[email protected] department of social policy, london school of economics genet - gender equality...
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Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics
GeNet - Gender Equality Symposium, Queen’s College Cambridge, 26 September 2008
Persuading employers to be family-friendly: a comparison of government information campaigns and
the implications for gender equality
Lisa Warth ‡
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Outline
Gender inequality in access to family-friendly working arrangements
Why some employers provide and others don’t: awareness, willingness and ability
Government strategies to inform, persuade and enable employers to be family-friendly: information campaigns
Implications for gender equality
Limitations of information campaigns, conclusions and outlook
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Flexible working and gender equality
Allocation of time to work and care deeply gendered
Access to family-friendly working time arrangements can advance gender equality
If left unregulated, provision spreads unevenly across and within workplaces
Women are more likely to have access than men
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Access inequalities across workplaces
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Why are some employers more likely to provide?
Conditions for provision
Reasons for non-provision
Awareness Need for time flexibility is not known because not communicated or ignored
Willingness Attitude and beliefs of employers
Ability “Know-how” and/or operational capacity
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Information campaigns
Work-Life Balance Campaign, UK
(2000-2005)
Success Factor Family Campaign, DE
(since 2005)
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Strategies to inform, persuade, and enable
Information and awareness-raising
Persuading employers to support employees with care responsibilities
Capacity-building and “know-how”
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Awareness-raising
High media visibility of the issues through high profile supporters and events
Commissioning of research and dissemination of findings
Creation of an infrastructure for exchange
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Methods of Persuasion
Construction of a business-case/win-win scenario
The use of credible information channels
Provision of PR opportunities
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Capacity building
Expert advice/consultancy services
Guidance materials
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How was gender inequality addressed?
UK: targeting of male-dominated sectors
DE: awareness-raising on work-family reconciliation pressures of fathers
BUT in the main, gender neutral
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Implications for gender equality
Provision has increased overall
But: access to family-friendly working arrangements has remained unequal
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Access inequalities remain
Percentage of female employees Less than 10%
10-24% 25- 49% 50% or more
Working part-time 84 79 94 97
Job sharing 42 39 60 69
Working flexitime 61 46 67 55
Working a compressed working week 38 31 43 45
Working reduced hours for a limited period 61 61 70 82
Working from home on a regular basis 26 25 31 26
None of these 14 10 1 2
Availability of flexible working arrangements
Source: Third Work-Life Balance Employer Survey 2007 Base: All workplaces with 5 or more employees. Figures are weighted and based on responses from 1,462 managers
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Limitations of information campaigns
In the main gender neutral, do not attempt to redress access inequalities, rather aim to increase overall provision.
Business-case argumentation is gender-biased
Diffused outreach can create knowledge-gap effect
Non-binding campaigns cannot enforce equal access
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Conclusions
Information campaigns on their own insufficient to tackle gender access gap
Can reinforce rather than redress gender division in work and care.
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Outlook
Gender-sensitive approach needed: attitudes towards men as carers
Dual encouragement strategy: men as well as employers must be encouraged to make use of family-friendly working arrangements to promote more equal gender division of labour
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Thank you
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Access inequalities across workplaces