Gender Discrimination in First World Countries Essay Example
The women’s rights movement has a global impact with activists all over the world and of all different backgrounds. Women’s rights advocacy is stronger now than ever before with over 4 million people worldwide marching in solidarity in the 2017 women’s march to stand up for women’s rights as well as equality between men and women.
Within the last century great strides have been made in terms of women’s rights and overall gender equality all over the world. Europe and North America are at the forefront for having nations with the most equality between men and women in the 21st century. However despite great improvements, women still continue to feel gender inequality in some first world countries, like the United Kingdom, in terms of the gender pay gap, segregation within the labor market, as well as the overall e
...conomic equality of the country.
The pay gap between men and women is a topic that has been discussed in the media and has been on news headlines heavily within the last couple of years. To start, a “pay gap” refers to the difference in what men typically earn in a particular organization compared to women and this is regardless of factors such as superiority or role. According to the World Economic Forum’s annual report in 2017 on gender pay gap, Britain ranked 15th overall (Cox).
When this is put into perspective, the United Kingdom ranked fairly well compared to the other 144 countries on the list. However, in comparison to other leading industrialised and emerging economies, such as Germany and France, the United Kingdom falls behind them. Although, the pay gap is not remaining stagnant in Britain, “UK gende
pay gap reporting has resulted in only a tiny narrowing of the difference between what men and women are paid,” (Ehrenberg-Shannon, Wisniewska, and Gordon). It is reported that on average women still continue to earn 20% less than men.
The gender pay gap is a persistent issue that continues to plague the United Kingdom. This is only proved further through the European Union’s league table from 2017 that categorized the United Kingdom, as well as other countries, as “Having made no significant advances in reducing levels of inequality when taking into account a range of fields” (Boffey).
Included in this aforementioned range of fields is income. Britain’s legislature is attempting to combat the issue of the gender pay gap by requiring companies with 250 or more employees to publish their data on gender pay gap by April 2018. This publication of data suggested that as of 2018, “more than three-quarters of UK companies pay men on average more than women” (Chambers).
Many factors are at play which contribute to the gender pay gap in the United Kingdom. One major factor is the occupational choices between men and women which result in a divided labor market. Currently men still continue to dominate high paying fields such as science and technology. In the United Kingdom, primary and secondary education are compulsory, as a result all have access to state-funded education. In primary and secondary education, research has shown that girls perform as well as boys in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) subjects.
In addition, girls showed a higher preference for subjects such as science compared to their male classmates. However, when pursuing higher education, fewer girls choose courses in STEM
(Gender Equality and Empowerment pg 22). The same research has also confirmed that gender stereotypes and cultural expectations play a huge part in these gendered paths in higher education and ultimately segregation in occupation.
In contrast to the male dominated fields of science and technology, according to the Office for National Statistics, women themselves remain in traditionally female occupations which include secretarial work and care services.
The problem with this is that these jobs is that they are the traditionally lower-paid occupations (Steward). Though it is true the United Kingdom’s job markets has increasingly been more feminized within the last few decades, women have made little progress in terms of the types of work they do, In turn, these gender job roles put women at a disadvantage in the ever evolving labor market as these jobs tend to not only be underpaid but undervalued as well.
Although there are women working in high paying sectors, such as in the corporate setting where “The proportion of women on the boards of the largest listed companies in the EU has more than doubled,” (Boffey). However women only account for six percent of chief executive positions and seven percent of overall presidents and board chair members in large companies, while men occupy the vast majority of senior positions.
Recently, there has been a cultural shift in the United Kingdom towards women's equal economic participation.However, the continued segregation by gender of the labor market completely undermines the economic participation of women in the United Kingdom. Aside from women being predominantly in low paying occupations, they also work more part-time jobs in comparison to men, and are sometimes paid less than men for equivalent
work. Aside from this, research shows that old stereotypes about working parents persist for vast majority.
A “motherhood penalty” has been identified in data concerning income in the United Kingdom. The term “motherhood penalty” refers to “the pay gap between working mothers and similar women without dependent children” (“The Motherhood Pay” pg. 2). Research conducted by the Trade Union Congress, in 2016, shows that women working full-time and had no children earned more than their mother counterparts.
Meanwhile a fatherhood bonus has also been identified in the same data. Fatherhood bonus is the exact opposite of motherhood penalty in that rather than a decrease in income, men with children see an increase in their income. The ideas of motherhood penalty and fatherhood bonus rewards traditional gender roles and upholds old stereotypes about working parents, where men are more committed to their job after recently having a kind while a woman is less committed (Gender Equality and Empowerment pg. 25).
Although it has been encouraged by the government through policy initiatives and legislative, economic equality in first world countries especially the United Kingdom is severely held back not only by the divided labor market itself but also by the fact that work, such as caring and domestic labor, still continue to be feminized and unrecognized despite having a significant impact in the overall economy. Women continue to feel the burden of this economic inequality, especially those who work in domestic and care sectors.
Like mentioned, economic equality is being encouraged especially by the government through things such as policy initiatives. Women are mainly the ones in need of these policies, specifically social protection policies. Current social protection policies are currently
in place in the United Kingdom, however they need to be strengthened.
The main issue with these policies already in place is that they are funded by deductions in salaries. Because of this, these social protection policies now become a huge disadvantage to those working in lower paying jobs or part time jobs, where many women work in. As a result something that a woman needs in order to help her is hurting her more as it takes away from her already low income.
All in all, the society we live in is one that is much more progressive in terms of gender equality and women’s rights compared to even just two generations ago. Every year we see accomplishments being made by governments and nation that further help promote the ideologies of an equal society.
However gender inequality is still persistent today, well into the 21st century. Often times gender inequality is addressed by the media to be highly prevalent in third world countries such as Syria. Although this is true, the media fails to show the still present aspects of gender inequality in first world countries such as the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom has undoubtedly made great improvements, however gender inequality in terms of the gender pay gap, segregation in the labor market, and the overall economy is still felt by women. Research has shown us that despite great strides, we must continue to make improvements towards overall equality, even in first world countries where we may have began to feel content with the current situation.
Work Cited
- Boffey, Daniel. “UK Gender Inequality as Bad as 10 Years Ago, EU League Table Shows.” The Guardian, Guardian News and
Media, 11 Oct. 2017, www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/oct/11/uk-no-further-forward-on-tackling-gender-inequality-eu-league-table-shows.
