Work and Society People - Assignment Example

Work and Society People Introduction The essay is based on the discussion about the current and future role of man and women in the job market. It has also evaluated the gendered division of domestic labour and its effect on the overall job performances of both the genders. Gender division in terms of labour is a very well known feature of the modern society. This division indicates that men are specialized in paid works while women are specialized in unpaid domestic work. A number of literatures have conveyed the logics and reasons behind the inequalities that women face in the labour market (Breen & Cooke, 2005). The participation of women in paid market work is increasing day by day. This situation is also experiencing various issues and challenges. These challenges are resulting in the reformation of different policies such as taxation, benefits and health policies (Sullivan, 2000). Though number of women professionals is increasing in the job market, the undeniable responsibilities towards childcare and household works are restricting their contribution towards organisations and career growth. A huge number of women with these kinds of responsibilities are scaling down their employment potency by choosing less challenging works and part-time jobs (Breen & Cooke, 2005). The involvement of men in domestic works is increasing day by day. Now a day’s men are providing their share of contribution in the domestic works and they are also spending adequate time with their children than before. There are several reasons behind these role changes such as economical pressure, increased time pressure on working women and attitude changes in terms of gender role (Sullivan, 2000). On the other hand, different researches conducted in the UK and US have demonstrated that women are still handling most of the household responsibilities in comparison to men. More involvement of male partner in domestic works indicates improvement in the job performance of women. It also ensures the increase in women’s capability to accept more job responsibility (Sullivan, 2000). Further discussion of the study has also demonstrated the changing scenario of labour distribution between men and women. Gender division on domestic labour Gender division in terms of paid market work and domestic labour is a very common site in the developing countries. Statistical report has shown that women are more inclined towards the less paid part-time job while men are focused towards higher paid full time jobs. The governmental data has represented that near about 27% of part time workers in the UK are female employees (Fagan & Burchell, 2002). A number of researches have assisted to analyse the practices of gender biasness in terms of household works. Different explanations of economists have suggested that partners who are bringing more financial resources to the household will be awarded the power to get the other partner to perform major part of the domestic works (Breen & Cooke, 2005). The economic dependence and time availability theory has explained that the responsibility of carrying out household tasks depends on the time availability of both the partners. Women are entitled to carry out the major part of domestic work as men are spending maximum hours in market works. The time availability theory also suggests that the increase of women candidate in paid job needs to be balanced with increased number of men to carry out domestic work (Usdansky, 2011). The domestic labour division within couples may vary as per the differences in the social class. The UK researchers have shown that, men from working class are more inclined towards the gender egalitarian activities than middle class men due to the economical pressure as well as their incapability to arrange expensive domestic help. These researches have also described that the maximum transformations in domestic work sharing pattern has been seen within the lower occupational classes. The domestic contribution data from British and US times has described that by the year of 2000 and 2001 men with lowest education and occupational background had shown maximum contribution in the domestic responsibilities than the men with higher occupational graph (Usdansky, 2011). A very less amount of lower class people in the UK follow the gender division in terms of labour as both the partners need to indulge in paid work to earn sufficient amount of money to match neutralize the economical pressure. It also assists them to secure the future of their family members in this fluctuating economical condition. As the female members of these families are providing more time to the paid jobs they are unable to contribute sufficient time to their household responsibilities. Therefore, the male members need to indulge their times in the domestic work to minimize the added pressure on the other spouse (Coltrane, 2000). Though the societies and their requirements are rapidly changing over the time, there are still some examples available to indicate the attitudinal differences within various social classes. These differences generally separate the attitudes of people from lower income group and higher income group towards egalitarianism. Majority of men and women from lower income group tend to prefer the theory of egalitarianism which support the equality of all people. The theory of egalitarianism also describes that all human despite of any social class have equal political, social, civil and economical rights (Presser, 1994). Occupational choice can be defined as the effect of psychological expertise and economical condition of an individual which influences their occupational preferences and interest (Banerjee & Newman, 1993). In the earlier, society occupational choices were very limited due to economical constraints of organisations. Society used to have a very limited slot of occupational choices to fill in. This constraint enabled men to have considerably wider choice in terms of occupation than women (Brown, 2002). Economical development is causing a number of institutional transformations. This development is also changing the occupational decision of the population. The changing economical situation is helping women in the UK and other developed societies to choose between the family work and paid work (Brown, 2002). Different population censuses have provided valuable information regarding the social changes across the UK. During the year of 1951 to 1971 women’s employment rate had only increased from 42% to 44%. By the year of 2012, women’s employment rate in the UK has increased to 65.7% only. The major reason behind this hike in the rate is the increased number of part-time jobs in various locations across Europe (Office for National Statistics, 2013). The role of wages in the gender division of labour Labour supply system and occupational choices play an important part in the wage differences of men and women. Different research work on family economics has suggested few major reasons for gender wages differences. One of the major reasons behind this wage gap is the autonomous and egoistic act of individuals toward the traditional and non-paid domestic works. Most of these individuals prefer to allocate their time to maximise their own economical condition and selfish utility (Becker, 2009). As per the researcher, the wages paid to an individual should represent the amount of time they are allocating for the market work. Decrease in the income also signifies that the individual is spending lesser time in the market work. This situation influences their involvement in the non-paid household works. It can also be said that the individuals with higher income always have the tendency to purchase substitutes for their domestic outputs such as childcare helps and restaurant meals. This substitution effect related to the higher wages supports the tendency of men to devote maximum time to the paid market jobs. On the other hand, it has been established that women are inherently more productive in case of domestic works in comparison to men. Therefore, the difference in time allocation to the paid and non-paid works has generated wage variation within the different gender classes (Becker, 2009). Another reason behind the wage gap of men and women is the requirement to balance the market and household work. The researcher has described that to maximize the household outputs both the spouses need to allocate sufficient time and expertise to the market and domestic works. As per the intra-household specialization theory, any individual will be awarded a comparative advantage in the paid market work if their wage rate is greater than their domestic productivity. If women and men do not differentiate in terms of their domestic productivity then higher wages earned by male partner will automatically lead to their comparative advantage towards market work (Becker, 2009). Becker’s theory about wage differences provides gender-neutral approaches to the behaviour of different partners. It also emphasises on the optimising behaviour of individuals (Becker, 2009). The current scenario and statistic differs the theory of wage distribution. Recent statistics of gender wage gap has suggested that women worker with equal expertise are earning only 77% of each dollar earned by the male worker. Among the full time working men and women, 60% of the wage gap can be allocated to known facts (Glynn, 2014). The main reasons of these wage variations are their occupational differences, work hours and time taken for family. 10% of this wage gap has occurred due to the differences in the workplace experience and near about 4% gap has been developed for different union status. Other 27% wage gap is the result of different occupational choices. Near about 21% differences has been occurred due to the differences into the pay structure of various industries (Glynn, 2014). On the other hand, the remaining 40% of wage differences between men and women has no particular reason to explain. There is no measurable reason behind these differences in the pay structure. The possible explanation of this scenario indicates the presence of sexism and gender-based discrimination in the workplaces which is restricting the women workers from higher pay structure (Glynn, 2014). Employment tribunals of the UK have witnessed a number of cases regarding the employment discrimination and redundancy of payment towards the female employees. Since April 2009 the employment tribunal of different parts of Europe has announced that all the employees are entitled to claim for equal pay and employer may be penalized if there is any proven discrepancy in the payment procedure (Blau & Kahn, 2000). The equal value of employment will be determined in terms of job post, skills and competencies and hours of working (Fields & Wolff, 1995). One of the phenomenon examples of employment tribunal case was the conflict between female workers and the authority of Birmingham City Council upon the unexplained differences of the payment structure (Pidd, 2010). Near about 4,000 female workers of the organisation were excluded from the payment of the bonuses (Pidd, 2010). On the contrary, the male workers of the council were availing the bonus payment of up to 160% a year. A union of women workers had lodged a complaint about this unethical practice of the organisation. The seven week hearing of this case has revealed that the men and women worker of a same post has different payment and bonus structure. The employment tribunal had announced the result in favour of the women workers and assisted them to earn the 160% bonus of the organisation (Pidd, 2010). More than 900 female employees were represented by this case which influences over 30,000 workers of different industries to claim their minimum wage right (Pidd, 2010). Current role of men and women at work As per researcher, the changes in the family income and family life are not only changing the family structures but also altering the roles and responsibilities of family members. These changing roles are influencing the pattern of paid employment. It is also gradually changing the traditional family model of the UK where male are the sole bread earner and women are the dependents. This situation is changing the employment pattern of women. A large section of female workers are selecting full time jobs rather than lower paid part time jobs. As per the recent statistical data of the UK, over 70% of married women with children are economically independent (Razzu, 2015). Sexual differences are still visible in the organisational work culture of the UK. Female population aged between 16 years to 64 years are twice likely to be economically dependent in comparison to the men of same age category. Various organisations in the UK are still demonstrating vertical and horizontal segregation situations in terms of their employment and employee management procedures. Vertical segregation describes the situation where employers decline the job promotion of few employees after a certain level due to their age or sexual differences (Blackburn, Brooks & Jarman, 2001). Horizontal segregation process restricts the employment of women in a wide range of occupational areas (Blackburn & Jarman, 1997). Different researches of the UK have shown that only 10% of senior police officers, 9% of chief judiciaries and only 13% of vice chancellors are female. It has also demonstrated that only 0.5% of senior positions in arm forces are occupied by female candidates (Bimrose, 2009). Construction industry, healthcare and social care industries in the UK largely demonstrate the practices of horizontal segregation. By the year of 2005, almost 90% of the employees in the construction industry of the UK were male. On the other hand, the majority of the workers in the healthcare industry of UK are female (Bimrose, 2009). In the 21st century, different societies in the UK have witnessed substantial transformations in their traditional family dynamics. The increased recognition of gender differences in the legislation system has assisted the population to minimize the gender-role division. Nowadays women are more economically independent and representing near about 42% of the workforce in the United Kingdom. Female population has accrued almost 55% of the overall university graduates of the UK. Despite of all the advancements a large portion of female workers are still not getting the opportunities to fill up the leadership positions of organizations. Women employees in the UK still account for only 3% of board chairpersons and 22% of peers and MP’s (Razzu, 2015). A respective number of organisations are still offering different salary structures to the male and female employees. The UK industries are showing more examples of income inequality than any other developed countries. It has been highlighted that women are paid almost 5% less in their first job in comparison to the male employee. Various employee surveys have shown that this wage gap has expanded over the entire course of the employee’s career. An average women employee in the UK is earning almost 140,000 pound less than a male worker of same age and qualification (BBC News Business, 2011). According to the data of Chartered Management Institute, the average salary structure of female managers is 31,895 pounds per year while same for male managers is 41,441 pounds per year (BBC News Business, 2011). Likely future work roles of men and women Manufacturing and service industries of the UK are adopting the rapid advancement of technologies. Due to this technological development in the work places the job patterns are changing drastically. A huge number of organisations are following the flexible specialization strategy. This strategy enables businesses to equip with multi skilled equipments and employees to minimize the cost and time of operations. This strategy is allowing organisations to seek for employees with low income structure. It is also causing job losses of employees in various sectors (Stuart, et al. 2013). Many organisations are adopting deskilling where the management is eliminating skilled employees by updated technologies. The organisations are only requires unskilled or semiskilled employees to operate these technological equipments. This situation is decreasing the total household income of the families in the UK (Gilbert, 2013). To maintain the proper lifestyle in this fluctuating economical conditions both the partners are confronting the requirement of paid market work. These changes indicate that in the near future the ratio of female professionals will increase in every industry of the UK (Gilbert, 2013). Recent studies about the workplace ethics and employee relationships have highlighted that female employees and managers are exceptionally efficient in terms of emotional intelligence and interpersonal communication. These abilities are increasing the demand of female managers and employees in challenging workplaces (Lückerath-Rovers, 2013). Women in the UK are also demonstrating greater academic scores in comparison to the male students. This development has certainly enhanced their demand in specific sectors. The proportion of women solicitor has increased from 10% to 43% over the past decade. It has also been recorded that over 61% of law trainees of last year was women (Lückerath-Rovers, 2013). Various governmental programs have recognised that the gender segregation practices within different industries of the UK are affecting the overall economical growth of the country. It has also been estimated that elimination of the barrier to the women employment could be exceptionally beneficial for the economical growth of the country. The presence of women in the managerial and senior managerial position will enhance the competitive attitude with the organisation. It will also assist organisations to utilize the diversified work pattern of men and women to solve any complex challenges. It has also been estimated that the active participation of female employees in all level of employment could increase the economical status of the UK by almost 15 billion pound. This situation can also contribute 2.0 per cent to the overall GDP of the UK (Sawer & Henry, 2008). Therefore, the regulators are taking different strict steps to minimize the occupational segregations. A number of legislations and policies have been introduced to increase the recruitment of women in non-traditional jobs (Sawer & Henry, 2008). Conclusion This discussion emphasises on the different situations of women employment in the UK market. Different theories and researches have shown that the employment pattern of women is still getting restricted due to various traditional believes. Occupational segregation is one of the major reasons behind the negligence of the potentiality of women employment. Difference in wage structure is also de-motivating the female workers of the UK. In spite of all the odds the employment status of women are increasing day by day. Due to the economical condition more women are getting involved in paid full-time work to balance their lifestyle. The study has also discussed that the regulations in the UK are changing to bring women back to the higher levels of organisations. References Banerjee, A. V. & Newman, A. F. (1993). Occupational choice and the process of development. Journal of political economy, 101(2), 274-298. BBC News Business, (2011). Gender pay gap widens to £10,500 for managers, CMI says. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14721839. Becker, G. S. (2009). A Treatise on the Family. Cambridge: Harvard university press. Bimrose, J. (2009). Occupational Segregation. Retrieved from http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloud/view/2192. Blackburn, R. M. & Jarman, J. (1997). Occupational gender segregation. Social Research Update, 16, 1-4. Blackburn, R. M., Brooks, B. & Jarman, J. (2001). The vertical dimension of occupational segregation. Work, Employment & Society, 15(3), 511-538. Blau, F. D. & Kahn, L. M. (2000). Gender differences in pay. National bureau of economic research, 14(4), 75-99. Breen, R. & Cooke, L. P. (2005). The persistence of the gendered division of domestic labour. European Sociological Review, 21(1), 43-57. Brown, D. (2002). The role of work and cultural values in occupational choice, satisfaction, and success: A theoretical statement. Journal of counseling & development, 80(1), 48-56. Coltrane, S. (2000). Research on household labor: Modeling and measuring the social embeddedness of routine family work. Journal of Marriage and family, 62(4), 1208-1233. Fagan, C. & Burchell, B. (2002). Gender, Jobs and Working Conditions in the European Union. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED475394.pdf. Fields, J., & Wolff, E. N. (1995). Interindustry wage differentials and the gender wage gap. Industrial & Labor Relations Review, 49(1), 105-120. Gilbert, P. R. (2013). Deskilling, agrodiversity, and the seed trade: a view from contemporary British allotments. Agriculture and Human Values, 30(1), 101-114. Glynn, S. J. (2014). Explaining the Gender Wage Gap. Retrieved from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/report/2014/05/19/90039/explaining-the-gender-wage-gap/. Lückerath-Rovers, M. (2013). Women on boards and firm performance. Journal of Management & Governance, 17(2), 491-509. Office for National Statistics, (2013). Full report - Women in the labour market. Retrieved from http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lmac/women-in-the-labour-market/2013/rpt---women-in-the-labour-market.html?format=print. Pidd, H. (2010). Female Birmingham council workers win £200m equal pay case. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/apr/28/pay-female-staff-birmingham-council. Presser, H. B. (1994). Employment schedules among dual-earner spouses and the division of household labor by gender. American Sociological Review, 59(3), 348-364. Razzu, G. (2015). Gender inequality in the labour market in the UK. Retrieved from http://blog.oup.com/2015/01/gender-inequality-labour-uk/. Sawer, P. & Henry, J. (2008). The future is female, job figures show. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3179265/The-future-is-female-job-figures-show.html. Stuart, M., Grugulis, I., Tomlinson, J., Forde, C., & MacKenzie, R. (2013). Reflections on work and employment into the 21st century: between equal rights, force decides. Work, Employment & Society, 27(3), 379-395. Sullivan, O. (2000). The division of domestic labour: twenty years of change? Sociology, 34(3), 437-456. Usdansky, M. L. (2011). The gender‐equality paradox: Class and incongruity between work‐family attitudes and behaviors. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 3(3), 163-178. Read More