2 Occupational segregation as a factor in
the gender pay gap
4. There are different ways of measuring the gap
between women's and men's earnings, but the main one, preferred
by the DTI, is the gap between men's and women's median full-time
hourly pay (excluding overtime) as a percentage of men's full-time
hourly pay. According to the Latest Annual Survey of Hours and
Earnings, in 2004 the gender pay gap was 14.4 percent. Women working
part-time face a disparity in relation to both men working full
time (43.2 percent less per hour) and women working full time
(33.7 percent less per hour).[1]
5. The causes of the gender pay gap have been
the subject of extensive research and are widely known. We have
not attempted a review of all this work. However, to establish
a context for our inquiry, we draw attention to recent research
carried out for the Equal Opportunities Commission on the relative
importance of the different factors contributing to the gender
pay gap. This research showed that 41 percent of the pay gap was
due to discrimination and other factors affecting the choice of
employment by women (with occupational segregation being a major
element in this); 36 percent was due to differences in employment
patterns (the greater tendency for women to experience breaks
in employment, or to take part-time or temporary work, often because
of domestic responsibilities); 15 percent was due to lower pay
in sectors and occupations with higher proportions of women in
the workforce; and eight percent was due to the fact that historically
women have spent fewer years in full-time education than men so
have had lower educational qualifications.[2]
These factors are closely related: women tend to take jobs in
certain sectors (such as retail) where part-time work is more
widely available, but these are very often low-paid sectors. For
our purposes, the difficulty of disaggregating these causes does
not matter. It is enough to understand that any programme to reduce
occupational segregation will need to address these other factors
too.
6. The disparity between the types of jobs taken
by men and by women in the UK is still very large. 60 percent
of women workers are employed in just ten out of 77 recognised
occupations,[3] with the
heaviest concentrations being in what have been called 'the five
Cs': caring, cashiering, catering, cleaning and clerical. The
2001 census showed that women formed 84 percent of the workforce
in personal services, 78 percent in administration and secretarial
work, and 71 percent in sales and customer services.[4]
Many such jobs are in smaller and non-unionised firms.[5]
They are often low paid and accorded a low status. There have
been attempts to quantify the effect of the 'women's work' factor,
which have concluded that, even when all other issues (skills,
hours of working, etc) are excluded, the greater the proportion
of men in the workforce, the higher the wages. For each ten percentage
points by which the proportion of men in an occupation increases,
the wages are 1.3 percent higher.[6]
7. One of the reasons why girls have historically
taken low paid jobs is that they had lower educational attainments
than boys, not least because they tended to leave full-time education
earlier.[7] This has changed:
a greater proportion of girls than boys now achieve the higher
grades in GCSEs (both academic and vocational) and 'A' levels,
and at degree level not only are there more female than male students
but also the class of degree they are achieving is rising.[8]
Disappointingly, despite the wider opportunities opened up by
these changes in educational attainment, when they start work
young people still tend to opt for traditional occupations (with
the result that girls' starting salaries for full time work are,
on average, 18 percent less per hour than boys'[9]);
and, once people have chosen an occupation, it becomes increasingly
difficult to change to a new one. Therefore, the choice of first
job is very important.
8. The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) has undertaken
research into the attitudes of young people towards jobs in non-traditional
sectors. In surveys of Year 10 pupils (aged 14-15 years), girls
were more likely than boys to think that jobs such as plumbing
could be done equally well by both sexes; 80 percent of girls
were willing to consider a non-traditional job; and significant
minorities of both boys and girls were interested in specific
non-traditional work (caring professions for the boys, technical
and engineering or construction work for girls). Many of the students
said they could be tempted to train for a non-traditional job
by: extra money for training; better pay rates than for jobs normally
done by their sex; the opportunity to try working in the job before
making a final choice; encouragement from others; more information
about the type of work; and more of their sex making the same
choice.[10] Adults were—at
least in theory—equally open-minded.[11]
However, many 16-18 year olds are making the same sort of choice
of job as their parents did.
9. The witnesses from the Learning and Skills Council
(LSC) suggested that, while younger pupils were willing to consider
new ideas, by the age of 16 they were "thinking about relationships,
thinking about [their] own identity, thinking about the views
of [their] peers, thinking about the views of [their] parents";
at the very time when they are expected to make job choices and
avoid stereotyping, "that is the point when they actually
feel more vulnerable and less willing to take what may be a courageous
step and do something different".[12]
The witnesses thought that it was too late to expect young people
to make atypical choices at 16, when they had never previously
been encouraged to think about this possibility or been given
information about pay and promotion prospects in different areas
of work. Moreover, in some cases they would have already limited
their options by their choice of GCSEs.[13]
Although, they admitted, this went beyond the remit of the Learning
and Skills Council (which deals with education and training from
the age of 16), they felt that schools should introduce some of
these issues to children even before the age of 14.[14]
10. We are encouraged that the DTI is conducting
research[15] into the
types of information, and sources of information, that are most
influential in determining the attitudes to different jobs of
young people (especially those in the 14-19 age group). The Minister
told us that the Government hoped to use this knowledge to decide
on the most effective ways of tackling stereotypes.[16]
1 Appendix 12, paras 3.1-3.4 (DTI) Back
2
Appendix 5, para 12 (EOC) Back
3
Appendix 9, para 6 (TUC) Back
4
Cited in Appendix 5, Summary (EOC) Back
5
Research for the EOC indicates that while 32 percent of men work
in a firm with 50-499 workers (the main UK definition of a medium-sized
company), only 23 percent of women do; and 15 percent of men work
in a firm with 500 or more employees, compared with only 12 percent
of women: Modelling gender pay gaps, Wendy Olsen and Sylvia
Walby, EOC Working Papers series No. 17, 2004, cited in Appendix
5, para 15 (EOC) Back
6
Appendix 5, para 12 (EOC) See also Qq 65 and 72: Amicus argued
that men's skills were rated more highly, and rewarded more, than
women's. Back
7
Appendix 8 (LSC) Back
8
GCE/VCE A/AS Examination Results for Young People in England
2003/04 (Revised), DfES, 12 January 2005 and Qualifications
obtained by and examination results of Higher Education students
at Higher Education Institutions in the United Kingdom for the
academic year 2003/04, Higher Education Statistics Agency,
11 January 2005 Back
9
Q 30 (EOC) Back
10
Appendix 5, para 21 and Qq 2-3 (EOC) Back
11
Ibid.-but the EOC had a caveat, that parents from
lower income groups seemed less willing to support their children
in the choice of non-traditional careers than middle class parents:
Qq 2-3 Back
12
Q 147 Far more boys than girls still opt for physics and mathematics
at 'A' level, for example: Appendix 3, para 7 (CBI), see also
Q 29 (EOC) Back
13
Q147 (LSC) Appendix 3, para 7 (CBI), The DTI, DfES and Institute
of Physics are researching into why girls give up physics at school,
for example: Q 191 (DTI) Back
14
Qq 148 and 168 Back
15
To be completed in September 2005 Back
16
Q 181 Back
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