It’s a subject know to get any woman’s blood boiling, but the
gender equality issue isn’t going away any time soon. Lord Davies ‘Women on
Boards’ 2014 report concluded that the number of women in executive roles is
rising, but females are still proportionally outnumbered across the employment sector.
So is this enough to create a culture change for the woman?
The FSTE100 has conventionally been dominated by men, but the
recent increase of women on FSTE100 boards from 12.5% in 2011 to 20.7% in 2014
has sparked a national movement. By putting the imbalance of gender employment
in the public eye, people are finally listening.
With the successful International Women’s Day held in March,
leading females have spoken out on creating equality in the office. With the
voice and power to influence millions, famous singer Beyoncé recently said to
the Telegraph: “We have to teach our
boys the rules of equality and respect, so that as they grow up, gender
equality becomes a natural way of life. And we have to teach our girls that
they can reach as high as humanly possible."
Teaching the younger generation is only the beginning, but
it’s improving the situation now that is vital in order to progress. The
Government are continuing their voluntary approach with the FSTE100 and other businesses,
but there are concerns that they may miss their 25% target of female executives
in the FSTE100 by 2015.
However, this leads on to various stems encompassing the
topical issues of gender equality in work and pay as a whole. As it stands, the
average woman earns 15% less than men, equating to around £5,000 a year. Even
more concerning is that this figure results in women earning a quarter of a
million pounds less over their lifetimes and begrudgingly working for ‘free’
for two and a half months per year.
If you type ‘gender pay gap’ into any search engine, you’re
met with thousands of articles, websites and even a Wikipedia page dedicated to
the term. It’s an obvious issue which has stubbornly stuck around in the
system, despite numerous government legislation and funds implemented to tackle
it. But is it its stubborn and bull-headed nature that’s making it become the
norm?
Figures
from the Bank of England highlight that less than 20% of women work in their
senior levels from Band 1-3, with them only outnumbering men by over 57% in
senior clerical staff, research assistants and support staff. Not to subvert
the stereotypical female ‘assistant’ profession, overall figures show that
female staff members make up 43% of the Bank’s workforce, but how much of that
is reflected in the unhealthy pay gap is debateable.
Traditionally
known to be the breadwinners of the family, men aren’t expected to take long
paternity breaks to have children, unlike women, so employers would argue that they
are a more ‘reliable’ bet. Hence following
the pay-gap subject, where women are paid significantly less even in this
modern day and age, where equality in race, gender and disability is still an
ever prominent topic. In fact, the pay gap percentage actually rose by 0.1%
from 2012 to 2013 to 19.7% in the UK, according to the Equal Pay Portal.
However
there is evidence of the pay gap decreasing, mainly in professional and associate occupations where the percentage is at a
historic low but it is still marginally high in trade professions such as
plumbers and electricians. Similarly, depending on what age category you are in,
your pay packet will be affected, as the average wage for the younger age bands
was at an all-time low in 2013, but increased for workers aged between 40-49
years old.
The Highway Agency, a stereotypical all-male profession, employed
944 Road Traffic Officers as of January 2014, of which 834 are men and only 110
are females. Whereas, Channel 4’s percentage of women from its in-staff was
just over 58% as of December 2013, with 35.5% of Head of Department positions
occupied by females and 57% of Executive roles also held by them. Emphasising
that a generalisation of women being marginally outnumbered in the workforce is
dependent on what job title they hold.
Other media bodies, such as the British Broadcasting Channel,
show that there is an even mix of gender in their ‘Journalism Job Family’. From
2008 to 2012 women have held more personal assistant and research positions
than men, whereas they are greatly outnumbered as management accountants and in
senior roles. Figures like this show that this maybe one of the many areas where
gender divide is an issue. Controversially, statistics highlight that the 12
women in Senior Management roles at the BBC in 2012 were paid 4.5% more than
the other 50 men, although the national broadcaster stresses that there are no
set salary ranges for staff at this level.
In comparison to the restrictions females reluctantly had over
100 years ago, the UK has evolved greatly to become the equal culture today.
With the hundred year anniversary of World War One fast approaching, it’s
important to understand how much leading female pioneers like Emily Davidson
and Emmeline Pankhurst sacrificed for women, in gaining the right to vote and
becoming more politicised and integrated into the workforce. Up to 800,000
females were employed in engineering workshops and 250,000 became land workers,
as the beginning of WW1 and lack of male workers highlighted a substantial
social change in gender equality.
Although the Government are aiming for a social transformation
in relation to gender equality, the Cabinet isn’t the flawless example to
compare to. Shadow
Minister for Women and Equalities, Gloria De Piero emphasises that "with
just five women out of 33 in the cabinet, and women only making up 20% of
government ministers, David Cameron and Nick Clegg have shut women's voices out
of their own top table"; fairly controversial, but nonetheless accurate.
However, the Home Office, a government department which deals with immigration and passports and counter-terrorism amongst
others, has 14,448 women employed, which is a thousand more than their
male counterparts.
Charities such as The Gender Trust and Equality Now have been campaigning for a change in the balance of the workforce in favour of women, as well as other ethnic minorities and disabled persons for many years. Despite the slow social movement of this issue, women are becoming more recognised in their employment fields and because of this it’s hoped that future generations won’t have to face the same problems any longer.
As women now equate for over 50% of the total population in
the UK and two thirds of them at working age now in employment, the highest
figure in British history, why is this still an issue? The Government still has
its target of reaching 25% of women on FSTE100 boards by 2015 and are creating legislation
around child care and cash support for start-up businesses to benefit women now
and in the future. But as Minister
for Women and Equalities, Maria Miller, is
perfectly justified in saying: "The workplace was designed by men for men.
Women do not need special treatment; they just need a modernised workplace that
gives them a level playing field." All that’s left to say is, men are you
ready to play game?
If you've made it this far.... gold star to you!
Fab article Rhiannon, it was really interesting! I find it crazy that there's still so much inequality in this day and age although at the same time it's encouraging that more is being said and done about it x
ReplyDeleteJosie’s Journal