Despite the changed and changing position of women in society there remain substantial gender differences in the labour market. This collection covers the gender pay gap, occupational segregation, and gender differences in school subject choice. Marion Koob is impressed but would like to have seen more policy recommendations from the book’s contributors

Koob, Marion

LSE Research Online

2014-10-9Book Review: Gender Inequality in the Labour Market in theUK edited by Giovanni Razzublogs.lse.ac.uk /lsereviewofbooks/2014/10/09/book-review-gender-inequality-in-the-labour-market-in-the-uk-edited-by-giovanni-razzu/Despite the changed and changing position of women in society there remain substantial genderdifferences in the labour market. This collection covers the gender pay gap, occupational segregation, and genderdifferences in school subject choice. Marion Koob is impressed but would like to have seen more policyrecommendations from the book’s contributors.Gender Inequality in the Labour Market in the UK. Giovanni Razzu (ed.).Oxford University Press. 2014.Find this book:   The topic of gender inequality in the labour market covers many connectedthemes. For students and scholars, it might bring to mind rates of participation,differentials in pay per hour, part-time versus full-term work, or the quality andsocial status of work in which women and men engage. Others outside ofacademia may not see or feel gender inequality in the labour market quite soclearly, and may ask whether it is an issue that still persists at all.These themes, in part, are what Gender Inequality in the Labour Market in theUK seeks to address. This collection provides a useful overview of existing dataon gender inequality in the UK labour market, along with a fresh academicanalysis of explanatory factors. Overall, the book recognises that whilewomen’s engagement and outcomes in the labour market have progressed,the work they do and the remuneration they receive does not reflect personalqualification levels relative to men – concluding that, indeed, the work toresolve gender inequality in this area is not yet done.As a Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Reading, and with experience as a governmenteconomist in various Departments including the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Government EqualitiesOffice, Giovanni Razzu is well placed to consider the issue from a policy perspective. He was, in addition, the leadanalyst for the Independent Equalities Review and developed a new Equality Measurement Framework based onthe capabilities approach.The book is divided into six chapters, and is aimed at an academic reader. One of its strongest chapters is Chapter4, “The Transition from Education to Work”, by Sarah Morgan and Helen Carrier. The authors study the impact ofgirls’ subject choices and attainment in education on their long-term career prospects. They conclude that whileprogress has overall been positive – sine the 1950s, girls have increasingly remained in post-compulsory education,and women on average do better than men at every level – certain indicators, such as the segregation of subjectchoices, have stalled. These then translate into significant consequences for women’s performance in the labourmarket.The authors find that girls are over-represented in subjects such as home economics, art and design, as well associal studies at GSCE level, and at travel and tourism, performing arts and applied arts and design at A-Level. Forinstance, girls made up less than 30% of economics GSCE candidates in 2011-2012, while under 20% of boys werehome economics candidates in the same year. These choices then translate into girls dominating subjects such as1/3modern languages, arts and humanities, and medical related subjects at undergraduate level. At apprenticeshiplevel, women make up over 90% of those going into health and social care, early years education, and hairdressing.Equivalent apprenticeships dominated by men pay better: “Simply put, construction and skilled trades pay betterthan caring and childcare”, and Morgan and Carrier here point to a lack of knowledge among women regardingthese differences in pay, joined with the absence of encouragement to consider atypical occupations.Left: A chemistry student studies a reaction in a test tube. Right: A microbiology officer in a microbiologylaboratory. Credit: Lab Science Career  CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 / Lab Science Career  CC BY-NC-SA 2.0Morgan and Carrier’s focus is on the data, rather than the explanatory factors underlying it. However, their briefreferences to gender stereotypes suggest that they believe this is the root cause of gender segmentation ineducation. The issue stays salient in the media, as recent articles on what keeps girls from studying STEM and howmany schools don’t have a single girl studying physics at A-level demonstrate. What’s more, they find that there isno evidence for the argument that the difference in subject choice between boys and girls reflects ability. Theynotably cite the recent erosion of the gender gap in science and mathematics subjects as proof. In subjects such asbiological sciences and chemistry, girls respectively made up 56 per cent and 48 per cent of A-Level candidates in2010, and are, according to Ofsted, ‘essentially free of stereotypical choice bias.’They conclude by stating that difference in subject choices and first occupations offsets the positive changes ofwomen achieving greater educational participation, attainment and results, but the possibility of narrowing this gapexists.In Chapter 6, “Household Production and the Labour Market”, Man Yee Kan looks at how the birth of a first childaffects women and men’s human capital. Kan posits that women’s domestic work will reduce their acquisition ofhuman capital for the labour market – in other words, that over time, men and women become increasinglyspecialised in domestic work and labour market work. Kan finds that women’s use of time for paid work anddomestic work changes significantly after the birth of a child, as many women quit labour market work or change topart-time work. One the other hand, men’s housework time only increases very slightly.The housework hours of one’s partner have an effect on labour market participation and performance; a husbandparticipating in housework is associated with a lower likelihood of a woman working part-time after the birth of achild. What’s more, Kan finds that one’s own housework hours hamper earning potential, while the partner’shousework hours are beneficial to this measure.The chapter concludes by relating the data to human capital accumulation, conceptualised as a slow and gradualprocess. The difference in time-use results in a differentiation in rates of accumulation of skills between men andwomen, and thus leads to gender gap in labour market earnings. The data explains how parenthood contributes to itwidening over life course. The chapter presents convincing findings, though uses a small sample size and studies2/3partners over only the course of two years, which limits its scope.Gender Inequality in the Labour Market in the UK reaches few definite conclusions, and this is particularly lacking inits introduction. Razzu here admits that the only clear position emerging from the collection is that “gender inequalityin the labour market is the product of many factors”. The lack of policy recommendations is disappointing, especiallyas so many of the authors come from government backgrounds. Inspired readers may ask: where do we moveforward from the analysis?Nonetheless, the book has much to offer. I would recommend it scholars and students looking for an overview ofexisting data and current academic debate on the subject.Marion Koob has a BSc in Government and Economics at the LSE and and MPhil in International Relations at theUniversity of Cambridge. She has worked in Polis, the LSE’s journalism think-tank, and is now at the British FilmInstitute. Read more reviews by Marion.Copyright 2013 LSE Review of Books3/3

Book review: gender inequality in the labour market in the UK edited by Giovanni Razzu

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