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Examining the Potential for Women Returners to Work in Areas of High Occupational Gender Segregation

Tomlinson, J., W.K. Olsen, D. Neff, K. Purdam and S. Mehta

London: DTI: The Stationery Office; 2005.

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Abstract

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYOverviewThe aim of this project was to review the employment and earnings potential of women who return to employment after a period of caring for children or other family members. The report includes analysis of the literature and statistical data on women???s employment histories, the kinds of jobs they do and what they are paid. It also looks at women???s qualifications and skills and the way in which their employment reflects their skills and explores employers attitudes to women returners and the training opportunities available to them. Key Findings??? Women returners form a quarter of the female labour force in the UK. In 2005, mothers returning to work part-time were heavily concentrated in four occupations: elementary administration; sales and customer services; caring personal services and administration. These occupations are female dominated and have lower rates of pay in the UK compared with male-dominated occupations. ??? Mothers returning to work full-time were found to work in a broader range of occupational areas than those returning part-time, including some of the ones listed above, but also other areas such as teaching and management.??? Women who gain a formal Level 2 (GCSE) or Level 3 (A-Level) equivalent qualification are far more likely to be in paid employment, compared with women who have not achieved these levels of qualification. ??? Women returners tend to under-utilize their past training ??? e.g. scientific and technical training ??? when they take less skilled jobs for which they are over-qualified. Over-qualification of mothers is most notable among the caring occupations and sales and customer services.??? Returners who are currently working part-time experience an extra 16 percent loss of wages (per hour), given their characteristics. Full-time well-qualified returners have much higher wages and are in better-paid occupations than part-time returners. ??? Women returners??? lower rate of pay is likely to reflect three factors: oversupply of labour, poorer opportunities for training and support, and choosing an employer close to home. ??? Women who return to full-time work are more likely to gain advancement and promotion than those who return to part-time work. ??? Male-dominated jobs are more likely to have skills shortages. A number of male-dominated occupations, notably the skilled trades and some construction occupations, had skills-shortages in ESS 2001. However, a number of important female-dominated occupations (notably health and social work professionals) also had skills-shortages. ??? Skills shortages are partly due to the need for qualifications in certain occupations, notably science and technology professionals, skilled construction and building trades, and skilled metal and electrical trades. ??? Across the four ???SET??? trades at least 80 percent of the workforce are male. Wages are higher in male-dominated occupations even after allowing for productivity of the industry, size of the firm, and educational qualifications. Women who work in male-dominated occupations tend to earn higher wages. The literature suggests that many inter-related factors reduce the likelihood of women remaining in SET occupations: inflexible hours which do not fit within the boundaries of many women???s childcare arrangements; masculine workplace cultures; long hours of working; stereotypical attitudes of employers and a lack of work-life balance policies and initiatives. Women might be encouraged to work in traditionally ???male??? jobs if they were more aware of potential gains they would make in wages and if SET workplaces had a more positive family-friendly culture. ??? Women returners and women who would like to return to work have not been recognized in most policy documentation as distinct groups and do not necessarily have access to training and development.??? While the Sector Skills Councils appear to recognize diversity and a better gender balance as positive goals, training initiatives such as those in the Sector Skills Council strategy documents focus on encouraging young women. This is true of the emphasis on Apprenticeships as a means for achieving a Level 2 training qualification. Apprenticeships have typically been full-time placements unsuitable for those with caring responsibilities.Women???s Employment Women???s employment paths are changing and the notion of the ???woman returner??? is evolving. Parents now have the right to request flexible working when they have a child under five. Women are entitled to longer maternity leave, and can return to their job up to a year following the birth of their child. Men can also now take paternity leave. While on maternity leave, women are not considered to have technically exited the labour market. Thus if women take a full year???s maternity leave and then return to work part-time, as is commonplace, they may experience discontinuity in career paths, but not necessarily inactivity. In such a scenario, women today have different employment experiences compared to women of earlier generations. Despite this, many women take breaks from work in order to care for children or other family members. Evidence from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) showed that around 1.4 percent of working-age women - or about 250,000 - return to the labour force each year. It is often argued that women who experience occupational down-grading from returning to part-time, as opposed to full-time work, are those who can benefit from the non-monetised aspects of a job such as working only in the school-terms. That is a rational choice to sacrifice wages for work flexibility. Typically the part-time jobs that women returners occupy tend to be low status. The UK has a relatively poor integration of part-time work into higher occupational grades: just 3.6 percent of female part-time jobs are of managerial status. Eurostat data show that of the 5.6 million women working part-time in 2001, two categories: ???service and sales??? (2.1 million jobs) and ???clerical??? (1.3 million jobs) accounted for well over half. Individual women have different preferences about how best to combine work and family life (Hakim 1996; 2000). But that statement should be further qualified ??? women are also diverse in their abilities to translate preferences into actual labour market outcomes (Houston and Marks 2003). Some will be more successful than others. A woman???s occupational status prior to maternity, her social class, and the employer???s policies on flexibility and work-life balance combine to shape women???s abilities to fulfil their preferences. This preference or rational choice argument does not stand scrutiny when looking at research into workplaces in male dominated occupational areas such as Science, Engineering, Technology and Construction. Such research highlights working practices that restrict women???s promotional prospects and reveal evidence of organisational cultures that have negative implications for women???s abilities to combine careers with raising a family. However, in very recent years, research suggests more encouraging findings in organisations in these occupational areas. Some employers are recognising the need to retain their female staff and are implementing practices and policies aimed at retaining women returning from maternity.The fact women returners find it difficult to work part-time in traditional male dominated sectors has implications for the economy. Skill shortages are higher in sectors where there is a gender dominance. Further, this research found that women returners on average experience a 16% drop in wages due to being ???over-qualified??? for the part-time job they are undertaking. For recent returners, downward mobility was more common than among all women. For those working part-time, upward mobility was much more limited than among all women and men. The long-term employment pathways of these women are associated with detrimental outcomes not only for the employee, but also for the economy as a whole.The Role of Training in Ensuring Women Returners Maximize their Potential in the Workplace. As stated above women without a qualification at Level 2 are significantly less likely to be in employment ??? this is also true for women with caring responsibilities. The Skills White Paper, Skills: Getting on in Business, Getting on at Work published in March 2005 reiterates the Government???s commitment that anyone without a full Level 2 will be entitled to support to achieve one. However, for women returners to receive this training it has be delivered in such a way that they can still fulfil their caring commitments and any work responsibilities. Initiatives do exist to actively help those claiming welfare benefits (e.g. single mothers) to receive training to enable them to compete for jobs in the current labour market through the ???New Deal??? schemes. However, these initiatives do not necessarily extend to women returners and potential women returners who may be partnered and therefore not in receipt of welfare benefits. These returners are a distinct group of individuals with specific skill and training requirements. As a distinct category, they fall between those caught under the policies and incentives aimed at individuals currently working in the labour market and those who can be established as a potential labour supply. Further work is needed to test how or if these women could be supported to access training that will lead to higher status employment including in areas of skill shortage. Where women returners already have a Level 2 or Level 3 qualification but have lost contact with the labour market, support is needed for them to achieve a fresh Level 2 or Level 3 qualification in a specified area of gender segregation and skills shortage, such as science, engineering, technology (SET) or construction ??? enabling a change in career path or a way of re-training and refreshing one???s skills. However, as well as training there will have to be a concerted effort to overcome barriers such as organizational cultures that inhibit female employment in these sectors. Recommendations??? Women returners remain a partially untapped workforce resource. Explicit and formal recognition that women returners and potential returners have been overlooked in UK training and skills policy will be important if policy makers are to succeed in making training and other means of skill-acquisition more accessible. ??? Certain employment-related training programs have omitted the category of ???women returners??? from the list of target groups. Additional education and training targeted at women returners could improve women???s capacity to earn in the labour market. ??? Incentives, funding and resources to address the UK???s intermediate-level skill gaps can be directed in part to those working in occupational areas that have high male-dominance. It may be desirable for training offered to workers aiming at these occupations to be gender-inclusive and age-inclusive as well as welcoming and encouraging those who do caring work. ??? Mechanisms for improving the quality of part-time jobs need to be found.??? Firms paying women wages that are below their potential productivity level would benefit from attempts at job re-design if the changes allow the workers to remain part-time but to use their existing skills better. ??? Employers need to recognise that institutional cultures and embedded practices such as working overtime, working away from home, and irregular hours can serve as barriers to women and especially to women returners. The long-term employment trajectories of women returners could be improved by concerted efforts to achieve a more family-friendly workplace culture across all sectors.??? Women themselves can be discouraged from occupational downgrading, but it is essential that childcare services, help with domestic work, and work-life balance policies in the workplace be put into place too. Otherwise women will tend to be seen as ???to blame for??? or as ???choosing??? the overall situation which results in them being over-qualified.??? Skills shortages in specific occupations can in part be addressed through reducing the gender-segregation of the male-dominated occupations. The converse of male-domination of the occupations with high skills shortages is overcrowding in the female-dominated occupations. Gender segregation should be reduced in UK occupations through job redesign, re-training, a welcoming attitude to women joining in male-stereotyped jobs, and a fresh attitude to flexible working hours and part-time working.

Keyword(s)

employment; gender; skills

Bibliographic metadata

Type of resource:
Content type:
Report
Report type:
Report for an external body
Report title:
Examining the Potential for Women Returners to Work in Areas of High Occupational Gender Segregation
Author(s) list:
Tomlinson, J., W.K. Olsen, D. Neff, K. Purdam and S. Mehta
Report series title:
Department for Trade and Industry, Women and Equality Unit
Publication date:
2005
Place of publication:
London
Publisher:
DTI: The Stationery Office
Total pages:
87
Abstract:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARYOverviewThe aim of this project was to review the employment and earnings potential of women who return to employment after a period of caring for children or other family members. The report includes analysis of the literature and statistical data on women???s employment histories, the kinds of jobs they do and what they are paid. It also looks at women???s qualifications and skills and the way in which their employment reflects their skills and explores employers attitudes to women returners and the training opportunities available to them. Key Findings??? Women returners form a quarter of the female labour force in the UK. In 2005, mothers returning to work part-time were heavily concentrated in four occupations: elementary administration; sales and customer services; caring personal services and administration. These occupations are female dominated and have lower rates of pay in the UK compared with male-dominated occupations. ??? Mothers returning to work full-time were found to work in a broader range of occupational areas than those returning part-time, including some of the ones listed above, but also other areas such as teaching and management.??? Women who gain a formal Level 2 (GCSE) or Level 3 (A-Level) equivalent qualification are far more likely to be in paid employment, compared with women who have not achieved these levels of qualification. ??? Women returners tend to under-utilize their past training ??? e.g. scientific and technical training ??? when they take less skilled jobs for which they are over-qualified. Over-qualification of mothers is most notable among the caring occupations and sales and customer services.??? Returners who are currently working part-time experience an extra 16 percent loss of wages (per hour), given their characteristics. Full-time well-qualified returners have much higher wages and are in better-paid occupations than part-time returners. ??? Women returners??? lower rate of pay is likely to reflect three factors: oversupply of labour, poorer opportunities for training and support, and choosing an employer close to home. ??? Women who return to full-time work are more likely to gain advancement and promotion than those who return to part-time work. ??? Male-dominated jobs are more likely to have skills shortages. A number of male-dominated occupations, notably the skilled trades and some construction occupations, had skills-shortages in ESS 2001. However, a number of important female-dominated occupations (notably health and social work professionals) also had skills-shortages. ??? Skills shortages are partly due to the need for qualifications in certain occupations, notably science and technology professionals, skilled construction and building trades, and skilled metal and electrical trades. ??? Across the four ???SET??? trades at least 80 percent of the workforce are male. Wages are higher in male-dominated occupations even after allowing for productivity of the industry, size of the firm, and educational qualifications. Women who work in male-dominated occupations tend to earn higher wages. The literature suggests that many inter-related factors reduce the likelihood of women remaining in SET occupations: inflexible hours which do not fit within the boundaries of many women???s childcare arrangements; masculine workplace cultures; long hours of working; stereotypical attitudes of employers and a lack of work-life balance policies and initiatives. Women might be encouraged to work in traditionally ???male??? jobs if they were more aware of potential gains they would make in wages and if SET workplaces had a more positive family-friendly culture. ??? Women returners and women who would like to return to work have not been recognized in most policy documentation as distinct groups and do not necessarily have access to training and development.??? While the Sector Skills Councils appear to recognize diversity and a better gender balance as positive goals, training initiatives such as those in the Sector Skills Council strategy documents focus on encouraging young women. This is true of the emphasis on Apprenticeships as a means for achieving a Level 2 training qualification. Apprenticeships have typically been full-time placements unsuitable for those with caring responsibilities.Women???s Employment Women???s employment paths are changing and the notion of the ???woman returner??? is evolving. Parents now have the right to request flexible working when they have a child under five. Women are entitled to longer maternity leave, and can return to their job up to a year following the birth of their child. Men can also now take paternity leave. While on maternity leave, women are not considered to have technically exited the labour market. Thus if women take a full year???s maternity leave and then return to work part-time, as is commonplace, they may experience discontinuity in career paths, but not necessarily inactivity. In such a scenario, women today have different employment experiences compared to women of earlier generations. Despite this, many women take breaks from work in order to care for children or other family members. Evidence from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) showed that around 1.4 percent of working-age women - or about 250,000 - return to the labour force each year. It is often argued that women who experience occupational down-grading from returning to part-time, as opposed to full-time work, are those who can benefit from the non-monetised aspects of a job such as working only in the school-terms. That is a rational choice to sacrifice wages for work flexibility. Typically the part-time jobs that women returners occupy tend to be low status. The UK has a relatively poor integration of part-time work into higher occupational grades: just 3.6 percent of female part-time jobs are of managerial status. Eurostat data show that of the 5.6 million women working part-time in 2001, two categories: ???service and sales??? (2.1 million jobs) and ???clerical??? (1.3 million jobs) accounted for well over half. Individual women have different preferences about how best to combine work and family life (Hakim 1996; 2000). But that statement should be further qualified ??? women are also diverse in their abilities to translate preferences into actual labour market outcomes (Houston and Marks 2003). Some will be more successful than others. A woman???s occupational status prior to maternity, her social class, and the employer???s policies on flexibility and work-life balance combine to shape women???s abilities to fulfil their preferences. This preference or rational choice argument does not stand scrutiny when looking at research into workplaces in male dominated occupational areas such as Science, Engineering, Technology and Construction. Such research highlights working practices that restrict women???s promotional prospects and reveal evidence of organisational cultures that have negative implications for women???s abilities to combine careers with raising a family. However, in very recent years, research suggests more encouraging findings in organisations in these occupational areas. Some employers are recognising the need to retain their female staff and are implementing practices and policies aimed at retaining women returning from maternity.The fact women returners find it difficult to work part-time in traditional male dominated sectors has implications for the economy. Skill shortages are higher in sectors where there is a gender dominance. Further, this research found that women returners on average experience a 16% drop in wages due to being ???over-qualified??? for the part-time job they are undertaking. For recent returners, downward mobility was more common than among all women. For those working part-time, upward mobility was much more limited than among all women and men. The long-term employment pathways of these women are associated with detrimental outcomes not only for the employee, but also for the economy as a whole.The Role of Training in Ensuring Women Returners Maximize their Potential in the Workplace. As stated above women without a qualification at Level 2 are significantly less likely to be in employment ??? this is also true for women with caring responsibilities. The Skills White Paper, Skills: Getting on in Business, Getting on at Work published in March 2005 reiterates the Government???s commitment that anyone without a full Level 2 will be entitled to support to achieve one. However, for women returners to receive this training it has be delivered in such a way that they can still fulfil their caring commitments and any work responsibilities. Initiatives do exist to actively help those claiming welfare benefits (e.g. single mothers) to receive training to enable them to compete for jobs in the current labour market through the ???New Deal??? schemes. However, these initiatives do not necessarily extend to women returners and potential women returners who may be partnered and therefore not in receipt of welfare benefits. These returners are a distinct group of individuals with specific skill and training requirements. As a distinct category, they fall between those caught under the policies and incentives aimed at individuals currently working in the labour market and those who can be established as a potential labour supply. Further work is needed to test how or if these women could be supported to access training that will lead to higher status employment including in areas of skill shortage. Where women returners already have a Level 2 or Level 3 qualification but have lost contact with the labour market, support is needed for them to achieve a fresh Level 2 or Level 3 qualification in a specified area of gender segregation and skills shortage, such as science, engineering, technology (SET) or construction ??? enabling a change in career path or a way of re-training and refreshing one???s skills. However, as well as training there will have to be a concerted effort to overcome barriers such as organizational cultures that inhibit female employment in these sectors. Recommendations??? Women returners remain a partially untapped workforce resource. Explicit and formal recognition that women returners and potential returners have been overlooked in UK training and skills policy will be important if policy makers are to succeed in making training and other means of skill-acquisition more accessible. ??? Certain employment-related training programs have omitted the category of ???women returners??? from the list of target groups. Additional education and training targeted at women returners could improve women???s capacity to earn in the labour market. ??? Incentives, funding and resources to address the UK???s intermediate-level skill gaps can be directed in part to those working in occupational areas that have high male-dominance. It may be desirable for training offered to workers aiming at these occupations to be gender-inclusive and age-inclusive as well as welcoming and encouraging those who do caring work. ??? Mechanisms for improving the quality of part-time jobs need to be found.??? Firms paying women wages that are below their potential productivity level would benefit from attempts at job re-design if the changes allow the workers to remain part-time but to use their existing skills better. ??? Employers need to recognise that institutional cultures and embedded practices such as working overtime, working away from home, and irregular hours can serve as barriers to women and especially to women returners. The long-term employment trajectories of women returners could be improved by concerted efforts to achieve a more family-friendly workplace culture across all sectors.??? Women themselves can be discouraged from occupational downgrading, but it is essential that childcare services, help with domestic work, and work-life balance policies in the workplace be put into place too. Otherwise women will tend to be seen as ???to blame for??? or as ???choosing??? the overall situation which results in them being over-qualified.??? Skills shortages in specific occupations can in part be addressed through reducing the gender-segregation of the male-dominated occupations. The converse of male-domination of the occupations with high skills shortages is overcrowding in the female-dominated occupations. Gender segregation should be reduced in UK occupations through job redesign, re-training, a welcoming attitude to women joining in male-stereotyped jobs, and a fresh attitude to flexible working hours and part-time working.
Keyword(s):

Record metadata

Manchester eScholar ID:
uk-ac-man-scw:75229
Created by:
Olsen, Wendy
Created:
18th November, 2009, 17:02:38
Last modified by:
Olsen, Wendy
Last modified:
18th November, 2009, 17:02:38

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