Gender Equality Issues

14-19

Professor Kate Myers

kate@katemyers.org.uk
• The issue

• The law

• Some strategies
Frequently subject
choice is based on
gender stereotyping
rather than ability or
aptitude. Official
figures have not yet
been collected for
diplomas but this slide
shows the gendered
choice made by young
people for the IPF

The increased flexibility

programme (IPF)
introduced in 2002 aimed
to create enhanced
vocational and work-related
learning opportunities for
14-16 yr olds
Source: Gender and
Education: the evidence on
pupils in England DCSF
2007
 Learner numbers for diplomas by
gender September 08
in 2 local authorities
Girls Boys

LA 1
Creative & media 30 15

Construction & BE 0 44

Engineering 1 55

LA 2
Society, health & Dev. 47 1

Engineering 0 20
 This is not a new issue…

‘The DES survey of 1975* showed how girls

continue to limit their career choices at an early
stage by choosing to study subjects
traditionally associated with their sex e.g.
biology & MFL and rejecting physical sciences,
‘masculine’ crafts & technology subjects’
*DES Curricular Differences for Boys & Girls Education Survey 21 HMSO 1975
Myers 1980
Some things haven’t changed much: at least nine in ten workers in
the construction sector were male in both 1972 and 2005. Similarly
women predominated in health and educational services in 1972,
and they form the majority of workers in these sectors today.
Two sectors which have become close to balanced are public
administration, which used to be male-dominated, and distribution,
which used to be female-dominated
• Sources: CSO (1973) Social Trends 1973; ONS (2005) Labour Force Survey Spring 2005 dataset.
More extreme segregation of young women and men is seen in
apprenticeships. Over nine-tenths of hairdressing apprentices are
women, whilst at least 98% of apprentices in construction, the
motor industry and plumbing are men.
Source: Learning & Skills Council (2005) Apprenticeship data: Report 2 – Quarterly cumulative startsand in learning August 2004 to
April 2005.

Subject segregation in FE and HE is almost as extreme. For

example, in engineering and technology subjects 87% of FE
students and 86% of HE students are male.
Sources: Learning and Skills Council (2005) Further education, work based learning for young people and adult and community
learning – Learner numbers in England 2004/05, ILR/SFR08; Higher Education Statistics Agency (2005) Students in Higher
Education Institutions 2003/04.
 Attainment
• Some boys do well, some
girls underachieve.
• Inter-relatedness of the
equalities
 Pay

38 years after the Equal Pay

Act, women continue to
earn less than men in G.B.
Since 1999 women's hourly
earnings have remained at
just over 80 per cent of
men's earnings
www.statistics.gov.uk/ 2006
PUBLIC SECTOR DUTY ON GENDER
EQUALITY (‘GENDER EQUALITY DUTY’)

Part IV of the Equality Act 2006,

(effective April 07) introduces a
general duty on public authorities
which requires employers and
service providers, to have due regard
to:
- the need to eliminate unlawful
discrimination and harassment;
and
- promote equality of opportunity
between men and women.
Choice

Students at most vulnerable

Peer group pressure
‘Rather than simply being a
matter of choice, research has
shown that there are strong
penalties for children who fail to
conform to gender norms’
•Skelton, Francis & Valkanova 2007 p17
Throw-away comments…
How can choices be
‘informed’?
Suggested strategies on 14-19 website

See the gender section in the equality and diversity part of

the site www.dcsf.gov.uk/14-19/

• Before
• During
• After
 Encouraging atypical learners
Before
• Planning e.g. contextualise the After
curriculum content. Explain the • support & nurture
During
purpose of learning atypical learners
• Ensure all IAG
• Make the links between promotes gender • keep in
students’ daily lives and their equality touch with families
concerns about the wider social • Continue work • ‘grow your own’ –
issues with establish critical
parents/carers mass
• Importance of IAG for
• Use TIE groups
parents/carers
• Visits
• Forge links with • Links with atypical
employers/HE/mentors/ role models –
ambassadors/role-models peers and adult
• Visits to atypical learning sites –
use of video links/web cams
when more appropriate
• Taster courses
Need to support atypical learners after
choices have been made…
 Factors that contributed to attracting girls…
Establishing a steering group that included female role
models e.g.. VP Aston university (female engineer);
female rep from Land Rover fully involved in
process.
2. Learning takes place at dedicated site –high tech
new build– no grease in sight. Emphasis on
sustainability in bldg e.g. powered by wind
Bucking the turbines and solar panels
trend 3. Targeted higher attaining students (potential A/Bs)
4. Course emphasis on sustainability
The Oaks Collegiate 5. Good quality publicity flyer which includes pics of 6
Academy girls and 1 boy.
Engineering level 2 6. Open evening held at engineering dept in
Birmingham university. Engineering in the 21st
10 Girls 22 Boys
century explained to parents as well as career
possibilities. Old stereotypes challenged.
7. Interested students taken to centre – met with
5 schools – 1 b and 1 g single course tutors and employers. Again traditional
sex and 3 mixed
stereotypes of engineering challenged.
8. Students had to apply. Course oversubscribed.

Contact: Dave Beards

collegiate@sellyoak.bham.sch.uk
What can employers do…
• Make it clear in all publicity that the sector welcomes employees
regardless of gender, ethnicity etc
• Deliberately target the under-represented group e.g. offer single
sex visits to work sites; encourage visits from parents; organise
publicity about the sector and its prospects written for parents &
teachers as well as prospective workers
• Where possible use local role-models in publicity materials
• Offer atypical role models/ambassadors/mentors to visit schools or
be accessible via video link/web cam etc
• Make work experience a comfortable & enjoyable experience for
both sexes e.g. ensure that: work clothes fit and are appropriate
for both sexes; toilets are clean; the experience is gender neutral
(girls don’t spend all their time filing or making tea); organise same
sex mentors; where possible put atypical learners in contact with
successful same sex employees; ask for feedback during and after
the experience.
• Encourage training providers to organise single sex taster courses
• Offer to run or support ‘master classes’
What can ITTproviders do?
E.g.
• Model good practice
• Ensure students understand the legal
duty to promote equalities
• If learner numbers in the diploma line
are skewed towards one gender,
discuss with students, what can be
done in order to encourage a more
balanced intake e.g. with regard to:
– recruitment
– curriculum content and materials
– teaching styles
– work related learning
– support for atypical learners

• AND??
For more information see:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/14-19/index.cfm?go=site.home&sid=1