Demographic Change and Female Employment: Lessons from Two British Cases
| Pages | 26-39 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01425459310048527 |
| Date | 01 May 1993 |
| Published date | 01 May 1993 |
| Author | Nikala Lane |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Employee
Relations
15,5
26
Demographic Change and
Female Employment:
Lessons from Two British
Cases
Nikala Lane
Cardiff Business
School,
University of Wales
College,
Cardiff,
UK
Introduction
During the post-war period there has been a dramatic increase in the number
of women (predominantly married) entering the (paid) working population
of
Britain.
Yet,
despite the increase in the female participation rate, a large
proportion of women remain concentrated in particular occupations at lower
grades. On average, women's pay rates are just over two-thirds the average
of men's rates and over
40
per cent of women in paid employment are part-
time,
compared with only
4
per cent of men. Thus, women tend not only to
be poorly paid relative to men, but are also denied access to career paths
which would enable them to "escape" from the low-status, low-paid part-
time jobs
in
which they are predominantly employed. However, demographic
change may alter this situation
as,
due to decrease in the number of school
leavers, employers will have to recruit labour from an alternative source.
This article examines initiatives introduced by employers in the finance
sector and local government and health authorities
in
response
to
demographic
pressures in the late 1980s in order to ascertain whether the impetus for
change improved the employment status of women. This is more likely to
improve during a period of labour shortages when there is a stronger
incentive
to
attract and retain various groups of workers
into
paid employment
Therefore, a study was made of one location (Derbyshire) and one sector
(banking) to establish whether initiatives associated with demographic
change and labour shortages
are
likely
to
impact
on
the structure of horizontal
and vertical segregation of women's work. Overall, it was found that the
initiatives represented a continuation of, rather than change in, the pattern
of existing occupational segregation.
Female Employment in Britain
The most remarkable feature of women's employment since World War II
in the UK has been its growth, from 6.7 million (or
33.6
per cent of the total
workforce of
10.7
million) in
1948
to
10.7
million
(42
per cent of the total of
over 25 million) in
1989[1].
Whereas only 35 per cent of all women were
economically active in
1951,
by the late 1980s this figure had risen to over
Employee Relations, Vol. 15 No. 5,
1993.
pp. 26-39, © MCB University
Press,
0142-5455
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