Women in work

Earlier this month the Women and Work comission published there 'Sharing a frairer futre' report'. Which shed light on some rather startling statisitics, namely that women still earn on average a 17%less than their male counterparts.

Something that is particularly intersting from the Agender perspective is this quote from the report:

The Commission estimates that removing barriers to women working in
occupations traditionally done by men, and increasing women’s participation in the labour market, could be worth between £15 billion and £23 billion or 1.3 to 2.0 per cent of GDP.
(Women in work, 2006)
And to this end here is one of many recomendations, that fits exactly with the Agender projects objectives:

The Sector Skills Councils should workwith employers on providing and
promoting Apprenticeships for women in industries where there are skills shortages.
The development of a comprehensive plan to tackle the segregation of jobs, into
those mostly done by one gender or the other, should be part of every Sector Skills
Agreement.
(Women in work, 2006)
This is just an initiallook at this report and as I read through the entire 148 pages of it there is sure to be more to report on but for now you can
get the full report here.

Women in Construction

As I find them, I will post what I consider to be interesting snippets, from pieces of research that I come across relating to non-traditional job roles, the following are from a 1999 study of womens' experiences of working in the UK construction sector:


Women's careers in large construction companies: expectations unfulfilled?
Andrew R.J. Dainty, Richard H. Neale, Barbara M. Bagilhole. Career Development International. Bradford: 1999.Vol.4, Iss. 7; pg. 353

1. 'Rather, they tended to have been the subject of targeted recruitment campaigns or had read literature specifically aimed at attracting them to the industry. Consequently, they had a poor initial understanding of the culture of the industry, and the inherent difficulties of working in such a male dominated environment. Furthermore, construction higher education, which for most formed the interface between career choice and working in the industry, was found to have provided a sheltered environment, and to have presented a sanitised view of the realities of working life in the sector.'

2. 'these managers were invariably male, and were inexperienced in contemporary HRM practice. They had stereotyped expectations of women's career priorities, and preferred to recruit men, whom they saw as being more likely to conform to their own work ethics.'

3. 'Construction work was seen as demanding, time-consuming and as impinging on social and family activities'



Ref; Women's careers in large construction companies: expectations unfulfilled?
Andrew R.J. Dainty, Richard H. Neale, Barbara M. Bagilhole. Career Development International. Bradford: 1999.Vol.4, Iss. 7; pg. 353

The Agender Project

Welcome to the Blog for the research arm of the EQUAL Agender project. Here I will share my thoughts and ongoing issues that arise from the project. More coming as I get it.