Memorandum submitted by the YWCA England
and Wales
INTRODUCTION TO
YWCA
1. YWCA England & Wales is the leading
charity working with young women facing poverty, discrimination
or abuse. We work with young women aged 11-30 including many who
are not in education, employment or training (NEET) or who are
struggling to find work or training that will lead to a financially
secure future.
2. Through our work we provide support,
information and the opportunity to learn. We deliver our work
through over 140 programmes. These programmes reach out to young
women with very complex problems, most of whom live in economically
deprived areas in England and Wales. We also campaign with young
women and carry out research on issues they feel are holding them
back.
THE WOMEN
AND WORK
COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS
3. YWCA welcomes the recommendations of
the Women and Work Commission. We are gravely concerned that the
young women we work with often become trapped in a cycle of poverty
which becomes life long. We are concerned about the low wages
many young women receive when they take up gender stereotyped
work, for example childcare, elder care or cleaning.
4. We are also concerned that young women
are not getting the information and support they need to make
informed choices about their future careers. In particular we
are concerned that disadvantaged young women, especially those
already living in poverty, need extra support to build their confidence,
expand their social networks and broaden their knowledge of the
options available to them. Such support although addressed in
the Women and Work Commission recommendations is still not being
delivered and young women are still missing out on vital support
and information.
IMPLEMENTATION OF
THE WOMEN
AND WORK
COMMISSION: THE
LEITCH REVIEW
OF SKILLS
5. YWCA welcomes the Leitch review of skills
(Prosperity for all in the global economy) published by
the Treasury in December 2006, as it has the potential to improve
the skills and subsequent work and income prospects for the young
women we work with. YWCA understands that gender, youth and poverty
have a powerful impact on young women's lives. We are concerned
that the specific issues faced by young women, particularly those
in poverty, have not been addressed by Leitch and we would like
to highlight areas where we feel they need to be addressed. In
particular, to address the gender pay gap in apprenticeships if
that scheme is to be greatly expanded, as proposed by Leitch,
so not to perpetuate the disadvantage and stereotypes experienced
by young women.
6. Current government policy assumes that
young people make their choice about work and careers from a myriad
of options and that all young women have unrestricted choice.
This is not the case. Making use of options requires a certain
level of economic, cultural and social capital which disadvantaged
young women do not always have.
YWCA CALLS FOR
1. Every young woman facing disadvantage
to be offered women-only group work which builds their skills
and resilience and helps them find out about work and the long-term
financial implications of career choice.
2. National standards for information, advice
and guidance to specifically include opportunities for young women
to analyse and discuss gender stereotypes in work and the impact
of choosing different types of jobs on pay and their future income.
3. Every young woman facing disadvantage
to:
— be offered a wide choice of
quality work experience placements including non-gender stereotypical
placements;
— have work placements which offer
young women the chance to try out different types of work, including
examples of work that will take them beyond a low income; and
— have two work experience placements,
one of which must be in a career sector that would lead to well
paid employment.
4. Apprentices to receive the National Minimum
Wage.
5. The Low Pay Commission and Apprenticeships
Steering Group to conduct an inquiry into the impact of the National
Minimum Wage exemption for apprenticeships on:
— the gender pay gap; and
— disadvantaged young women's
entry and retention on apprenticeship schemes.
SOME EVIDENCE
IN SUPPORT
OF THE
YWCA CALLS
Careers advice and education
7. As clearly stated in previous Trade and
industry Select Committee evidence[44]
and the Women and Work Commission report, young women need good
quality careers advice. In reality young women are still receiving
inadequate and gender stereotyped careers advice. Information,
advice and guidance (IAG) must go further than offering a broad
range of solutions; it must actively challenge gender stereotypes,
support young women to understand the pay implications of the
choices they make and it must build their skills and resilience
so they can deal with barriers to work.
8. In YWCA's experience of working with
young women facing poverty and multiple disadvantage, we have
found that short advice sessions on work and careers are inadequate.
Both gender and socio-economic status impact on a girl's choices
about work. Girl's post-compulsory pathways have been shown to
differ significantly according to socio-economic group and ethnicity,
with white girls from lower socio-economic groups more likely
to pursue gender-stereotypical future occupations. [45]
9. Young women often have very low self-esteem
and expectations of themselves. These need to be raised over time
through group and one to one activities that target self-confidence
as well as increasing knowledge. It is important that the young
women challenge them themselves and are not just told what to
think. Many also face pressure from families and communities and
must tackle this as well, if they are to enter non-stereotypical
work that pays well.
Work experience
10. At a time of public debate for the increased
age of formal education to 18 years of age, young women are still
not being offered the opportunities to try out safe, non-traditional
work experience. What is on offer is often gender stereotyped
and limited. Those who do try out non-stereotypical work can face
negative feedback from peers or colleagues.
11. Many young women in our projects are
being offered little or no work experience opportunities. Many
are still offered gender stereotyped opportunities in low income
roles. Learning and Skills data shows that out of 10,256 placements
covering mechanical, construction and engineering only 5% were
taken up by young women. It is also the case that young women
from lower socio-economic backgrounds are taking up stereotypically
female and "working class" jobs. [46]These
girls are then further disadvantaged because of the low pay they
receive in traditionally "female" sectors like childcare,
compared to traditionally male sectors like construction and plumbing.
[47]
12. Other young women have to find their
own work experience placements, limiting their options to their
family and community who are often living in poverty themselves.
Pay and apprenticeships
13. Although YWCA supports the drive to
get young people in poverty into work, we remain concerned that
work in itself has proved not to be a route out of poverty for
many. Wages remain so low, particularly for younger people who
receive less minimum wage and even less in apprenticeships, that
they instead become trapped in a cycle of in-work poverty. Whilst
it is now a requirement that employers pay apprentices £80
per week, this is not enough. Low pay effects female apprentices
more.
14. The lowest paid trainees work in the
hairdressing and early years care and education sectors48[48]
and take home £90 per week in pay. Within the hairdressing
sector apprentices take home on average £90 per week in pay;
93% of these are women. Within the early years care and education
sector, apprentices take home on average £95 per week; 97%
are women.
15. Applying the Minimum Wage would increase
disadvantaged young women's ability to take up and stay on these
schemes, reduce poverty and help tackle the gender pay gap between
male and female apprentices.
16. The Leitch report recommends an expansion
of the Apprenticeships scheme. Yet low wages for female apprenticeships
prevent disadvantaged young women from entering them. Low pay
may also result in young women dropping out of apprentices according
to research .Only half of those on apprenticeships in England
finish them. Research by the National Foundation of Educational[49]
research found that a quarter (27 per cent) of trainees who had
dropped out of their training stated "not getting enough
money" as their main reason for not completing their apprenticeships.
17. However, even when working in the same
sector, male and female apprentices earn different amounts. For
example, in the Hospitality sector where there is a more equal
split between the sexes, females earn 85% of what men earn. [50]
18. Some young women will always be doing
the cleaning, catering and childcare, and in fact many want to.
Therefore revaluing their work through pay is essential for fairness
but also to protect them from poverty. Revaluing traditionally
women's work may also help to re-balance gender stereotypes by
encouraging more males into these areas.
18 January 2007
44 Trade and Industry Select Committee (2005) Jobs
for the girls: Occupational segregation and the gender pay gap. Back
45
Francis, Osgood et al (2005) Gender equality in work
experience placements for young people, London metropolitan
University/EOC. Back
46
ibid. Back
47
EOC (2004) Plugging Britain's Skills gap: Challenging gender
segregation in training and work. Manchester. EOC. Back
48
Ullman and Deakin (2005) Apprenticeship Pay: A survey of earnings
by sector available at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR674.pdf Back
49
Spielhofer, T; Nelson, J; O'Donnell L and Sims, D (2006) The
role of Training Allowances in incentivising the behaviour of
young people and employers (June 2005 to March 2006) available
at http://www.nfer.org.uk/research-areas/pims-data/summaries/role-of-training-allowances.cfm Back
50
Ullman and Deakin (2005) Apprenticeship Pay: A survey of earnings
by sector available at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR674.pdf Back
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