Policy for a change: Local Labour Market Analysis and Gender Equality

Policy for a change......Page 2
Contents......Page 4
List of figures and tables......Page 5
Preface and acknowledgements......Page 6
Notes on contributors......Page 8
About the GELM research programme......Page 10
Abbreviations and acronyms......Page 13
1. Introduction......Page 16
Women and labour market disadvantage......Page 18
Local economies and the UK labour market......Page 20
The evidence base......Page 22
Working in partnership to envision change: fairness, diversity and choice......Page 23
Introduction......Page 28
Structural issues......Page 29
Policy relevant to women’s participation in the labour market......Page 35
Introduction......Page 50
Educational attainment......Page 51
The gender pay gap......Page 53
How work is valued......Page 56
Part-time work......Page 59
Women, low pay and poverty......Page 62
Disconnection from the labour market and access to paid work......Page 65
Workplace cultures......Page 68
Developing these themes......Page 70
National policies, local people......Page 74
Jobs......Page 76
Women and men......Page 83
Infrastructure......Page 88
Conclusion......Page 90
Introduction......Page 92
Indian women in Birmingham and Leicester......Page 94
Pakistani and Bangladeshi women in their local labour markets......Page 99
Educational attainment, family circumstances and age......Page 103
Conclusion......Page 109
Introduction......Page 112
The significance of ‘access’ in the context of labour market inequality......Page 113
What is the nature and scale of the problem?......Page 115
Which women find it difficult to access sustainable employment?......Page 118
What are the access issues for women?......Page 121
Policy limitations......Page 125
What works in supporting women’s access to local employment?......Page 128
Conclusion......Page 129
Introduction......Page 132
Part-time working and low-level jobs......Page 133
Labour market variations in occupational structure......Page 135
Labour market variations in industrial structure......Page 137
Managers’ reluctance to construct senior-level part-time jobs......Page 139
Managers’ thinking and the clustering of part-time jobs at lower levels......Page 141
Pay and pay determination......Page 143
Training and promotion......Page 146
Job content, employee autonomy and responsibility......Page 147
Conclusion......Page 149
Introduction......Page 152
Women’s employment in the local authority sector......Page 153
Explanations of women’s absence from senior positions......Page 156
Women in the local authority workforce......Page 159
Mid-career women: aspirations, choices and preferences......Page 160
Experiences and preferences of ‘work-centred’ senior women......Page 164
Reappraising preference theory......Page 166
Policy implications......Page 170
The need for change......Page 172
Evidence from the GELM research programme......Page 173
Conclusion......Page 178
GELM gender profiles of local labour markets (Buckner et al, 2004 a–i, 2005a, 2005b, 2006)......Page 180
GELM Local Research Study 1: Working below potential: wome nand part-time work (Grant et al, 2005, 2006g–l)......Page 181
GELM local research study 3: Ethnic minority women and access to the labour market (Stiell and Tang, 2006a–e; Yeandle et al, 2006j)......Page 182
GELM local research study 4: Career development for women in local authorities (Bennett et al, 2006a–e; Bennett and Yeandle,2006)......Page 183
GELM local research study 6: Local challenges in meeting demand for domiciliary care (Yeandle et al, 2006c–h)......Page 184
Appendix B. Employment and economic activity indicators for the GELM localities and England......Page 186
Birmingham......Page 190
East Staffordshire......Page 191
Leicester......Page 192
Newcastle......Page 193
Sandwell......Page 194
Somerset......Page 195
Southwark......Page 196
Trafford......Page 197
Wakefield......Page 198
West Sussex......Page 199
References......Page 202
Index......Page 226