Gender Inequality
Under-representation of women in managerial posts in the UKWomen in the workplace are a relatively recent development. The first time a woman was allowed to take up a so-called "man's job" in this country was during the war, when the men were away serving their country. It took Emmiline Pankhurst and her fellow suffragettes nearly forty years to finally get the women's vote. Even though this was their primary struggle, they indirectly fought for equal opportunities for women in the workplace as well. Nearly a whole century later, prejudices still exist about women being the weaker sex. Many laws have been passed against sexual discrimination such as the 'Equal Pay Act (1970)' and the 'Sex Discrimination Act (1976)'. However, women are still singled out. For example, just recently a former nurse, Kate Bleasdale, received a record amount of compensation: L2.2 million. She had set up her own company in 1985, called 'Match Group', whose purpose was to re-train and help qualified nurses to find suitable jobs. However, she was subject to hate mails and verbal abuse from her male board members. She also found out that her (male) finance director was paid more than she was. She was finally forced to leave the organisation. Her compens
In conclusion, in the matter of under representation of women, employers need to promote equal opportunities for both sexes. We have to take into consideration however, that the population of England is much greater than that of Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. An important point that influences the employment of women is the "pull factor". Conservative views about women being the weaker sex, both physically and mentally, are also changing. Younger people in general are more ambitious and much more focused on their career aspects. So women tend to lose out either way. However, a new act to be passed in April 2003 will allow mothers up to 26 weeks of 'ordinary', or in other words paid maternity leave. In Wales, the EOC suggests that women in Wales tend to be less geographically mobile than in other parts of the UK. Bearing in mind that populations for different regions are different, the following are the proportions of men to women in managerial posts: Women MenEngland 9% 18%Scotland 7% 16%Wales 9% 15%Northern Ireland 10% 15%The ratio varies quite significantly within the countries as well. 1 million women made up for the managerial posts in this country. Female employees experienced many more career interruptions compared to males. In fact women (particularly in Wales) are better represented in finance, personnel and education departments than they are in operations, production and manufacturing departments. But we are well on our way for men and women having similar amounts of career interruptions. As this was nearly a decade ago, the results may not still be valid today.
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Acceptance Essays
