Jobs for the girls?
Gender and employment in the UK
Jean Smith lives with her partner and two children in Larkhall, South Lanarkshire, in Scotland.
Jean worked for 15 years as a machinist at the Daks Simpson textiles factory in Larkhall. The factory closed in 2002, after making hundreds of workers redundant for several years beforehand. It was the biggest employer in Larkhall, and the majority of its workforce were women.
When Jean had her first child she wanted to continue working at Daks, and approached them about job-sharing. She felt this would have been a good way to stay in work and keep the long-service benefits she’d built up over the years. But, despite applying several times, she was told that they wouldn’t allow it.
‘So that was that. I left. That was over 16 years ago.’
Since then, Jean has re-trained as a nursery nurse. She qualified two years ago, and despite applying for almost 30 different jobs, she has yet to be given an interview.
‘That’s shocking. I don’t understand it. What’s the point in putting you through all that training and everything when there’s nothing at the end?’
Research shows that the UK labour markets are highly gendered *. Women are often concentrated in low status, insecure jobs in low-paid sectors such as catering, retail, clerical, and care work. The negative effects of this segregation are even worse when the types of training offered to women don’t reflect the actual jobs available in an area.
Flexible and secure working is the key to enabling women and men to balance paid work and caring responsibilities, but that’s still far from a reality for many.
* Gender and Employment in Local Labour Markets Research Programme, Final Report October 2006. Professor Sue Yeandle, Centre for Social Inclusion, Sheffield Hallam University
ReGender is supported by the Big Lottery Fund.
