Memorandum submitted by YWCA England and
Wales
DISADVANTAGED YOUNG WOMEN, WORK, SKILLS AND
TRAINING
INTRODUCTION TO
YWCA
1. YWCA is the leading charity working with
the most disadvantaged young women in England and Wales. Young
women face unique problems in today's society. They are largely
unheard and lack influence. We want a future where they can overcome
prejudice and take charge of their own lives. We run services
to support them and campaign with them to combat the discrimination
they face.
2. We provide:
— education opportunities, some leading
to qualifications;
— information and counselling;
— residential experiences;
— outdoor education, including the
Duke of Edinburgh's award scheme;
— help for young women in and leaving
the criminal justice system;
— physical and mental health information
and education;
— support for young pregnant women
and young mums;
— outreach services (working with young
women where they are and on their terms).
From our 14 YWCA centres across England and
Wales we run more than 140 programmes to give girls and young
women aged 11-30 the opportunity to be themselves and learn what's
possible in their lives.
Our programmes are designed in consultation
with young women, so we know we're giving them what they want.
Quality childcare is an integral part of what we offer. It means
young mums can join in our programmes, and know that their children
are well cared for in the cre"che.
DISADVANTAGED YOUNG
WOMEN AND
WORK
3. YWCA is deeply concerned that thousands
of disadvantaged young women have the potential to achieve so
much, but instead face a lifetime of poorly-paid, low skilled
jobs. For them there is only one rung on the career ladder, and
it's the bottom one. Our "more than one rung" campaign,
is about giving young women from disadvantaged backgrounds the
skills they need to climb off the bottom rung of the career ladder
and work towards a better future.
4. The facts speak for themselves:
— Twice as many young women as young
men who were poor in childhood were still poor at the age of 30.
[37]
— Young female apprentices get an average
£40 less a week than young men—a 26% difference. [38]
— A typical woman who left school with
no qualifications will lose out on £197,000 in earnings over
her lifetime, compared to her male counterpart, even if she has
no children. [39]
— 75% of working women are still found
in just five types of occupational groups; jobs like caterer,
carer, cleaner, cashier or clerical assistant—which are
amongst the lowest paid. [40]
We enclose the following reports for your consideration:
— "Young People's Reflections
on Work Choices and Support: Key Issues, Messages and Actions"
Development Focus Trust and SOLAR Action Research Centre, YWCA
(May 2007)
— "Evidence for YWCA Campaign
II: Review of Literature on Support for Work Choices", Final
Report University of Derby, YWCA (May 2007)
— "Making work work for girls:
why apprenticeships are not working for girls", YWCA (May
2007)
DISADVANTAGED YOUNG
WOMEN CAREERS
ADVICE
5. YWCA is concerned that careers advice
is not working for disadvantaged young women. Young people told
us that:
— They are rarely ever asked about
their dreams for the future, but are often coerced to take courses
that are available locally.
— They don't find Careers education,
guidance or advice helpful unless they already know what they
want to do.
— There is no support for those who
have left school at 16.
— They want support workers to be more
friendly and caring, listening to what they have to say and treating
them with more respect.
— Some would like help beyond just
careers education guidance or advice. They would like help with
personal and emotional issues, building confidence, dealing with
despondency or addressing deep-rooted emotional or psychological
issues.
— They valued mentors and peer mentors
especially when the mentor could act as a role model in the work
they want to go into: a mentor who really cares and who follows
them through their career.
6. We are also concerned that young women
are not being made aware of the array of jobs that exist and different
rates of pay. We have found that not enough is being done to tackle
both gender and class stereotypes. For example, the Equal Opportunities
Commission found that 67% of women surveyed were not aware of
the differences in pay rates for work usually done by men and
women—of these, 67% of women aged 16-24 would have considered
a wider range of career options had they known.
7. We have been working with young women
in YWCA centres to help them think creatively about the pay implications
of their work choices (See appendix).
8. A review of provision of support and
information services carried out for YWCA by University of Derby
found that there is no evaluation of what works to address inequality
when delivering careers education advice and guidance for disadvantaged
young women—we feel this is something that needs to be addressed.
Children's Trusts to ensure that all disadvantaged
young women have support from an inspirational adult in order
to raise their confidence and broaden their horizons—our
own research has shown that self-esteem and confidence are as
critical as qualifications when it comes to choices about work.
Every young woman in deprived areas to have individual
support and access to women only group work which tackles stereotypes,
improves her confidence and supports her both to make informed
decisions about work and to understand the long-term financial
implications of those decisions.
DISADVANTAGED YOUNG
WOMEN AND
WORK EXPERIENCE
9. Young women also tell us that getting
valuable work experience placements is difficult. They are constrained
by what they are offered which often results in them ending up
in stereotypical roles. If they were able to do work experience
in non-traditional sectors they might be more likely consider
non-traditional work in the future. For example, research by the
EOC found that 76% of girls and 59% of boys in their study could
be tempted to enter a non-traditional sector if they could try
it out before making a final choice. [41]
10. Young people with no or few qualifications
told us that to break the vicious cycle of: "No Experience,
No Confidence, No Trust", they want work experience and want
to be "Given a Chance" in the form of "Trial Days"
to prove themselves at work.
Disadvantaged young women should have safe opportunities
to try out and to take up non-stereotypical work.
DISADVANTAGED YOUNG
WOMEN AND
APPRENTICESHIPS
11. Whilst we welcome the proposed expansion
of apprenticeships as outlined in the Leitch Review, we want to
ensure that a) disadvantaged young women do not miss out on this
opportunity and b) that apprenticeships work for girls. For example,
latest information from the Learning and Skills Council shows
that just 12% of all Entry to Employment leavers, a programme
for disadvantaged young people who are not yet ready for an apprenticeship,
actually enter one.
12. We are also concerned by recent evidence
that shows that whilst there is an 18% wage return for males completing
a Level 2 apprenticeship, there is not for women and that young
women are still found in the five lowest paid sectors.
Disadvantaged female apprentices to receive the
equivalent of the national minimum wage so that they are not financially
penalised by the decisions they make. The Ministerial Apprenticeship
Steering Group to conduct an inquiry into:
— the gender pay gap in apprenticeships;
— the impact of low pay on disadvantaged
young women's entry and retention on apprenticeships;
— sector segregation by class and gender.
A duty on local authorities and key local players
to better assess and provide for the skills, training and apprenticeship
needs of disadvantaged young women, to dramatically increase and
sustain their skills and achievements with better-paid jobs at
the end.
APPENDIX
The following are examples of activities YWCA
carries out with young women to get them to think about work and
pay. The work the young women do forms part of an accredited module
in our Wise Up programme.
1. PLAY YOUR
CARDS RIGHT!
Based on the game show young women sit around
a board full of cards. Each card has a job title on it ranging
from poorly paid and stereotypically female jobs like childcare,
hairdressing or cashier work to stereotypically male jobs for
example plumbing, carpentry, engineering etc.
Young women choose a card with a job on it,
it gets turned over and on the reverse is the average hourly rate
for that job. There are also statistics on what percentage of
men and women do that job. The group then moves on to the next
card, looks at the job and has to call out "Higher"
or "Lower" for how much that job will be paid.
2. THE WORK
GAME
Young women split into groups and are given
a card with the name, pay rate and job of an imaginary person
to think about. Each group creates the life story of their character—whether
they had children or not, what they liked doing in their free
time. One or two young women from each group line up along a back
wall, symbolising the character they were playing. A list of questions
are read out, and for each question to which their character can
answer yes, the young woman take a step forward. The questions
included:
Step forward if:
— You can go to the cinema every week.
— You earn more than the national average
wage of £11.18 per hour.
— You earn more than the bare minimum
living wage of £7.05 per hour.
— You can go on holiday abroad once
a year.
— You can go out for a meal every week.
— You can go shopping and buy many
of the things you want.
— You can get a better job easily.
— You can afford to keep your own child
in full-time nursery care (£142 per week, £3.16 an hour
if you are working a 40 hour week).
— You can afford a private rented flat
(£93 per week, or £2.30 an hour for a 40 hour week).
— Your job offers lots of opportunities
to get a better job in a few years' time or after some more training.
At the end of the game, the young women symbolising
the characters are spread out across the room. Some have taken
lots of steps forward, and others very few. The best-paid characters
are unsurprisingly furthest forward, and the worst-paid furthest
back. The young women then brake up into their groups to begin
talking about what they could do to change things and make it
possible for those at the back to catch up.
3. SOUNDS NORMAL
TO ME!
Young women are read paragraphs about people
doing their jobs, for example:
"the painter whistled on the ladder and
the nurse walked underneath the ladder."
The young women then have to discuss the gender
of the people doing the jobs. They tend to make assumptions based
on gender stereotypes and this exercise encourages them to challenge
each other and their own assumptions.
4. JOBS FOR
THE GIRLS
Young women have silhouetted cut outs of a man
and a woman. They then have post-its with various different jobs
on them, including some stereotypically gendered jobs. They have
to stick the job titles onto one or the other of the silhouettes.
Once all the jobs are stuck young women look at each others decisions
and debate which genders do which jobs and look at exceptions
to the rule and what impact that might have.
July 2007
37 "Bucking the Trend-what enables those who
are disadvantaged in childhood to succeed in later life?"
Blanden, J, Working Paper 31, Department for Work and Pensions,
London HMSO (2006) Back
38
"Apprenticeship Pay: A Survey of Earnings by Sector",
DfES Research Report RR674 Ullman, A and Deakin, U (2005) Back
39
"Women's Incomes over the Lifetime", Stationary
Office, Rake, K (eds) (2000) Back
40
"Consultation response: Low Pay Commission" EOC
(2005) Back
41
Fuller, A, Beck, V and Unwin, L, "Employers, young people
and gender segregation", Working Paper Series No 28, Equal
Opportunites Commission Back
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