EU FPV Thematic Network: The Social Problem and Societal Problematisation of Men and Masculinities
UK NATIONAL REPORT ON STATISTICAL INFORMATION ON MEN’S PRACTICES WORKPACKAGE 2
Keith Pringle, Alex Raynor and Jackie Millett
[Please note that in the following report ONS is used as an acronym for the Office for National Statistics, the main central government agency for collation and dissemination of statistical information in the United Kingdom]
- KEY POINTS
(i) As with data from Workpackage 1, it is striking how this data confirms the importance of understanding the complex intersections of disadvantage associated with gender, ethnicity, class, age, sexuality, disability.
(ii) Similarly, this data confirms again that issues of home and work, social exclusion, violences and health overlap and intersect in complex ways.
(iii) In Britain, there is an immense quantity of official statistical data on gender in relation to the labour market: it dwarfs the amount of data on other topics, even those relatively well-covered such as crime. There is an urgent need for much broader official statistical data gathering in relation to issues of social disadvantage and gender - in particular on: disability; sexuality; age; men’s violences to children.
- NATIONAL GENDER BACKGROUND
(a) Data Sources. Due to space limitations I have largely, though not exclusively, confined myself to central government sources. Especially since the advent of the Labour Administration in 1997 these have become highly extensive on topics such as: poverty, unemployment, the labour market, crime (including violences to women), health, ethnicity – and often with a relatively strong gender focus. By contrast there is much less produced on areas of disadvantage such as disability, sexuality or crimes against children. This pattern largely reflects the government’s policy agenda with a focus on (i) social exclusion defined by the government in rather narrow labour market terms (ii) crime – with some areas highlighted more than others eg men’s violences to women and other men now receive considerably more attention in terms of policy than men’s violences to children. (b) Timescales. For reasons of space again, I have tried to use only the latest statistical sources in most cases.
3. HOME AND WORK
(a)Divorce. ONS (2000). Social Trends 30. 2000 edition, Table 2.9, p39: In England and Wales in 1997, “7 out of 10 divorces were awarded to women”, the most common reason being their husbands’ unreasonable behaviour while for husbands it was their wives adultery. ONS (1998) Summary Statistics for Marriages and Divorces in England and Wales, 1996: Almost 22% of men and 23% of women divorcing were aged between 30 and 34 at divorce; 28% of both men and women who married in 1996 were previously divorced compared with 27% in 1995.
(b)Cohabitation. Table 2.10 p40: “ young people are generally more likely to cohabit than older people. Women also tend to cohabit at younger ages than men. The peak age group for cohabitation among unmarried women in great Britain in 1998-99 was 25-29, with 39% of men cohabiting, while for men it was the 30-34 year age group, with 44% of men cohabiting.
(c)Non-resident and lone fathers. Holtermann, S et al (1999) Lone Parents and the labour market: results from the 1997 Labour Force Survey and Review of Research, a research review on Lone Parents and the Labour Market for Department for Education and Employment using 1997 Labour Force Survey: (i) Chapter 3. “The UK has the highest rate of lone mothers in the EU. Table 3.3.1 (App 3) and Fig 3.2.1 (app 4): Lone fathers are a relatively small group ”which makes it susceptible to considerable fluctuations from year to year in the Labour Force Survey… Viewed over time, however, lone fathers seem to remain fairly constant in size, averaging just under 10% of lone parent families”. They consist mainly of divorced and separated men, with about a quarter formed by widowers and single fathers. In relation to ethnicity, Table 3.4.6. demonstrates that lone fathers are predominantly white (96.8% in 1990 and 92.7% in 1997). (ii) Chapter 4-Labour market participation: “The same employment hierarchy is apparent among fathers: married fathers have the highest employment rate, followed by cohabiting fathers, and lone fathers have the lowest employment rate.” “Over the… period, 1984-1997, employment rates amongst lone mothers, lone fathers and couple fathers have changed very little but the employment rate among couple mothers has risen by more than a third.” “Couple fathers continue to work long hours, averaging 47 hours a week in 1997, nearly 20 hours a week longer on average than employed couple mothers. However, the average working hours of couple mothers continues to move up, increasing by 5% between 1990 and 1997, reflecting the increasing proportion of employed mothers working longer part time hours and full time. “Lone fathers work on average shorter hours than couple fathers (nearly four hours less a week), but substantially longer hours than employed lone mothers, more than 15 hours a week higher on average.” The great majority of employed fathers have full time jobs, but employed couple fathers are more likely to have full time jobs (94%) than employed lone fathers (87%). Overall, fathers employed full time mainly work longer full time hours, whilst employed mothers mostly work shorter full time hours.”
(d)Men and Women in the Labour Market. Equal Opportunities Commission, (1999) Women and Men in Britain: The Labour Market, Briefing Paper (reviews ONS Spring 1988 Labour Force Survey data): “The most significant difference between the sexes is the pronounced pattern of gender segregation in different industrial groupings and occupations. The labour market continues to include strongly gender segregated industries, some are heavily male dominated such as engineering whilst others are mainly female dominated such as hairdressing. New industries show no sign of breaking the mould. A similar pattern can be seen in the occupations of men and women. Those showing the greatest concentrations of men were craft and related occupations and plant and machine operatives. In addition, two thirds of managers and administrators were men. In comparison, three quarters of employees in clerical and secretarial occupations were women (See Appendix: Home and Work - 1). A second major difference is working hours. While men are overwhelmingly concentrated in full time work, large numbers of women work part time and this is strongly associated with their responsibilities for children and other dependants.” “Men aged either below 25, or 65 and over were far more likely to work part time than those aged between 25 and 64. Of those who were under 25 and worked part time nearly four fifths did so because they were students or still at school whereas almost half of the men aged 25-44 who worked part time did so because they could not find a full time job. Only 7% of men who did not want a full time job gave spending more time with their family as the reason whilst a further 7% cited domestic commitments“ (Data from Labour Market Trends Dec 1998 ONS, Analysis of Labour Force Survey Spring 97 to Winter 97/8). “Between 1984 and 1999 the proportion of women in the labour market increased from 66% to 72% whereas the proportion of men who were economically active declined from 88% to 84 %. Trends differed by age group. Between 1984 and 1998 the economic activity rate fell noticeably for young people aged under 25, particularly for young men. This was largely due to their increased participation in education and training and a decrease in the number of jobs available”. Equal Opportunities Commission (2000) Research: Gender Statistics Briefing Paper which reviews Labour Force Survey data from Autumn 1999, notes that “The increasing participation of women in the labour force has led to an increase in the proportion of couples in Great Britain with dependent children where both partners are in employment, and a decrease in the proportion of households where only the man is working” from 40% of households in the early 1980s to 26% of households in 1996/7. Moreover, men “are more likely to experience long term unemployment than women. In Spring 1999, 22% of unemployed men in the UK had been unemployed for two years or more, compared with 11% of unemployed women.”
(e)Pay and Income. Equal Opportunities Commission, (1999) Women and Men in Britain: Pay and Income, Briefing Paper: Unequal pay and income are major sources of gender inequality and affect women of all ages and classes. Women earn 80% of average full time male hourly earnings, while men’s average income is almost twice that of women’s… This economic imbalance between women and men affects choices about participation in family life. Reasons for unequal pay include gender segregation in employment; different patterns of working; … discrimination within payment systems; and under evaluation of women’s jobs. Women’s lower income after retirement reflects their unequal pay during their working lives and the effects of pensions systems based on traditional ‘male’ working patterns which discriminate against women.” See Appendix: Home and Work - 2.
Men and women defined as disabled have lower average hourly earnings than other full time employees and women with disabilities have lower earnings than men with disabilities (Data from Labour Force Survey 1998). ONS Social Trends 30, 2000 Edition Figure 8.5 p 134 (see Appendix: Home and Work - 3): “Single pensioners are more likely than pensioner couples to receive an income-related benefit and, in addition single female pensioners are more likely to receive these benefits than single male pensioners.” Moreover, a lower proportion of single women aged 80 and over has an income from an occupational pension. This is due to a combination of the lower percentage of women who were in employment when they were younger and the likelihood that female employees would not have been a member of a scheme (see Figure 8.20, p143 reproduced in Appendix: Home and Work - 4).
GAPS: There is an immense mass of governmental data on this issue. However, some aspects receive relatively little coverage – for instance more on disability and old age is required.
4. SOCIAL EXCLUSION
Poverty
“Opportunity For All – Tackling Poverty and Social Exclusion”, First Annual Report 1999, Department of Social Security Publications. 1999: (a) The Care System: “Boys who have been in foster homes or in care are more likely to be unemployed adults than those who lived with their natural parents” (based on Hobcraft, J. 1998, Intergenerational and life course transmission of social exclusion: influences of childhood poverty, family disruption, and contact with the police. CASE Paper 15. London School of Economics).” (b) Unemployment: “Only a third of boys whose fathers were in the bottom quarter of the earnings distribution made it to the top half when they grew up and the pattern is similar for girls” (Based on Machin, S. 1999, Childhood disadvantage and intergenerational transmission of economic status inPersistent poverty and lifetime inequality: The evidence. CASE and Her Majesty’s Treasury). “Long periods out of work…can ‘scar’ people. On average men who before the age of 24 had been unemployed for 12 months or more, were out of work for ten times longer in the following decade than those who had never been unemployed” (Based on Gregg, P., 1999, Scarring effects of unemployment in Persistent poverty and lifetime inequality: The evidence. CASE and Her Majesty’s Treasury). (c) Skills: “Chart 4.2 (Chapter 4 p1 see Appendix: Social Exclusion - 1). Shows the importance of skills. “Men with very low literacy and numeracy skills are about six times as likely to be out of work than those with good skills” (Based on Parsons, S. and Bynner, J. 1998, Influences on adult basic skills: factors affecting the development of literacy and numeracy from birth to age 37. Basic Skills Agency.).” (d) Age: “Older men coming up to retirement age have increasingly dropped out of the labour market. In 1979 around one man in five aged 55-65 years was not working. By 1997 this proportion had doubled” (Based on Campbell, N., 1999, The decline in employment among older people in Britain, CASE paper 19 London School of Economics) “…But for many this ‘early’ retirement is involuntary and leads to low income. Employment rates for older women (aged 55-60) have not declined in the same way, but they (also) have not risen”. (e) Ethnicity: “Ethnic minority men are more likely to have experienced unemployment than White men during their working lives. In a recent survey, 13% of ethnic minority men aged under 35 had spent more than a third of their working lives unemployed compared with just 7% of white men. Around half of younger ethnic minority men had, since the age of 16, spent more than a third of their working lives in unemployment” (Based on ONS Labour Force Survey, 1999 and Working and Family Lives Survey, Department for Education and Employment).
Ethnicity
“Minority Ethnic Issues in Social Exclusion and Neighbourhood Renewal”, Report on The National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal, Social Exclusion Unit, The Cabinet Office, 2000:
(a)Incomes - Chapter 2, p3, Figure 2. See Appendix: Social Exclusion - 2: “28% of people in England and Wales live in households that have incomes less than half the national average, but this is the case for 34% of Chinese people; over 40% of African-Caribbean and Indian people; and over 80% of Pakistani and Bangladeshi people.” (Berthoud, R., 1997 in Modood, T., and Berthoud, R., et al Ethnic minorities in Britain: Diversity and disadvantage. The Fourth National Survey of Ethnic Minorities. Policy Studies Institute, London p159-60). “Pakistani and Bangladeshi men have high rates of unemployment...in addition, those in employment have low wages and these have to be spread across large household sizes.” (ibid p161). “One consequence of this is that you are more likely to live in a poor household - with less than half the average national household income adjusted for family size - if you are Pakistani or Bangladeshi and work (50% chance) than if you are white and do not work (43% chance)” (Berthoud, R., 1998, Incomes of Ethnic Minorities, Institute for Social and Economic Research, Colchester).
(b)Prison and The Criminal Justice System: “African-Caribbean young men are over-represented at every stage of the criminal justice process, from stop and search to imprisonment… and there is a strong perception among minority ethnic young people that the police assume they are potential criminals”. (Hood, R., 1992 Home Office research study No 180 and 2000 SEU Report of Policy Action Team 12: Young People TSO p44). “…people from minority ethnic communities accounted for 18% of the male prison population and 24% of the female prison population, with black people alone accounting for 12% of the male and 18% of the female population”. However, “higher proportions of black and Asian prisoners are remanded before trial compared with white prisoners” and “in nearly all police forces, there was a lower use of cautioning for suspected black offenders than for white and Asian offenders”.
(c)Education: “Within each ethnic and socio-economic subgroup, girls do better than boys”. White, Indian and Bangladeshi girls performed best with African-Caribbean boys performing worse. Generally people from minority groups are as well qualified as white people but “African men with degrees are seven times more likely to be unemployed than white male graduates”. (Berthoud, R., 1999, Young Caribbean Men and the Labour Market: A comparison with other ethnic groups, York Publishing services for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation).
(d)Unemployment - Tables 4 and 5, p13 in Chapter 2. See Appendix: Social Exclusion 3 and 4: “Rates of unemployment are higher for people from minority ethnic backgrounds no matter what their qualifications, place of residence, sex or age ( see Tables 4 and 5) (DfEE Report of Policy Action Team 1: Jobs for All, 1999- source Labour Force Survey data). For example the average Great Britain unemployment rates for males aged 16-24, with qualifications up to and including A levels, were double for minority ethnic males compared to white males1996-98.
(e)Health: “Among African-Caribbean people - especially young men - the rates of diagnosis of psychotic illness are high relative to the white population, as are admissions to hospital under the Mental Health Act, treatment by physical rather than talking therapies, and admission to secure services. African-Caribbeaners are also more likely to be referred to mental health services by the criminal justice system than by GPs or social care services.” (Nazroo, J., 1998, Rethinking the Relationship Between Ethnicity and Mental Health, Journal of Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology)
Disability
(Equal Opportunities Commission (2000) Research: Gender Statistics Briefing Paper):People of working age with long term disabilities had lower employment rates than other people. Men’s employment rate was 48.7% and women’s unemployment rate was 44.5% for those with disabilities, compared with 86.4% for men and 74.7% for women without disabilities.”
GAPS:The statistical focus of the Social Exclusion Unit within central government concentrates on issues such as men in relation to poverty, the labour market or ethnicity and tends to give less attention to issues such as disability or sexuality.