Women’s equality in the UK – A health check

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The gender pay gap amongst apprentices can to some extent be explained by entrenched
patterns of occupational gender segregation. Young women are often unaware of the vast
difference in pay between different sectors when they make career choices. 37
Occupational segregation
Only 5.3% of working women are employed in science, engineering and technology (SET)
occupations, as compared to 31.3% of all working men. Women are only 12.3% of all people
working in SET occupations, although they represent 45.1% of the UK workforce. Yet the
Government no longer provides funding to The UKRC, 38 the leading body in the UK offering
advice and services to address the under-representation of women in SET. Proposed policies to
stimulate job creation in SET sectors will not improve employment for women unless additional
measures are introduced. For example, the £5bn capital investment proposed as part of the
National Infrastructure Plan 39 will mostly be spent on physical infrastructure: roads, rail and
digital and any new jobs created in these fields are likely to go to men, unless specific measures
are taken to address the under-representation of women in these industries. (See Appendix: 14
for more information)
In 2011 84% of Higher Education students in engineering and technology were men, in computer
science it was 81% and in building and planning it was 69%. This is reflected in persistent gender
patterns of occupational segregation, which is a key cause of the gender pay gap. Overall in
2011, women accounted for 77% of administrative and secretarial posts and 81% of personal
services posts, but only 6% of professional engineers, 16% of information and communication
technology (ICT) professionals and 10% of architects, planners and surveyors. 40 Women
continue to be under-represented in better paying, higher status managerial and professional
occupations. In 2012, women held 35% of managerial positions, 44% of professional
jobs and 51% of associate professional jobs which support professionals with mainly
administrative tasks. 41
Women from marginalised groups in employment
Ethnic minority women are more likely to be unemployed than ethnic minority men and
white women – 52.8% of ethnic minority women are unemployed. 42 In February 2012, a
survey found that BME women are being disproportionately hit by job losses in 12 London
councils: for example, in one council BME women constituted 5% of the workforce but 23%
of redundancies. 43
Nearly half of all Black Caribbean women, and 37% of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women,
are employed in the public sector. 44 Research by The Fawcett Society has shown that BME
women are also four times more likely than white women to be working in jobs for which they
are overqualified and disproportionately represented in routine or semi-routine and insecure
37. Trade Union Congress and YWCA (2010) Apprenticeships and Gender. http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/Apprenticeships_and_Gender.pdf
38. The UKRC http://www.theukrc.org/ Accessed: 21/03/13
39. HM Treasury (2011) National Infrastructure Plan 2011 http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/national_infrastructure_plan2011.htm
40. Office for National Statistics (2011) Labour Force Survey Employment status by occupation, April-June 2011 http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/
rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/july-2012/table-emp16.xls
41. Office for National Statistics (2012) Reference table EMP08: All in employment by occupation, January-March 2012 http://www.ons.gov.uk/
ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/july-2012/table-emp08.xls
42. Women’s Budget Group (2011) The Impact on Women of the Budget 2011. WBG: London http://wbg.org.uk/RRB_Reports_7_282363355.pdf
43. Fawcett Society (2011) The Impact of Austerity on Women. Fawcett: London http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/wp-content/
uploads/2013/02/The-Impact-of-Austerity-on-Women-19th-March-2012.pdf
44. The Guardian (2010) ‘Spending review: Economists and other experts respond’, The Guardian Comment is Free, 20th October 2010 http://
www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/oct/20/spending-review-economists-experts-respond
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