Creating equality in the workplace has been quite an uphill struggle over the last 40 years. Now it seems, slowly but surely, women are finally getting there…
Back in the 1960s, women were seen as housewives, mothers and lovers. They were treated as second class citizens in the workplace; they had very few rights and being pregnant was a sackable offence. Fifty years on, more and more female graduates are achieving successful careers, but the problem of gender inequality in the workplace still exists. There is still a lack of women in top positions, with women making up just 5% of executive directors in Britain’s public companies, according to a survey by headhunter, Egon Zehnder International. A report commissioned by the government equalities office to coincide with International Women’s Day predicts that at the current rate of progress, it could take six decades for women to gain equal representation on the boards of FTSE 100 companies. It’s hoped that high-profile businesswomen like Karren Brady, who is currently vice chairman of West Ham United Football Club, may inspire more women to aim for the top and make it easier for them to rise through the ranks, too.
Mind the gap
For now, however, the lack of women is evident in all areas and levels of business, particularly in fields traditionally seen as male dominated, such as finance, and science, engineering and technology (SET). The government equality minister, Lynne Featherstone, said the fact that there are only 5.3% of working women in SET in the UK represented a huge problem for the prosperity of the British economy. The shortage of women in these roles is not down to a lack of willing and able applicants. In 2008, some 620,000 women in the UK were graduates in SET subjects, but 70% were not working in these occupations, according to The UKRC report Women Mean Business: Why Gender Equality is Essential in Science, Engineering and Technology.
‘There unfortunately exists a culture in some circles of science – reminiscent of how workplaces were 20 or 30 years ago – which puts women off from pursuing a career in the industry, and makes it extremely hard for those who work in these occupations to progress,’ says Lynne Featherstone. ‘In some companies maternity leave provision and flexible working practices are limited and as a result, the majority of female scientists choose their children and alternative careers instead of struggling with the hurdles of long hours and old boys’ networks.’ In the banking, finance and insurance sector, the problem is equally rife, according to a UK Treasury Committee report earlier this year. Women make up around 44% of employees, but they are significantly under-represented at senior levels throughout the financial services.
And it’s not just the numbers in the boardrooms that show discrepancy. It’s evident in the pay packets, too. Men get paid more than women. How much more varies, according to which report you read and factors including age, education, career stage and whether you are in full or part-time work. The latest figures from The Office for National Statistics 2009 survey of hourly earnings shows the mean hourly full-time gender pay gap has narrowed from 17.1% to 16.4% in the past year; and the mean part-time gender pay gap has narrowed from 36.7% to 35.2% in the past year**. It may not be much, but at least the figures are moving in the right direction. Ceri Goddard, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, a group which campaigns for equal rights for women, says: ‘While the slight narrowing of the gender pay gap is a cause for celebration, we cannot afford to become complacent. The rate of change over the past four decades has been slow, and only some employers are taking action to root out pay inequality.’
Tackling the problem
The new coalition government has promised to tackle the issue of gender inequality in the workplace. The Equality Act will come into force in October 2010 and will encourage businesses to employ more women, force larger companies to remove secrecy clauses from employment contracts and be more transparent about pay gaps, publishing figures on salaries. Its action plan includes addressing gender stereotyping during education, providing more opportunities for flexible working, tackling discrimination in the workplace and promoting equal pay. ‘The fact that 40 years after the Equal Pay Act, the majority of those on low wages are still women, reminds us how frustratingly slow progress has been and how difficult it is to remove deep-rooted and entrenched inequality,’ says Lynne Featherstone.
‘The issue still is – from the highest earners to low income earners – women get the raw deal.’ Traditionally, women have been more likely to go into lower paid work in fields such as caring, clerical and catering, but it is not a lack of education that is holding them back. In a National Equality Panel report, it was found that girls now have better educational outcomes than boys at school, and are more likely to enter higher education and to achieve good degrees.
Mum’s the word
Motherhood plays a crucial role in women’s wages. A 2009 study by the Fawcett Society found that women with children earn about 22% less than their male colleagues. Many are faced with the decision of continuing their careers, swapping ‘traditional’ homemaker roles with their partner, or stepping off the career ladder and taking a salary cut so they can care for their children. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber says: ‘Women have outperformed men in education for a number of years yet many still end up in low-paid, part-time work once they become mothers. Millions of highly skilled women are being forced to sacrifice decent wages and their careers to combine work and family life. Enabling parents to better balance their childcare responsibilities while continuing in jobs that use and develop their skills would give the UK a productivity boost.’ Considering women are excellent multi-taskers, it’s high time UK plc realised their skills need to be better used in the workplace and not just at home.
How women can boost business
While inequality in the workplace is a problem, there are differences between how the sexes work. ‘Gender actually makes a difference to women at work,’ says Dr Stead, co-author of Women’s Leadership with Dr Carole Elliott (Palgrave Macmillan). ‘Being a woman leader is different to being a man leader because women have got different experiences because our society places different values on women and men – and that’s reflected in our workplace practices.’
It’s thought that having more females in the boardrooms is not only good for balance, but for business. A study by Leeds University Business School (LUBS), suggests that having at least one female director on the board appears to cut a company’s chances of going bust by about 20%. The study looked at the 17,000 companies that went under in 2008.
Pictures: getty images
