There is a kind of complacency in the UK today which suggests that the battle for equality has already been won. Nearly three-quarters of the representative sample of women surveyed for the research Key Note commissioned for this report stated that they agreed with the statement:
Press Release Body = Working Women Market Assessment 2006
Executive Summary
There is a kind of complacency in the UK today which suggests that the battle for equality has already been won. Nearly three-quarters of the representative sample of women surveyed for the research Key Note commissioned for this report stated that they agreed with the statement: `Women today have as much chance of succeeding in the workplace as men\'.
However, the facts tell a different story. Both the Equal Opportunities Commission, a government-appointed commission that works through the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI), and the Fawcett Society, the UK\'s foremost campaigning organisation for equality between women and men, took the opportunity of the 30th anniversary of the Equal Pay and Sex Discrimination Acts, both passed in December 1975, to examine how much has been achieved for women during that time.
What they have found is that women still do not have equal pay. The pay gap for full-time workers has narrowed but still exists. The pay gap for part-time workers - the overwhelming majority of whom are women - has barely moved and remains at around 40%.
There are more women in positions of power and authority than there were 30 years ago - but again, they are still in the minority - fewer than 20% of members of parliament (MPs) in the UK are women.
Yet girls outperform boys throughout their schooling and, although there are fewer female undergraduates in some of the more traditional `male\' subjects of science, engineering and technology (SET), the women who do study these subjects tend to outperform men. (Indeed, these subjects tend to attract too few students overall, to the Government\'s disconcertion.)
Women, then, can be said to be better educated and better qualified, on the whole, than men. Nevertheless, when it comes to the boardroom, they are still woefully under-represented; fewer than 15% of company directors are women.
Attitudes persist, especially in the highly competitive industries such as advertising, that women simply do not have the kind of commitment it takes to get to the top. Undoubtedly, childrearing does take them out of the workplace for certain periods of time.
The Government wishes to redress this balance and has introduced a number of bills to encourage increases in the number of women in the workplace and that recognise the needs of parents and other carers and that promote the social value of that caring work.
This Key Note Market Assessment report examines the aims of the proposed legislation that includes the Work and Families Bill, the Childcare Bill, the Breastfeeding etc. Bill and the Equality Bill.
This report looks in detail at women in the workforce encompassing their employment rates, the types of work they do, the hours they work and how they get their jobs. It does this using government statistics collected through various ongoing surveys, such as the Labour Force Survey, and published annually in the Social Trends reports. It also uses original primary research, specially commissioned from NEMS Market Research, among a representative sample of 990 women in the UK, who were interviewed in December 2005 and January 2006.
Another major issue of great concern to the Government and to those agencies working on behalf of women\'s rights is that of pensions. As has been shown time and again, women live longer than men and are living longer than their mothers and grandmothers. However, the pension provision for many is inadequate and even in today\'s affluent society, one in every five pensioners is living in poverty.
Also of concern is women\'s health. The number of women developing breast cancer is increasing alarmingly and even though awareness campaigns mean pink ribbons are seen on the lapels of sympathisers everywhere, there is perhaps a more sinister reason behind the increase. Changes in lifestyle and hereditary factors play a part, certainly, but, according to the Women\'s Environmental Network, the increase in the number of oestrogen-mimicking chemicals in the environment is also a major contributor.
Another deadly disease - diabetes - is also discussed in Chapter 8 of this report - Women\'s Health. Worryingly, an increasing number of children are contracting the type 2 strain of the disease, and poor diet, lacking in nutrition, has been linked with the increase. It is women, the prime carers, who need to be better educated to take fewer risks with what they feed their children and what chemicals they use in their homes.
The statistical projections show that both men and women will continue to live longer. It is imperative, therefore, that they remain healthy enough to actively contribute to the economy for as much of their lives as possible.
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