A peer introduced a Bill that would require gender pay differentials to be objectively justified, and introduce compulsory equal pay audits in certain circumstances.
Source: Equal Pay and Flexible Working Bill [HL], Baroness Morris, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Bill
Date: 2008-Dec
A new book examined women's employment at the start of the 21st century. Contributors identified aspects of women's labour market situation which remained poorly understood, and challenged much 'received wisdom' about women and work.
Source: Sue Yeandle (ed.), Policy for a Change: Local labour market analysis and gender equality, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2008-Nov
In April 2008 median gross weekly earnings were £479, up 4.6 per cent from £458 in 2007, for full-time employee jobs on adult rates whose earnings were not affected by absence. Excluding overtime, the median hourly earnings of full-time men were £12.50, an increase of 4.4 per cent, compared with £10.91 for women, an increase of 4.1 per cent: the gender pay gap therefore increased to 12.8 per cent, up from 12.5 per cent in 2007. There were 288,000 jobs with pay less than the national minimum wage held by people aged 16 or over – 1.1 per cent of the total number of jobs, compared with 1.2 per cent a year earlier.
Source: 2008 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Office for National Statistics (0845 601 3034)
Links: Report | Tables | ONS press release | Fawcett Society press release | TUC press release | CIPD press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report | Personnel Today report | FT report | Womensgrid report
Date: 2008-Nov
An article examined the introduction of the term 'work-life balance', the reasons for it, and its significance at the policy level, especially in terms of its implications for the pursuit of gender equality. At the policy level, its use was more a matter of strategic framing than substantive change. Nevertheless, because of the government's largely gender-neutral approach to the whole policy field, it was important to make explicit the tensions in the continuing use of the term.
Source: Jane Lewis and Mary Campbell, 'What's in a name? "Work and family" or "work and life" balance policies in the UK since 1997 and the implications for the pursuit of gender equality', Social Policy and Administration, Volume 42 Number 5
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Oct
A think-tank report said that discrimination did not play an important role in creating the gender pay gap. Pay differentials could be explained by variations in the kinds of job undertaken by men and women, as well as by educational and lifestyle choices.
Source: Len Shackleton, Should We Mind the Gap? Gender pay differentials and public policy, Institute of Economic Affairs (020 7799 8900)
Links: Report | Summary | IEA press release | Personnel Today report | Telegraph report
Date: 2008-Oct
An article said that equal pay legislation was in need of radical reform. It was essential to move beyond the existing narrow range of comparison, the limited definition of equality, and the lack of a collective dimension.
Source: Sandra Fredman, 'Reforming equal pay laws', Industrial Law Journal, Volume 37 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Sep
An article examined the reasons for the gender pay gap, using data from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. Differences in the pay of subgroups of the population were due to a combination of discriminatory and economic factors.
Source: Andrew Barnard, 'Modelling the gender pay gap in the UK: 1998 to 2006', Economic & Labour Market Review, August 2008, Office for National Statistics, Palgrave Macmillan (01256 329242)
Links: Article | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Aug
A paper examined the effect of marriage and children on women's movements between paid market work and unpaid family-care work, using longitudinal data for Great Britain and Italy. In both countries women from younger cohorts were more attached to the labour market: but in Great Britain, women's employment had gradually expanded, from exiting the labour market when marrying and re-entering at the end of childrearing, to exiting when having the first child and re-entering more often between births and more quickly after childbearing.
Source: Christina Solera, Combining Marriage and Children in Paid Work: Changes across cohorts in Italy and Great Britain, Working Paper 2008-22, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex (01206 873087)
Links: Working paper
Date: 2008-Jul
An article examined associations between (on the one hand) employment history and marital status and (on the other) unpaid care provision among those aged 40-59 in England and Wales. The results suggested a continuing gender dimension in care provision which interacted with marital status and employment in gender-specific ways. Implementation of strategies to enable those in midlife to combine care-giving and work responsibilities, should they wish to do so, should be an urgent priority.
Source: Harriet Young and Emily Grundy, 'Longitudinal perspectives on caregiving, employment history and marital status in midlife in England and Wales', Health and Social Care in the Community, Volume 16 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Jul
The chief executive of the equality and human rights watchdog said that there was a need to explore legislative change to tackle the significant inequality between maternity and paternity leave: the inequality could be entrenching the view that women were the ones who had to pay the career price for motherhood.
Source: Speech by Nicola Brewer, 14 July 2008, Equality and Human Rights Commission (020 3117 0235)
Links: Speech | EHRC press release | TUC press release | REC press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Telegraph report | FT report | BBC report
Date: 2008-Jul
The Court of Appeal ruled that the a trade union had indirectly discriminated against female workers during equal pay negotiations with a local council, because it had prioritized pay protection for male members over obtaining favourable back pay for female members.
Source: Allen and Others v GMB, Court of Appeal 16 July 2008
Links: Text of judgement | Personnel Today report | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Jul
An article examined some of the similarities and differences in the work orientations of women in professional/managerial, intermediate, and routine/manual socio-economic classes (in Oxford). It developed the concept of 'work orientation' to include the meaning of paid work as well as labour market behaviour for women with and without children. There were important class-based differences in women's attitudes; and apparently similar work orientations might have very different causes and labour market consequences.
Source: Laura James, 'United by gender or divided by class? Women's work orientations and labour market behaviour', Gender, Work and Organization, Volume 15 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Jul
An article examined the wage growth of men and women between the ages of 33 and 42 who were employed full-time at both of these ages, using the 1958 National Child and Development Study. Men were found to have higher wage growth than women when in higher occupations, and to be more likely than women to be in these higher-wage-growth occupations. Women's wages grew more slowly over the period than men's wages because they were located disproportionately in lower-growth and feminized jobs. Domestic ties did not explain the differences in wage growth for this group, where the occupational penalties of gender widened.
Source: Shirley Dex, Kelly Ward and Heather Joshi, 'Gender differences in occupational wage mobility in the 1958 cohort', Work, Employment and Society, Volume 22 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Jul
An article examined the gender gap in early-career wage growth, considering three main hypotheses – human capital, job-shopping, and 'psychological' theories. There was a substantial unexplained gap: women who had continuous full-time employment, had had no children, and expressed no desire to have them, earned less than equivalent men after 10 years in the labour market.
Source: Alan Manning and Joanna Swaffield, 'The gender gap in early-career wage growth', Economic Journal, Volume 118 Issue 530
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Jul
A new book examined changes in women's employment over the previous 25 years.
Source: Jacqueline Scott, Shirley Dex and Heather Joshi (eds.), Women and Employment: Changing lives and new challenges, Edward Elgar Publishing ( 01242 226934)
Links: Summary
Date: 2008-Jul
The Court of Appeal ruled that pay protection schemes – widely used to compensate staff in male-dominated jobs for the loss of bonuses abolished under equal pay legislation – were unlawful. The ruling exposed local authorities and National Health Service trusts to potentially very large back-payments to female public sector workers.
Source: Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council v Bainbridge and Others, Court of Appeal 29 July 2008
Links: Text of judgement | EHRC press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Personnel Today report | Telegraph report | FT report
Date: 2008-Jul
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the gender pay gap. It said that tackling occupational segregation and the gender pay gap was a crucial part of ensuring equality of opportunity.
Source: Jobs for the Girls: Two Years On – Government Response to the Committee's Second Report, Fourth Special Report (Session 2007-08), HC 634, House of CommonsBusiness, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2008-Jun
Researchers examined take-up of maternity benefits, and mothers' post-birth employment decisions. Maternity leave decisions were strongly influenced by financial considerations. Many mothers who were entitled to an extended period of leave did not take advantage of this, possibly because they were not willing or able to take unpaid time off. It was not possible (for methodological reasons) to establish whether the 2003 legislative changes had had any positive effects on the maternity leave experiences of disadvantaged mothers, or whether differences between different groups of mothers remained as large as they were before these changes were introduced.
Source: Ivana La Valle, Elizabeth Clery and Mari Carmen Huerta, Maternity Rights and Mothers' Employment Decisions, Research Report 496, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2008-Jun
A trade union briefing said that tackling women's low pay was key to ending child poverty.
Source: The Iron Triangle: Women's poverty, children's poverty and in-work poverty, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Briefing | TUC press release
Date: 2008-Jun
An article examined the impact that caring responsibilities had on women's employment. Carers' employment was affected by the duration of a caring episode, financial considerations, the needs of the person they cared for, carers' beliefs about the compatibility of informal care and paid work, and employers' willingness to accommodate carers' needs. Overall, informal carers continued to face difficulties when they tried to combine employment and care – in spite of recent policy initiatives designed to help them.
Source: Fiona Carmichael, Claire Hulme, Sally Sheppard and Gemma Connell, 'Work-life imbalance: informal care and paid employment in the UK', Feminist Economics, Volume 14 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-May
A new book examined the way that the intersection of gendered and ethnic identities operated at work and in the home; and offered insights into the experience of black and minority ethnic women who worked in a wide range of organizations and were active trade union members.
Source: Harriet Bradley and Geraldine Healy, Ethnicity and Gender at Work: Inequalities, careers and employment relations, Palgrave Macmillan (01256 329242)
Links: Summary
Date: 2008-May
An article presented estimates of the gender pay gap based on the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, the Labour Force Survey, and the New Earnings Survey panel data set. It examined how different personal and labour market characteristics influenced the earnings of men and women. The gender pay gap of full-time employees had narrowed since the introduction of the Equal Pay Act in 1975: but the gap varied depending on an individual's circumstances – for example, the number of dependent children, company size, and type of occupation were major factors in the difference between men and women's earnings.
Source: Debra Leaker, 'The gender pay gap in the UK', Economic & Labour Market Review, April 2008, Office for National Statistics, Palgrave Macmillan (01256 329242)
Links: Article | Abstract | ONS press release | Guardian report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2008-Apr
A special journal issue examined issues in gender and management.
Source: British Journal of Management, Volume 19 Issue s1
Links: Table of contents
Date: 2008-Mar
A trade union report said that the sharpest increase in the gender pay gap occurred when women reach their 30s. The difference between men's and women's full-time earnings rose from 3.3 per cent for women aged 22-29 to 11.2 per cent for women aged 30-39. Causes included: the concentration of women in low-paid jobs such as childcare and cleaning; the undervaluing of women's skills; and the employment 'penalty' for mothers.
Source: Closing the Gender Pay Gap: An update report for TUC Women's Conference 2008, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report | TUC press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Personnel Today report
Date: 2008-Mar
A report identified 113 'exemplar employers' that were committed to demonstrating innovative ways of tackling the underlying causes of the gender pay gap.
Source: Exemplar Employers Report, Women and Equality Unit/Government Equalities Office (ministers@dwp.gsi.gov.uk)
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Mar
A trade union report said that although more apprenticeship places had opened up for women in general, this had not happened in better paid male-dominated sectors such as engineering and construction.
Source: Still More (Better Paid) Jobs for the Boys: Apprenticeships and gender segregation, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report | TUC press release | UNISON press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2008-Mar
An article examined the fact that women who worked part time had, on average, hourly earnings about 25 per cent lower than those of women working full time. A sizeable part of the gap could be explained by the differing characteristics of full-time and part-time women workers. Almost all of the remaining gap was due to occupational segregation. Policies to reduce the pay penalty had had little effect, and it was likely that the situation would not change much unless better jobs could be made available on a part-time basis.
Source: Alan Manning and Barbara Petrongolo, 'The part-time pay penalty for women in Britain', Economic Journal, Volume 118 Issue 526
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Feb
A report by a committee of MPs criticized the government's review of discrimination law for failing to adequately address pitfalls in diversity law, and for providing no real solution to the gender pay gap.
Source: Jobs for the Girls: Two years on, Second Report (Session 2007-08), HC 291, House of Commons Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Fawcett Society press release | REC press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Guardian report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2008-Feb
An article examined the evolution of work hours for women and men during family formation and development. A substantial movement towards part-time work for women occurred with the first birth and continued steadily for 10 years. The gender gap in hours subsequently diminished, but persisted even after children had grown up. Births had little impact on men's hours, although there was some adjustment in the balance of work hours for couples following births and last school entry.
Source: Gillian Paull, 'Children and women's hours of work', Economic Journal, Volume 118 Issue 526
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Feb
An article gave a quantitative analysis of the nature of occupational change – based on the utilization of skills – as women made the transition between full-time and part-time work. One-quarter of women moving from full- to part-time work experienced downgrading. Women remaining with their existing employer were less vulnerable, and the availability of part-time opportunities was far more important than the presence of a pre-school child in determining whether a woman moved to a lower-skilled occupation. These findings indicated a loss of economic efficiency through the under-utilization of the skills of many of the women who worked part time.
Source: Sara Connolly and Mary Gregory, 'Moving down: women's part-time work and occupational change in Britain 1991-2001', Economic Journal, Volume 118 Issue 526
Links: Abstract | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Feb
A survey found that fewer than half of English and Welsh councils had carried out reviews into gender pay inequalities, nine months after a deadline to do so. Ending gender pay inequality would cost councils £1 billion for back pay, £1.5 billion to cover increased pay, and £400 million to provide pay protection for those who lost out from reviews. The review process had been held up by no-win, no-fee lawyers, who had taken cases to tribunals in order to gain full back pay for women – rather than the lower levels agreed between employers and unions to ensure an affordable agreement.
Source: Press release 2 January 2008, Local Government Employers (020 7664 3131)
Links: LGE press release | Guardian report | Community Care report | BBC report
Date: 2008-Jan
Researchers analyzed the Families and Children Study to explore the role of 'mini-jobs' – paid work of 1-15 hours per week, for women with children. There was little evidence that 'couple mothers' used mini-jobs as part of a transition to work of longer hours.
Source: Jon Hales, Sarah Tipping and Nick Lyon, Mothers' Participation in Paid Work: The role of 'mini-jobs', Research Report 467, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2008-Jan
An article examined two possible explanations for reported gaps in work effort required of women and men – gender differences in job characteristics, and family responsibilities. The association between gender and reported required work effort was best interpreted as reflecting stricter performance standards imposed on women, even when women and men held the same jobs.
Source: Elizabeth Gorman and Julie Kmec, 'We (have to) try harder: gender and required work effort in Britain and the United States', Gender and Society, Volume 21 Number 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Jan