Arena Magazine 2006 Issue 2 March April

Radical changes needed to end inequality for women

Wide-ranging action to tackle the culture in schools and workplaces that create job segregation and leave women lagging behind men in the pay stakes is proposed in a new report.

Innovative schemes to give girls a better understanding of the pay and prospects in the careers they choose, to boost the quality of part-time work and to provide skills training for women returners are also among the recommendations contained in the Government's Women & Work Commission.

General Secretary John Hannett was a member of the Commission and welcomed the opportunity to put the issue of inequality at the very top of the political agenda. "This is an issue which has serious implications for women workers who make up more than 60 per cent of Usdaw's total membership," he said.

"As a progressive union Usdaw has been ahead of the game on this issue running an innovative Supporting Parents and Carers campaign designed to tackle the issues of inequality and childcare that contribute to this problem, especially for part-time workers.

"This is only the beginning of a long road. I think the 40 recommendations we have made will open up this much needed and overdue debate.

"This report is not merely an academic exercise but a real attempt to offer constructive solutions to a problem that can blight the working lives of a majority of our members.

"The Government has made a clear commitment to tackling this issue especially when our gender pay gap is the worst in the EU.

The report Shaping a Fairer Future sets out 40 practical recommendations to tackle job segregation and the gender pay gap which still exists despite 30 years of Equal Pay legislation.

Proposals include setting up a national World of Work programme to improve vocational training, provide work taster days for primary school pupils and use work experience to encourage girls to think about non-traditional jobs as well as promote apprenticeships for women especially in sectors with skill shortages.

Increasing women's employment and ending the gender segregation that blights the jobs market in which women are concentrated in the five 'cs' - the caring, cashier, clerical, cleaning and catering sectors - would benefit the economy by as much as £23 billion.

Commission Chair Margaret Prosser said: "Many women are working day-in, day-out far below their abilities and this waste of talent is an outrage.

"This Commission agreed that action is needed now to tackle the gender pay gap which leaves women working full time earning just 87p for every pound earned by men.

"We all recognise that the gender pay gap is complex and multi-faceted. There is no one solution - no magic bullet. We need action that starts from the early days in school and continues through all stages of a woman's working life to tackle the cultures that put women at a disadvantage.

"We are at a crossroads - 1.3 million new jobs will be created over the next decade and 12 million vacancies will open up.

"If we do not make the fundamental change necessary to our school and workplace cultures those new jobs and opportunities will be filled in the same old way and women will continue to lose out."

Visit the Women and Equality Unit website at:

www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk/women_work_commission/shaping_fairer_future.pdf

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