The Scottish Government is committed to working with others to ensure that Scotland is a more successful country where girls and boys no longer face barriers to subject and career choice at school and women and men no longer face barriers to subject choice in colleges, universities and other training providers as well as to employment and earnings opportunities.
What is occupational segregation?
Occupational segregation is understood as the concentration of men and women:
- in different kinds of jobs ( horizontal segregation) or
- in different grades ( vertical segregation)
Why does it matter?
Occupational segregation is one of the barriers which prevents women and men from fulfilling their potential in the labour market, and consequently contributes to the pay gap. Women tend to be concentrated in the lower paid jobs (e.g. caring, catering, cleaning, clerical, cashiering) and the lower grades within an organisation.
Tackling occupational segregation is not simply a question of progressing gender equality in Scotland; it is also beneficial to Scotland's overall social and economic well-being. We need to ensure that the pool of talent and skills available to employers is not inhibited by stereotypical perceptions of what women and men 'do', and that everyone's skills are being utilised to the maximum potential.
What are the causes?
Gender stereotyping - Social attitudes, both explicit and implicit, which stereotype the roles women and men, girls and boys have in our society. These attitudes can influence subject choice at school, college and university and can limit their career aspirations.
These attitudes can be reinforced, both consciously and unconsciously, by teachers, parents, peers, peers' parents, children's books and the media.
Inflexible working - Women with children face constraints in terms of finding work that is potentially both commensurate with their skills and aspirations as well as flexible and convenient in terms of their childcare and other caring responsibilities. A lack of options forces many women into part-time, low-paid work.
Under-valuing of roles and occupations that are perceived to be "women's work". In addition to considering how to encourage more women and men to consider non-traditional occupations, we must also consider what action can be taken to address the low value attached to "women's work".
What is the Scottish Government doing about it?
At the end of 2006, we set up a Cross-Directorate Working Group as the main vehicle for taking forward our work to tackle gender stereotyping and occupational segregation - and to implement the recommendations of the UK Women and Work Commission's report to close the gender pay and opportunity gap within a generation.
The Group looked at the key issues involved in gender stereotyping and occupational segregation in the early years and throughout the various stages of formal education, in vocational training and in employment, i.e. throughout a person's life-course. It also looked at the effectiveness of current policies to tackle the problems and what more might be done. The Group's report was published on the Scottish Government's website on 29 August 2008. We are currently taking forward the actions identified in the report and a full update on progress was provided in our Gender Equality Scheme Annual Report 2011. (Tackling occupational segregation was one of ten gender equality objectives in our Gender Equality Scheme 2008-2011).
In June 2009, in accordance with one of the Gender Equality Duty 'specific duties' in Scotland, Scottish Ministers identified occupational segregation as one of two Priority Areas for the advancement of equality of opportunity between men and women (the other being violence against women). On 1 July 2010, Ministers published reports giving an overview of progress made by listed public bodies in the priority areas.
Reports on Ministerial Priorities for Gender Equality - July 2010
In April 2011, the gender equality duty was replaced by the new single equality duty in the Equality Act 2010. The new duty does not require publication of a scheme.