Review of the occupational health and safety of Britain’s ethnic minorities

This report sets out an evidence-based review on work-related health and safety issues relating to black and minority ethnic groups. Data included available statistical materials and a systematic review of published research and practice-based reports. UK South Asians are generally under-represented within the most hazardous occupational groups. They have lower accident rates overall, while Black Caribbean workers rates are similar to the general population; Bangladeshi and Chinese workers report lowest workplace injury rates UK South Asian people exhibit higher levels of limiting long-term illness (LLI) and self reported poor health than the general population while Black Africans and Chinese report lower levels. Ethnic minority workers with LLI are more likely than whites to withdraw from the workforce, or to experience lower wage rates. Some of these findings conflict with evidence of differentials from USA, Europe and Australasia, but there is a dearth of effective primary research or reliable monitoring data from UK sources. There remains a need to improve monitoring and data collection relating to black and ethnic minority populations and migrant workers. Suggestions are made relating to workshops on occupational health promotion programmes for ethnic minorities, and ethnic minority health and safety 'Beacon' sites

Women and Work: 50 Years of Change since the \u3ci\u3eAmerican Women\u3c/i\u3e Report

[Excerpt] When the President’s Commission on the Status of Women published its report American Women in 1963, there was much to be celebrated with regards to women’s status in the United States. Women were living longer than ever and more of them were a part of the labor force than at most times in recent history. The civil rights movement had placed equal opportunity as the ideal in the workplace, at home, and in all facets of life. Yet in the workforce, women had a long way to go. Many jobs were essentially off-limits to women, including doctor, lawyer, and many types of businesses. While a few remarkable women pursued these fields, the majority of women worked as teachers, nurses, maids or secretaries. Fifty years later, women’s gains are considerable. More women are a part of our labor force than in 1963, and women are more likely to be the primary breadwinner for their families than they were then. Women are matriculating from higher education in larger numbers than their male peers. Many goals outlined in American Women have been achieved. But the more things change the more they also stay the same. This paper will examine women’s participation in the labor force, then and now, and illuminate lingering gender disparities that persist from day one for female workers. Specifically, a persistent concern is that women begin their careers nearly on par with their male counterparts in wages, but fall behind their male colleagues in mid- to late- career. This fact has not changed substantially since 1963, even though postsecondary educational gains have helped women narrow the wage gap. There is much left to be done to ensure the promise of the 1963 report of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women. This paper begins with a brief study of the changing landscape of education and training and its impact on women’s work. Next, the paper explores women in the workplace and persistent challenges they face. In addition, the paper examines women and their support for their families as wage earners. The paper concludes with an assessment of policy priorities to help achieve many of the goals set forth in the original American Women report

The Voices of Women Perceptions of the Status of Women in Arkansas

In 2013, the Women's Foundation of Arkansas published "1973/2013: A then and now report on the statusof women in Arkansas" an update to the report commissioned by Gov. Dale Bumpers in 1973. The 2013 report provides quantitative data on the economic, political and health status of women in AK. While these data detail aspects of the situation of women in AK face, there remained a lack of women's voices on the subject. This report provides key findings froma project to discover women's reactions to the 1973/2013 report and their perceptions on the women in general

Stopping Sexual Harassment in the Empire State: Past, Present, and a Possible Future

This report maps current patterns of workplace sexual harassment and their impact in New York State. It also provides a broader frame for understanding how efforts to confront sexual and gender-based harassment and assault have evolved over time, and charts possible directions for future organizing, policy, and research in New York and beyond. The findings presented here are drawn from the 2018 Empire State Poll, an annual statewide survey of 800 New Yorkers conducted by the Cornell Survey Research Institute. Questions added to the survey reflecting existing legal definitions of workplace sexual harassment reveal the following: 10.9 percent of New York residents have experienced quid pro quo workplace sexual harassment, and 21.9 percent have experienced workplace sexual harassment that created a hostile work environment; 31.1 percent of women and 18.9 percent of men have experienced at least one of these forms of harassment. 13.9 percent of people of color and people of Hispanic origin have experienced quid pro quo workplace sexual harassment, as opposed to 8.5 percent of non-Hispanic whites. 38.9 percent of those experiencing at least one form of workplace sexual harassment say it impacted their work or careers; 48.9 percent who experienced quid pro quo harassment reported such an impact. 83.4 percent of New York residents think their leaders should do more to address workplace sexual harassment. There is notable variation by politics and ideology, but regardless of worldview, strong majorities think leaders should do more. In addition to sharing the survey findings, the report discusses experiences and responses of survivors and how they are shaped by different identities and relations of power. It highlights black women’s leadership in propelling wide-reaching shifts in law and culture; efforts initiated by diverse survivors to effect change in specific industries; and culture change work engaging men and women as allies

A novel alternative. Book groups, women, and workplace networking

Drawing on the results of a small qualitative research project involving four work-based book groups – three in the UK and one in the USA- this article examines the ways in which participation in workplace reading groups facilitates women’s networking within work organizations, in terms of both formal and informal as well as expressive and instrumental networking. It has long been recognized that women’s employment progression is hampered, in part, by their exclusion from male-dominated networks. Taking a gendered approach to the analysis of workplace networking, this study suggests that book groups can function as an alternative to traditional old boys’ networks, in some instances. Within the workplace the collective reading of literature, I suggest, can potentially function as a means to extend the social as well as the more career-focused opportunities of its participants

Policies for an Ageing Workforce Work-life balance, working conditions and equal opportunities 2019

At a time of rapid population ageing, a key means of sustaining current welfare states is to extend the length of working lives. In 2050, the share of people over the age of 75 years will be the same as the share over 65 years today. And just as not all are able to work to the age of 65 now, not everyone will be able to work to the age of 75 in 2050; even if future older workers will in all likelihood be healthier and have better working aids at their disposal. Extending average working lives by 10 years, and at the same time ensuring an adequate social safety net for those unable to work into their late 60s and 70s, is a major social policy challenge for the coming decades. And because people are much more likely to work late in life if they had stable careers before reaching 60, tackling this policy challenge means pulling on many more social policy levers than just pension policy. While being keenly aware of these issues and how they relate to the overall agenda of active ageing, Commissioner Thyssen also reminds us in her Foreword that marked increases in life expectancy – both past and in the future – represent enormous social progress. The Commissioner makes the point that older people too contribute to society. And more so with lifelong learning and investment in skills