Gender and Social Welfare - Essay Example

Great Britain in the nineteenth century was characterized by deeply entrenched distinctions. This distinction was well established in the education system. In addition, the position of girls in society was that they were considered to be primarily child bearers and housewives. The fate of women was that they had to be always dependent on men to support them financially. Accordingly, the education provided to girls was aimed at making them good housewives. The exception was in the case of upper middle class girls who were provided education that made them fit for entering the professions (Dawtrey & Holland, 1995). Viewing citizenship from a gender specific point of view envisages a change to a model that had been formed with men in mind. Women were deliberately ignored while formulating the classical theories of citizenship. Further, the important aspects of their existence were not included in considerations of social citizenship. Therefore, a gender based study of society has to necessarily include the experiences of women and their political modes of action. The feminists have ensured that social rights encompass domestic rights and responsibilities. Moreover, they have established that exclusion is the outcome of financial reliance in the family and suggest that household work should be taken into account while calculating the quantum of social benefits (Hobson & Lister, 2001). The culmination of the various struggles for equality was the concept that things that are similar should be accorded the same treatment. Further, this concept held that factors like race, sex, colour or ethnic origin are not to be construed to comprise distinctions that deem certain persons to be sub standard or below par (United States v. Carolene Products Co). According to the principle of equal treatment people can be viewed just as they are and without allowing their gender or race to affect such an approach. Unfortunately, the reality is otherwise and instead of such an abstraction of the person, the entity contemplated is endowed with the attributes of the dominant section of society. Hence, it is observed that the characteristics of the dominant group are those of the male Christian. Moreover, the various ramifications of this situation cannot be properly analyzed in the absence of a comparator. Discrimination can be demonstrated only by making a comparison with a person of the opposite sex, whose status is akin to that of the dominant male. This clearly indicates that the so called gender neutrality is based on the characteristics of a woman in comparison to that of a male, which renders gender neutrality as nothing more than a mere male standard (MacKinnon, 1987). The position of ethnic minorities is similar to that of women. They have to adopt the manners and customs of the majority if they do not wish to be discriminated against (Parekh, 1998). The implication of this discussion is that no distinction exists in according equally good or equally bad treatment to women or ethnic minorities. Moreover, a general reduction in status is believed to have the same effect as an overall increase of status for a group of women or persons belonging to an ethnic minority (Clark v. Novacold, 1999). After the war the Labour Party, which came to power, made a strong insistence on women being relegated a domestic role. Issues like equal career opportunities and pay were not accorded much importance and the perspective from which the work of women was viewed by this government was clearly displayed in the selection of one solitary woman, Ellen Wilkinson in the Cabinet by Clement Atlee the Prime Minister. The ministry allotted to her was that of Education. It was widely held that women were unsuited for positions of importance (Dean, 1991). The main concern was to make jobs available to the men who had returned from the World War. Women were therefore, discouraged in all possible ways from continuing in employment. The younger women were adamant in their stance of not willing to lead a life of monotonous domesticity. They opted for employment despite the veiled threats and cajolery of the society, government, clergy, etc (Dean, 1991). In the 1960s it became essential to actively encourage women to join the workforce. To this end women were encouraged to don the dual role of an employee as well as a housewife. Women were now being persuaded to obtain higher education and undergo training courses. As a temporary measure, social and welfare services were made available to these women. Subsequently, this enormous need for women employees declined and all these welfare measures, aimed at encouraging women to join the workforce, were drastically curtailed (Deem, 1981). Although Tony Blair made several reductions to the disability welfare measures, the women MPs of his party did not raise any objection. This instance is a graphic illustration of the fact that the male dominated society achieves its objectives by making feminism serve its interests. Women have always fought tooth and nail to get additional welfare measures implemented. This is due to the fact that it is mainly women who have to take care of disabled relatives (Segal, 1999). The Blair government is a past master of the art of divide and rule. It has cunningly utilized the equal opportunity slogan to create further rifts in women. Working women are beset with longer working hours, reducing welfare subsidies and the suppression of political protest (Segal, 1999). Those women who effectively protest against this situation are offered better opportunities and this effectively silences them. The example of the women MPs quoted above pertains to this category (Segal, 1999). Women are discriminated against by all parties and the selection process is no stranger to it. If the woman belongs to an ethnic minority then the discrimination is much greater. The extant customs adopted in the selection process ensues that women are either overlooked or chosen for constituencies that will not be won by the party. This is the precise reason for taking such measures that will ensure that parliament is graced by a significantly larger number of women (Rake, 2002). The results of a research study conducted by the Fawcett Society indicates that in the absence of such measures, it would take a hundred years for the number of female MPs to equal the number of male MPs amongst the Liberal Democrats and three centuries for the same situation to transpire amongst the Conservatives. Subsequent to the amendment of the Sex Discrimination Act, political parties can adopt positive action measures without being subjected to litigation (Rake, 2002). Even the professions have been not been spared the scourge of discrimination and the extent to which it is prevalent in the legal profession is appalling. Professor Paul Thomas of Cardiff University concludes from his research that the top positions in the legal profession are allotted to women in a disproportionate manner in comparison to their numbers (Law fails women, 2000). In Scotland the wage differential between men and women is on the decrease. The Sex Discrimination Act has been instrumental in bringing about a twenty percent reduction in the average difference between the wages paid to men and women. However, in the opinion of the Equal Opportunities Commission, a lot more has to be done to reduce the gap between the wages paid to men and women (Sharp, 2000). A survey was conducted to study the changes that have taken place in the lifestyle of female employees. This survey indicated that some changes had occurred in this respect, due to women going in for babies at a much later stage in their marital life and due to their accepting a greater variety of jobs. Their numbers have shown an increase in top management (Sharp, 2000). However, appearances are deceptive; the actual number of women employees has increased only by a mere five percent from the year 1975. Just forty - five percent of women are employed and most of these women are part - time workers. The situation is grim because the number of part - time female workers is approximately six million in the United Kingdom (Sharp, 2000). One of the spokeswomen of the Edinburgh Women's Rights organisation declared that the gap between men and women was significant. She held that men were paid a much higher salary than women for the same or similar work. Further, she stated that the opportunities offered to women should enable them to obtain jobs that were as good as the jobs that men had (Sharp, 2000). The Equal Opportunities Commission has taken steps to bring to the notice of the people the alteration that has occurred in the functions of men and women. These steps will confine most of their efforts to reduce the difference in pay. In this context Dagmar Muchle, the General Manager of the Caledonian Hotel, Edinburgh stated that she did not face any wage discrimination in her job. Nevertheless, she was of the view that salary for a job should be based on the nature of work involved and not on the sex of the worker (Sharp, 2000). Similarly, Lorraine Kelly a GMTV presenter stated that though in the television industry there was no wage discrimination, several other industries were beset with this despicable practice. She stated that it was illogical to expect a person to work for a lesser wage just because of that person's gender. The Scottish Office Minister Brian Wilson frankly admitted that the wage differential was significant and that despite the changes effected, much was left to be done (Sharp, 2000). It was disclosed by officials in Northern Ireland that the number of women members of public bodies was on the decline. Felicity Huston, the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Northern Ireland, revealed that women constituted less than thirty percent of the people who were nominated to public bodies. According to her during the period 1996 to 1997, sixty - five percent of public appointments had been earmarked to men and in the period 2005 to 2006 the corresponding number was sixty - eight percent. In her opinion this reveals the drastic discrimination being meted out to women (Official blasts gender bias in N Ireland, 2007). A former female executive of the Curtiss - Wright Corporation was awarded around $ nine million by an Essex County jury, which accepted her contention that she had not been promoted due to her gender and that her employment had been terminated when she had initiated legal action. The jury of a Newark Superior Court awarded Joyce Quinlan $4.56 million as punitive damages in addition to the $4.56 million compensatory damages (Kleinknecht, 2007). Quinlan contended that Martin Benante, who was the chairman and chief executive officer of the Curtiss - Wright Corporation, actively adhered to the company culture of excluding women from top executive positions. In the lawsuit Quinlan was able to demonstrate that although female executives were to be found in middle management posts, women were conspicuous by their absence at the top executive level (Kleinknecht, 2007). During the tenure of the previous CEO, Davis Lasky, Quinlan had been the senior most human resources executive. However, with the advent of Benante the present incumbent, Quinlan was relegated to the background, she was not allowed to participate in social events and finally a male executive, who was less competent than her, was allotted the all important task of pooling the human resources functions of the different divisions of the company (Kleinknecht, 2007). The company advocate stated that Quinlan went from strength to strength in the organization and was drawing a salary of $200,000 when she had been dismissed. This company advocate further contended that the allegation that women were excluded from the higher echelons of management was incorrect and that Joyce Quinlan's career at Curtiss-Wright illustrated this fact (Kleinknecht, 2007). This advocate stated that the centralization task was not allotted to Quinlan as she was relatively inexperienced in that area. Moreover, she alleged that Quinlan's employment was terminated because she had made available a large number of confidential documents to her advocate in the process of preparing for the lawsuit. However, the court did not accept this argument and held that discrimination had taken place (Kleinknecht, 2007). The various avenues that are available to people are dependent upon the role expected of them by society. Social policy requires a clear differentiation between sexes which is helpful in analyzing the matters that cause distress to women. This is the goal that social policy should adopt because most welfare measures relating to poverty, health and old age are based on gender (Lewis, 1992). The critical analyses of feminism especially those that pertained to welfare often claimed that social policy was deliberately biased in favour of the males. Jane Lewis had criticised the situation wherein, the leading role models of welfare were of the opinion that women were reliant on men to earn money in order to maintain the family. However, the situation obtaining is that the strong male breadwinner system is prevalent in which it is assumed that the earning capacity of women is less than that of men due to the fact that the income of women is far below that of men. This is the situation in the UK and Ireland (Lewis, 1992). In France there is a modified system that places women in a distinct position with regard to motherhood. In this country a weak male breadwinner system is present, which allows women to earn on par with men. Sweden has this system and its government is planning to introduce a dual breadwinner system (Lewis, 1992). While evaluating the status of women it becomes very clear that they enjoy a weak and secondary status in comparison to men. In order to address this situation, special provisions have to be adopted otherwise the position of women will further deteriorate and this will reduce the protection level that is being accorded to them at the moment (Hartmann, 1995). However, this situation can be improved if the status of women is made equal to that of men and their earnings are commensurate with that of men. Extensive bias in wages and working conditions serve to prove the fact that gender - blindness in the area of social protection yields inequalities (Hartmann, 1995). Feminism aims to provide both men and women with equality in the economics, political and social fields. The oppression of women has been attributed by feminists to the concept of patriarchy. The objective of patriarchy is to ensure male dominance by oppressing women. It achieves this dominance by utilizing its social, economic and political institutions (Stewart, 2003). Feminist theories can be classified as liberal feminism, Marxist feminism and radical feminism. These theories deal with a common issue, namely gender as a central policy of social policy. In Liberal feminism, the central focus is on the rights of women as individuals. It condemns discrimination in any way and promotes equality of respect and opportunity. Debates against the controls on opportunities to the careers of women are liberal and propose that women must receive the same benefits that are received by men (Hartmann, 1995). This form of feminism saw its halcyon days in the 1950's and 1960's, which was witness to several civil rights movements. These feminists believed that God had created men and women as equals. They contended that women had the same intellectual competence as men and consequently, there should be equal opportunity for men and women. Several important pieces of legislation in the fields of welfare, education and health have been brought about by these feminists. However, their proclivity to concentrate on legislation has attracted criticism from several quarters (Friedan, 1963). The theory of Marxist feminism propounds that the exploitation of women is due to the economic configuration of society. Household relationships are based on the means of production and domestic relationships exist in class relationships. In this context Heidi Hartmann has commented that the commingling of Marxism and feminism has been similar to the marriage of husband and wife as has been depicted in the English common law and that Marxism and feminism are the same and that the only name for both of them is Marxism (Hartmann, 1995). Moreover, these feminists believe that despite distinctions of class, ethnicity and race women are equally oppressed due to their gender. It has been suggested by these feminists that women must set aside their differences with men and work as equals with men to achieve social justice for all (Jaggar, 1983). The theory of Radical feminism contends that the whole of society is under the influence of patriarchy or in other words that patriarchy dominates society. Patriarchy is the politics of sex in which the men establish their power and ensure that the retain control. The moral position is that women should be permitted to live and act autonomously (Mitchell, 1971). Radical feminism advocates the theory that patriarchy cannot be eliminated by legislation. It contends that the very core of society has to be changed in order to eliminate patriarchy. It is their belief that the domination of women by men is oppression of the worst kind. It is their avowed intention to set both men and women free from the rigid gender roles that they have to play in society. The radical feminists do not accept gender roles and patriarchy. This brand of feminism is further classified into first, radical - libertarian feminism, which considers femininity and reproduction to be factors that curtail the contribution made by a woman to society. Such feminists are of the opinion that women should have absolute discretion with regard to each and every facet of their private life. The second category is that of radical - cultural feminism, which seeks to abolish female subordination, pornography, molestation and sexual abuse (Daly, 1990). Gender mainstreaming is one of the major components of the government's strategy to improve policies and public services as it directly involves the people who formulate policies and as it forces society to take cognizance of problems created by diversity. However, the results of this strategy have not been encouraging due to the lack of any tangible progress. Further, a lot of legislation has been enforced in order to enhance women's rights. Albeit, the government enacted several pieces of legislation and policies to oppose discrimination on the basis of sex, the reality is that sex abuse, wage discrimination and domestic violence are prevalent to quite an appreciable extent. Moreover, problems like early teen pregnancy and poverty have further exacerbated the situation. The United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women or the CEDAW aims to improve the status of women all over the world. In the United Kingdom, the machinery for implementing CEDAW was established; however, there was a distinct lack of will to enforce it. One of the main reasons for this failure was the cultural and societal hindrances to CEDAW. The status of women in the UK has not shown any significant change from the nineteenth century. The foregoing observations reveal that women have not made much progress in politics or professions that have been always been dominated by men like the legal profession. The increase in the number of women employees has been insignificant. In respect of wages, men were being paid much higher salaries for the same or similar type of work in comparison to women. Their representation in public bodies was marginal and on the decrease. In respect of promotions, men were shown greater preference than women. On the whole social policy, public opinion, patriarchal dominance and societal expectations have engendered discrimination. Despite, the efforts of the government, progress has been inadequate. References Clark v. Novacold, 2 All ER 977 (CA) (1999). Daly, M. (1990). Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism. Beacon Press. Dawtrey, L., & Holland, J. (1995). Equality and Inequality in Education Policy: A Reader. Multilingual Matters. ISBN: 1853592498. Pp. 3-4. Dean, D. W. (1991). Education for moral improvement, domesticity and social cohesion: expectations and fears of the Labour government. Oxford Review of Education , Vol. 17. No. 3. Pp. 269-86. Deem, R. (1981). State Policy and Ideology in the Education of Women, 1944 - 1980. British Journal of Sociology of Education , Vol. 2, No. 2, Pp. 131 - 43. Friedan, B. (1963). The Feminine Mystique. W.W. Norton & Company. Hartmann, H. (1995). The Unhappy marriage of marxism and feminism. In D. Tallack, Critical Theory: a reader. Harvester Wheatheaf. Hobson, B., & Lister, R. (2001). Keyword: Citizenship. Retrieved March 11, 2007, from http://portal.unesco.org/shs/en/file_download.php/995815fd94412ec1556af27aa39e71b8citizenship.pdf Jaggar, A. M. (1983). Feminist Politics and Human Nature. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Kleinknecht, W. (2007, February 14). Ex - exec claiming gender bias wins lawsuit. The Star - Ledger , p. 60. Law fails women. (2000, November 23). Post Magazine , p. 12. Lewis, J. (1992). Gender and the development of welfare regimes. Journal of European Social Policy , 159 - 173. MacKinnon, C. (1987). Feminism Unmodified. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. P. 34. Mitchell, J. (1971). Women's estate. Penguin. Official blasts gender bias in N Ireland. (2007, January 8). Morning Star Online . Parekh, B. (1998). 'Integrating Minorities' in T. Blackstone, B. Parekh and P. Sanders (eds) Race Relations in Britain. Routledge. P. 2. Rake, K. (2002, January 1). Selecting women. The Guardian , p. 13. Segal, P. L. (1999, November 6). Letters - Doing it for themselves. The Guardian , p. 25. Sharp, M. (2000, December 30). Discrimination act closes wage gap. Scottish Daily Record (c) 2000 Scottish Daily Record & Sunday Mail Ltd , p. 11. Stewart, C. (2003, November 17). Feminism. Retrieved March 9, 2007, from Different Types of Feminist Theories: http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/Speech/rccs/theory84.htm United States v. Carolene Products Co, 304 US 144 (S Ct). Read More