1. “Mind the Gap!” Conceptualising & Measuring Inequalities & Fairness Jacqueline O’Reilly, Jose Roche & Tiziana Nazio Brighton University, Oxford University & Turin University Workcare seminar ETUI Brussels September 2011

2. … Issues & Problems …. From Equal Opportunities to Inter-sectionality Fairness vs. social justice Which Social & Labour market policies Competing demands – factors pulling in different directions Complexity Ubiquitous relational concept – which comparator? For which groups, which gaps, which policies? increasing inequalities alongside attempts at social cohesion

3. Inequality: It’s a Man’s thing Men’s real hourly wages (indexed to 1 in 1975)

4. Addressing Inequality in the UK Equality Act 2006 & 2010 Anatomy of Inequality in the UK Government Equality Office Jan 2010 How fair is Britain? Equality and Human Rights Commission in the UK Oct 2010. Equality Measurement Framework Monitoring multi-dimensional inequalities over a range of policy areas

5. Challenging the Gender Contract: Developing a n Analytical Framework Macro: – regulatory framework and changing economic structure Meso: firm level practices as pro- or re-active Micro: – behaviour and attitudes of individuals: – what is the right thing to do?; – managing coping and caring; – cultural lags between what people want and how they are able to realise this

6. Aim of presentation Monitoring gaps & using composite indexes Identifying norms Realised labour market transitions Rethinking Inequalities: Discussion – matching different norms, transitions and policy goals

7. Part I: Indexes for International comparisons

8. Comparative indexes : GDI GEM GEM political participation & decision making economic participation & decision making power over economic resources GDI life expectancy at birth, adult literacy & real GDP

9. Benchmark base to compare countries Comparisons over time Available data & relevance Consciousness raising Draw attention to policy areas to address gaps

10. Cons Debate over capabilities & outcomes Methods of calculating indices Confusion over what is being measured – relative or absolute gender inequalities Neglected in policy debates Not dig deeper (Chant 2006)

11. EU Gender Equality Index (EUGEI) Rationale European Employment Strategy – policy orientated Definition of equality based on – Fraser – equity Multiple levels of measures (Plantenga et al. 2009)

12. Composition of the EU Gender Equality Index (EUGEI) DimensionsSubdimensionsIndicators Equal sharing of paid workLabour Force ParticipationGender employment gap UnemploymentGender unemployment gap Equal sharing of moneyPayGender pay gap IncomeGender poverty gap among single-headed households Equal sharing of decision- making power Political PowerGender gap in Parliament Socio-economic powerGender gap in ISCO1 Equal sharing of timeCaring timeGender gap in caring time for children LeisureGender gap in leisure time Source: Plantenga et al. 2009

14. Rationale for comparison (EUGEI) Gender Gaps

15. …. but which gap? Employment rates – low in Spain unemployment rates – high in Spain gender pay gap - lower in Poland gender poverty gap - higher in Poland and Spain. Political representation - higher in Spain and Denmark Gender segregation higher in Denmark Care gap highest in Spain Leisure gap largest in Poland and Spain

16. Part II: Norms & Values (or who cares?)

17. ESS Questions on Gender Norms at individual and societal level The questions asked of individuals were: ‘Do you approve or disapprove if a woman/man: … lives with a partner without being married to him/her? … has a child with a partner she/he lives with but is not married to? … gets divorced while she/he has children aged under 12? … chooses never to have children? … has a full-time job while she/he has children aged under 3?’ The same five dimensions were also examined at a societal level with the question: ‘Apart from your own feelings, how do you think most people would react if a woman/man they knew well did any of the following?’

19. Cluster analysis (mean factor score and distribution by country)

21. Findings Across all countries men expressed more traditional than women. More stigma towards maternal full-time employment than towards paternal employment The characteristics associated with holding more traditional attitudes were being religious, having being divorced and having lower levels of education. Those not working in a full-time job, i.e. part-timers, the unemployed and those not in employment were also more likely to hold traditional attitudes, or to express indifference associated with societal disapproval. Age didn’t seem to have a major influence except in categories 3 & 4 (dis & ind). And students were found distributed across the ideational spectrum. Characteristics associated with indifferent attitudes were strongest amongst both the higher and less well educated, the unemployed, those without strong religious beliefs, divorcees, and those not in full-time employment. Permissive attitudes were found amongst women, those with weak religious beliefs, the unmarried and divorced. Being a parent had no effect on any of the attitudes

22. Part III: So What? Who gets the job?

23. Questions in Labour Market research Stocks or flows? Individuals or Households? Preferences or policies? Comparative employment regimes – what are the key dimensions to understand inequalities?

24. Research questions How is care and work organised in European households? EU Workcare project What characteristics are associated with making different transitions: integrative, exclusionary & maintenance? Transitional Labour Markets (Schmid)

28. Regional differences: Germany and Italy compared

29. What integrates women into work? UK – being childless & highly qualified Denmark – having children 3-5 & being highly qualified Spain – being childless, having a partner who is not working or being highly qualified

30. What prevents women working? UK – having small children under 5, a partner who works very long hours or is unemployed Denmark – having children under 2, an unemployed partner, few qualifications Spain – having 3 or more small children, preferring to be a full-time mother, a partner working long hours, few qualifications

31. What enables mothers to continue working? In all three countries: Job satisfaction Working in the public sector

32. Men & Kids: Does it matter? DK – kids have no effect on transitions – childcare is beneficial to men as well as women compared to UK and Spain. UK – men with kids more likely to work; but 3+ kids more likely to loose their job Spain – 3+ kids or kids under 2 dad’s less likely to work

33. Conclusions Indexes – Monitoring inequalities – which gap? Norms – Who cares? Transitions – Who gets what job?

34. Challenging the Gender Contract: Comparative Analytical Framework Macro: – regulatory framework and changing economic structure Meso: firm level practices as pro- or re-active Micro: – behaviour and attitudes of individuals: – what is the right thing to do?; – managing coping and caring; – cultural lags between what people want and how they are able to realise this

35. Cultural lags- policies & norms Dimensions normative gender regimes in four European countries. UK quite traditional attitudes to maternal full-time employment & indifference to traditional family norms. The liberal UK model relatively poor infrastructure for family policy and the pervasiveness of part-time employment by firms. In Poland more support for maternal full-time employment & strong support for traditional family values. This could in part be due to the economic necessity for Polish women to work, together with the more limited availability of part- time employment & communist heritage. In Spain more permissive values than expected where harder for mothers to work. Denmark congruence at individual and societal level supporting more permissive gender norms & stable transiions between work and care.

36. Discussion: methods & policy Typologies - generated from the data using a composite multi-dimensional approach (cluster analysis) Or imposing a typology from the outset More difficult to build an index on values cant read off from socio-economic policies a straight line (Braun et al. 1994) take up of policies or the lack of them and how this shapes policy goals – if the infrastructure and opportunities are missing – then so is the attitude to support these? Need longitudinal comparisons to measure transitions?

37. Returning to my problems Fairness – relational concept – can it mean anything credible? Or is it too malleable? Policy – what kinds & for which groups of people – targeted/universalistic Factors pulling in different directions – changing structure of employment opportunities and policy goals?