Inequalities Based on Gender (AQA GCSE Sociology)

Inequalities in life chances

• Life chances are a key concept in studying social inequality and stratification

• Life chances refer to people's chances of achieving positive or negative outcomes over their lifetime, for example:

  • being healthy or ill

  • being wealthy or poor

  • having stable or unstable employment and housing

• Life chances are distributed unequally between groups because they are affected by factors such as

  • class position

  • gender

  • ethnicity

  • age

  • sexuality

  • disability

  • religion

• Life chances are shaped by inequalities in wealth, income, power and status

• Sociologists disagree on how the different social divisions affect people's life chances

  • Marxists argue that social class in capitalist societies is more significant than factors such as gender or ethnicity

  • Feminists see gender inequalities in patriarchal societies as more important

Feminist perspectives on life chances

• Gender describes the different social practices, expectations and ideas that are associated with masculinity and femininity

• Learning of masculinity and femininity is largely influenced by agencies of socialisation like families, schools, and the media.

  • They may teach us that girls should be passive, kind and caring, and boys should be active, independent and strong

• Socialisation is a highly gendered process that prepares us for gender-specific social roles like housewife or breadwinner

• Feminist sociologists explore the ways that gender is socially constructed

Gender and power

• According to feminists, the primary cause of division in today's society is gender inequality

• Feminists argue that society is organised in a way that benefits men because we live in a patriarchal society, which

  • is controlled by men who have considerable power in politics and the workplace

  • permits men to have a bigger share of the available rewards, such as wealth and status

• Statistics show that women are under-represented as holders of political power and decision-makers

  • MPs in the House of Commons are mainly male, white and elite

  • After the 2015 General Election, there were 459 male MPs and 191 female MPs

  • In 2016, Theresa May became only the second female prime minister

  • After the 2024 General Election, however, the number of female MPs increased to 263

• Women are under-represented within the judiciary in England and Wales

  • In April 2016, women made up 21% of Court of Appeal judges, 21% of High Court judges and 28% of judges in the courts

  • However, there are slightly more female than male court judges under the age of 40

Gender inequalities at work

• Feminist research explores the links between gender, life chances and social inequality

• Examining gender in the workplace is important as:

  • it is a source of status, power and income

  • women's participation in the labour market has increased over the last 40 years

• Changes in education and employment over the last 50 years have taken place in an attempt to achieve gender equality

• These changes are partly linked to the introduction of equality and anti-discrimination laws

  • The Equal Pay Act (1970) ensured that employers must pay men and women the same salary for doing the same work or work of equal value

  • The Sex Discrimination Act (1975) made it unlawful to discriminate against someone at work or school because of their sex

• As a result, gender inequalities have reduced since the 1960s and 1970s

Inequalities continue to exist

• Inequalities persist in the labour market, and gender is still a key division in society E.g.

  • engineering is male-dominated

  • childcare and primary school teaching is female-dominated

  • 85% of the construction labor workforce in the UK is male (UK Trade Skills Index, 2023)

• When men and women work in the same occupation

  • women are more likely to be in lower or middle-level jobs

  • men tend to hold higher-grade and senior management posts

• Feminists argue that women are held back by a glass ceiling that acts as an invisible barrier to promotion

The gender pay gap

• The gender pay gap is the term used to describe the fact that women still earn, on average, significantly less than men

• According to the Office for National Statistics (2024), the gender pay gap:

  • has been declining slowly over time

  • fell among full-time employees in April 2024 to 7% from 7.5% in 2023

  • is larger for employees aged over 40 years than those under 40 years

  • is larger among high earners than among lower-paid employees

Explanations for gender inequalities at work

• Sex discrimination within the workplace

  • Despite legislation, some women continue to be treated less favourably than men simply because of their gender

• Women's triple shift

  • Women in paid employment bear the burden of employment, domestic labour, and 'emotion work' (making children and partners feel good)

  • Scott and Clery (2013) argue that gender inequalities in the home make it difficult to achieve equality in the workplace

  • Women are more likely than men to work part-time jobs that are low-paid with few promotion opportunities due to caring responsibilities

• Childcare provision

  • Childcare for the under-5s in Britain is inadequate and expensive

  • This acts as a barrier as it prevents women with young children from working in general, working full-time or staying in employment long enough to develop their career