Women’s equality in the UK – A health check

11.10
11.11
11.12
11.13
As well as rising unemployment, increasing underemployment is also a concern for women.
While there are still many more women than men who report that they do not want full-time
work (854,000 men as opposed to 4,287,000 women at the last count), there has been a
notable decrease in the number of women who do not want full-time work. This is matched
by an increase in women who are working part-time because they can’t find a full-time job.
The number of under-employed women has increased by 74%. 33 (See Appendix: 14 for
further information)
Skills and Training
Research 34 shows that while there has been an increase in female participation in
apprenticeships, it has been primarily driven by new apprenticeships being created in
sectors such as retail and business administration, rather than an influx of young women into
traditionally better paid and male dominated sectors such as engineering. It is regrettable
that 55,000 social care apprenticeships aimed at the young (under 25 years old) long-term
unemployed announced only two years ago have already been abolished.
In 2008/9 there were 119,300 female apprenticeship starts out of a total of 239,900 ( just
under 50%). The Apprenticeships and Gender report 35 found that the apprenticeships
system perpetuated existing patterns of occupational segregation and the gender pay gap
with young women being encouraged into low-paid, shorter apprenticeships (typically less
than one year, and in some cases only a few weeks) with fewer progression prospects, such
as hairdressing. According to the most recent data on the gender pay gap in apprenticeships
(2007), female apprentices earn, on average, 21% less than male apprentices. As low-paid
workers, they would not be eligible for National Insurance-linked benefits such as Statutory
Sick Pay or Statutory Maternity Pay. There are also few opportunities for apprentices to work
part-time or flexibly, making it hard for young women to combine on-the-job training with caring
responsibilities. Women apprentices are concentrated in the lower paying sectors, as is shown
in the table below:
Proportion of women apprentice starts by sector (%) and average pay
Sector Women apprentice starts 2007 average pay per week
Electro-technical 1% £210
Engineering 3% £189
Construction 1% £174
Automotive Industry 0% £170
Retail 69% £168
Business Admin 81% £168
Health and Social Care 92% £157
Childcare 97% £142
Hairdressing 92% £109
Source: TUC and YWCA Table 3 using data from Statistical First Release 2007/8 and DIUS Apprentice Pay Survey 2007. 36
33. Klair, A. (2012) ‘Record levels of under-employment show that the job crisis is far worse than the headline figures’, Touchstone, 15th May
2012 http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/2012/05/record-levels-of-under-employment-show-that-the-jobs-crisis-is-far-worse-than-theheadline-figures/
34. Trade Union Congress and YWCA (2010) Apprenticeships and Gender. http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/Apprenticeships_and_Gender.pdf
35. Trade Union Congress and YWCA (2010) Apprenticeships and Gender. http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/Apprenticeships_and_Gender.pdf
36. Trade Union Congress and YWCA (2010) Apprenticeships and Gender. http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/Apprenticeships_and_Gender.pdf
100 Women’s equality in the UK: CEDAW shadow report 2013