaid work. This would further lead to me to draw attention to the pre-eminence of Britain being a patriarchal society. Of course, this plan has had a focus on a heterosexual coupling probably in the working class or lower middle class. Further derivations from such an essay could involve gender inequalities at the other end of the spectrum: a single woman struggling to smash through the glass ceiling.

Bibliography

Abercrombie, N. and A. Warde. 1998. Contemporary British Society. Cambridge: Polity.

O’Reilly, J. And S. Bothfield. 2002. “What happens after working part time?,” Cambridge Journal of Economics. 26: 409-439.

Ward, L. 2000a. “Raw deal for women”. June 14 2000. The Guardian. 7.

Ward, L. 2000b. “Female Forfeit”. February 21 2000. The Guardian. 13.

Warren, T. 2001. “Divergent female part-time employment in Britain and Denmark and the implications for gender equity,” Sociological Review, 49 (4): 548-567.

Warren, T. 2000. “Women in low status part-time jobs: a class and gender analysis,” Sociological Research Online, 4 (4): 1-20 <http://www.socresonline.org.uk/4/4/warren.html>

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