Economics of Occupational Segregation: a free one-day course.

Occupational segregation, when women and men are clustered into certain occupations, is a significant cause of the gender pay gap in Scotland. Public sector bodies in Scotland have a duty to take action on occupational segregation as part of their work to bring about equal pay. Occupational segregation is one of two gender priorities identified by Scottish Ministers as part of the gender duty on the public sector. It is also recognised to be a barrier to economic productivity.

Understanding the causes of occupational segregation is complex, but an important issue to engage with when working to meet the gender duty. The Business School at Glasgow Caledonian University have developed this one-day course for Close the Gap, which will enable participants to gain an understanding of different economic analysis of occupational segregation, including feminist economics.

Open to all practitioners working on equality, workforce planning, skills, or related policy areas, it will be of particular relevance to those in the public sector in making the business case for action on occupational segregation, and in rooting proposals for work on gender equality in a robust economic framework.

The course will be delivered through a mixture of presentations and facilitated group discussions, and will consider case studies involving occupational segregation in the workplace. By the end of the course participants should be able to:

1. Outline the basic principles of mainstream neoclassical economics and understand key components of an economics approach.
2. Critique neo-classical economics from a feminist economic perspective and outline why a gender analysis should be central to economics.
3. Describe the nature of occupational segregation and its impact on women.
4. Understand the relationship between ‘value’, ‘productivity’ and ‘pay’ from neo-classical and feminist perspectives.
5. Understand what undervaluing is and how it links together the causes of the gender pay gap.
6. Understand how undervaluing fits within the wider concept of economic theory, sociological theory, and overall labour market perspectives.
7. Discuss occupational segregation with reference to the local government equal pay dispute and the Modern Apprenticeship training programme.

The course will run on the following dates:

Edinburgh: Monday 14 February 2011, 10am to 4pm (registration from 9:30) Scottish Enterprise, Apex House, 99 Haymarket Terrace, Edinburgh EH12 5HD.

Glasgow: Friday 18 February 2011, 10am to 4pm (registration from 9:30) Scottish Youth Theatre, The Old Sheriff Court, 105 Brunswick Street, Glasgow G1 1TF

To reserve a place please return the booking form to Shona Roberts at by fax on 0141 337 8101 or call on 0141 337 8131 or email sroberts@stuc.org.uk. Please register by Monday 7  February 2011. Places are limited, and early registration is recommended.

'Edwardian' maternity leave to be able to be shared with fathers* under new proposals

The UK Government has announced that it will be conducting a root and branch reform of existing maternity and paternity leave entitlements, to move provision away from the existing 'Edwardian' arrangements. Speaking to Demos, Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, set out details of a consultation process, which would ultimately seek to allow families to divide responsibilities for baby care in the way that most suits their needs. 

Maternity and paternity leave is already set to change in April 2010, when parents will be able to share 46 weeks of leave. This means, for example, that if a mother returns to work after 20 weeks, then her partner will be able to take 16 weeks of leave.

Clegg has said that the Government will launch a consultation on a "properly flexible system" within the next few weeks, with a view to implementation in 2015. Possibilities for this new flexibility include enabling parents to share shorter chunks of leave, the introduction of leave specifically aimed at fathers* on a use-it-or-lose-it basis, and enabling fathers to start paternity leave six weeks after the birth.

There has been a reasonably warm response from business groups, with the Federation of Small Businesses averring that "allowing parents greater flexibility as to when and how leave is taken would give them more choice and at the same time enable employers to feel confident that they understand their employees’ intentions about returning to work".  The CBI "support[s] moves to make parental leave more flexible", stating that "this will help families better balance their work and home life."

Women in Scotland are unequally responsible for childcare, care for sick people, and care for older people. Despite the fact that women are now present in the formal labour market in greater numbers than previous generations, the additional burden of reproductive labour means that women are often crowded into low-pay, low-status work because it can be done on a part-time or flexible basis. Childcare patterns established in the first year of a baby's life can be difficult to change, and structures that allow fathers and partners to share more equally in care are to be welcomed.

*Despite the use of the name 'paternity leave', the leave is available to female partners of women who have given birth. The impact of leave proposals on same-sex couples has largely been missing from the discussion.

Jobs for the boys...and girls?

The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is a functional Committee of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. CSW charts progress of states to deliver on the Beijing Platform of Action on women’s equality, agreed at the 4^th World Conference on Women.

The theme of CSW 2011 is on ‘access to and participation of women and girls in education, training, science and technology’ and will include discussions on ‘the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment.'  

Occupational segregation is a key cause of the gender pay gap, where women are ‘clustered’ into lower valued and lower paid jobs and a lack of flexible working options makes it hard for women to progress in their chosen careers and capitalise on promotional opportunities.

This phenomenon is endemic in Scotland’s education, training and employment structures. For example, only 26 per cent of modern apprentices ‘in training’ are women. Of that total, we can see a stark gender divide in the uptake of MA Programmes; where only 2 per cent of engineering apprentices are women and 98 per cent of childcare apprentices are women. The average salary for an electrical engineer (skilled trade) is £24,030 and for a nursery nurse it is £12,695 (from Annual Survey Hours and Earnings, 2010). The jobs for the boys are also more likely to be better paid.

In higher education in Scotland, 90 per cent of computing science undergraduates are men.  In bioscience, despite 66 per cent of all graduates being female, only 35 per cent of senior scientific and managerial positions are held by women.

Close the Gap, Engender and the Scottish Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology (SRC) have organised an event at the Scottish Parliament to discuss our report for CSW 2011 and the barriers and challenges facing women and girls in education, training and the labour market.

The discussion will centre on access to education, occupational segregation and the nature of women’s participation in the labour market in Scotland. Taking part in this debate will better inform our report and ensure we can influence action at a national and international level.  

The event is taking place on Wednesday 9 February at the Scottish Parliament between 6pm-8pm and is hosted by Johann Lamont MSP. The speakers include Engender, Close the Gap and the SRC.

To attend please contact Karen@engender.org.uk or call 0131 558 9596. We hope to see you there.

Exploring gender pay gap statistics

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) has published the results of the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) for 2010. The gender pay gap in Scotland remains at 11.9% when we compare men’s full-time earnings and women’s full-time earnings. When we compare women’s part-time earnings to men’s full-time earnings the pay gap is 33.6%. This is almost an increase of 2% from 2009.

In the UK media there have been a flurry of articles pointing to the triumphant decrease in the pay gap. However the story in Scotland is slightly different as we will come on to discuss. Before that lets consider the ways in which the pay gap is calculated in the UK and in Scotland.

There are a number of factors to consider when reporting on the pay gap. The headline gender pay gaps reported in the media may differ according to the region, the average measurement used and whether the headline figure combines the full-time and part-time earnings. What they are all telling us though is that women on average are still getting paid less than men. The table illustrates the different pay gap calculations in Scotland.

Pay gap in Scotland

Mean

Median

Comparing women and men’s full-time hourly rates of pay

11.9 %

7.8 %

Comparing women’s part-time and men’s full-time hourly rates of pay

33.6%

35%

Comparing women and men’s part-time hourly rates of pay

1.2%

-7.7%

Combined figure (all women/all men)

16.3%

17.2 %

The pay gap is reported using the ‘gross hourly rates of pay excluding overtime’ to indicate as much as possible the ‘basic’ rate of pay.

The median is one measurement used to calculate the average hourly pay by finding the ‘midpoint’ in all employees’ hourly rates of pay and discarding the lowest and highest rates of pay. Therefore, half of the employees will earn a rate above the midpoint and half will earn a rate below the midpoint. Statisticians would regard the median as a more accurate measure as it is not skewed by the very low hourly rate of pay or the very high hourly rate of pay. However, at the same time it does hide the structural inequality between men and women indicative of the pay gap.

The mean measurement on the other hand is calculated by adding all employees’ rates of pay together and dividing by the total number of employees. The mean includes the lowest and highest rates of pay. This will include a number of low paid employees, who are more likely to be women. The median figure hides the fact that there are a few extremely high earning staff, who are more likely to be male, and that many women are ‘clustered’ in the lowest paid brackets, therefore more women will be found below the midpoint.

When considering the pay gap it is important to also understand the general difference in working patterns of women and men. The patterns of employment for women and men during the period January 2009-December 2009 is as follows:

• 89% of men work full-time (as a percentage of the total male population in work in Scotland)
• 58% of women work full-time (as a percentage of the total female population in work in Scotland)

A much lower percentage of men work part-time in Scotland and secondly they are less likely to be in part-time positions over a long period of time. In addition wages are more likely to be lower in female-dominated workplaces than male-dominated workplaces or workplaces which are more diverse. This is also true of the UK as whole.

In some cases the pay gap is reported as one figure combining full-time and part-time earnings, but again this is influenced by the different working patterns of men and women. The headline figure is influenced by compositional differences in working patterns i.e. more women work in lower paid, part-time work, which in statistical reporting is referred to as the ‘part-time’ effect. The 11.9% illustrates the ‘true size’ of the gender pay gap as the ‘part-time effect’ has been controlled.

Furthermore, comparisons between men’s part-time earnings and women’s part-time earnings present some interesting findings. In Scotland women earn more than men when we consider the median average i.e. the ‘negative gap’ and for the mean the pay gap is only 1.2%. This comparison again hides the nature of women and men’s participation in the labour market.

So what are the UK press articles reporting on when claims that women have ‘smashed the glass ceiling’ and that the pay gap is at its lowest since analysis began in 1997? And what about the Scottish picture?

In terms of ‘smashing the glass ceiling’ what the article actually tells us, is that yes women in the UK on average (using the median), aged 22-29 earn slightly more than men (a gap of 2.1%). But the pay gap reverts to almost 3% for women and men aged 30-39 and then 16.1% for those aged 40-49. This isn’t tantamount to ‘smashing the glass ceiling’ but rather illustrates the ‘glass ceiling’ is well and truly intact, but you are unlikely to realise it is there until you reach the age of 30 perhaps?

As women progress in their chosen career the pay gap widens which for many coincides with returning to work after maternity and trying to strike a work-life balance, leading to the need to secure part-time work due to caring responsibilities. Part-time work is on average lower paid and tends to be ‘clustered’ into a limited range of occupations such as administration, childcare etc.

Furthermore, if we calculate the UK pay gap using the mean average the gap has narrowed by less than 1%. After 40 years of equal pay legislation there is still an average UK gender pay gap of 10.2% or 15.5% depending on which measurement you use. This comparison is between full-time employees. Women constitute a much higher percentage of part-time workers and part-time work is lower paid.  

In Scotland, it is a slightly different picture. As previously discussed the mean average indicates that there is a slight decrease in the pay gap from 2010. In 2009 the pay gap was 12.4% and in 2010 this has dropped 0.5% to 11.9%. However, when we consider the comparison between men working full-time and women working part-time there is an increase from 32.1% to 33.6%.

As a result compared to the UK, Scotland appears to have a smaller headline full-time pay gap, but the decrease overall from 2009 to 2010 is smaller than the UK. 

For the press articles on this see for example:

The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/women-in-their-twenties-smash-glass-ceiling-to-reverse-pay-gap-2154836.html

BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11947127

Financial Times: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/596dcee6-0321-11e0-80eb-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss#axzz180LIZE3K

The Daily Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8189427/Gender-pay-gap-narrows-as-public-sector-salaries-rise.html

***

For information on the ASHE and other labour market statistics see for example:

For more information the ONS published a report on presenting pay gap statistics in 2009 which can be viewed here:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/articles/nojournal/PresentationoftheGenderPayGap.pdf

For the full ASHE results 2010:

 http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=1951

The source for the patterns of employment is the Annual Population Survey reported at the ONS under the Labour Market Statistics Monthly Regional Data. The split between full-time and part-time is based on self classification and excludes temporary workers. This information was accessed on October 2010 http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=15084