Work/ Employment (STEP)

Satisfaction

1. Abrams

• women working for minimum wage = frequently exploited by employers, unpaid for overtime e.g. breaks/ training, lack of provision of uniform/ equipment, unethical practices, gender inequality

2. Mac an Ghaill

• ‘crisis of masculinity’, unemployment in traditional wc areas, + criminal behaviour, girls overtaking boys in educational achievement, + homelessness rates, + suicidal rates for men compared to women e.g. men living 7 years less, confusion/ uncertainty of proper roles/ identities, deindustrialisation, manufacturing labourers/ semi-skilled workers no longer needed after technological advances which took over from physical human strength/ effort, replacement with short-term/ part-time work, gender inequality

Top Jobs

1. Arber & Ginn

• older women doing significant unpaid labour e.g. caring for grandchildren/ volunteering for charities/ within communities, consistently doing emotional work/ housework/ domestic labour e.g. cooking/ cleaning/ shopping/ planning, women = less likely to be paid reflecting their economic contribution, gender inequality 

2. Glass Ceiling

• ‘vertical segregation’, invisible barriers to senior positions, women = disproportionately disadvantaged e.g. 17% of company directors = women, 15% of top media execs, 22% of MPs, 15% of high court judges, 10% of top  business leaders, gender inequality

Employment Opportunities

1. UK Feminista

• 30,000 women fired per year for being pregnant (even though illegal), 440,000 lost pay promotions, ‘motherhood penalty’, ‘leaky pipeline’, gender inequality 

2. Dodd/ Zempi

• discrimination against muslim women wearing hijab = less likely to be employed, gender inequality

• racial inequality/ discrimination against muslim women, gender inequality

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Pay/ Income

1. Sommers/ UK Parliament Gender Pay Gap

• factual feminism, an ‘earning gap’ (not a ‘pay gap’) between men/ women (not due to discrimination but different career choices instead), men = more likely to perform dangerous work e.g. in 2021 97% of work fatalities = men, women = more likely to be employed in a caring profession e.g. nursing, gender inequality

• UK gender pay gap in 2019 = 17.3% in favour of men, 8.9% full-time/ -3.1% part-time (predominantly women), gender inequality

2. UK Women’s Budget Group/ Alakson

• in 2017, 47% of workers = women but = 73% of part-time employees, 66% of mothers looking for a job = part-time workers compared to 77% of fathers in full-time work, wages/ job prospects/ employment drop for women after having children, men = less affected, 47% of women with children under 5 do not work, gender inequality

• 70% of women had ‘freely chosen’ to perform part-time work whilst balancing family commitment but cited high cost of childcare, difficulties/ issues in finding wrap-around availability for short school day, inflexibility in employers/ male partners, 44% took lower skilled/ paid work than previously, ‘part-time penalty’, gender inequality