Women's Views on News

Female doctors fail to break through the glass ceiling

As reported in the Observer today, the NHS faces a chronic shortage of women in senior positions. Fewer than 30% of consultant posts in the health service are held by women, even though two-thirds of doctors entering the profession are female. Female doctors also earn, in general, 18% less than male doctors.

Now the British Medical Association – which represents more than 140,000 doctors and medical students — is launching a new initiative called Women in Medicine to try to boost the number of women in senior medical posts.  

Professor Bhupinder Sandhu, the chair of the BMA's equality and diversity committee, said: "Women have come a long way since the 19th century when they were not allowed to go to medical school. However, while equality between male and female doctors is relatively OK at the bottom end of the profession, getting into medical school and the early jobs in medicine, there are still areas where women are not rising to senior positions".

Professor Sandu went on: "Part of the problem is the need for flexible working, but that is much easier now – particularly in the NHS where most doctors work. The other problem is that women are not pushing themselves forward."

Obviously this kind of initiative is long overdue, given the costs involved to train a medical graduate. But, excuse me?  Part of the problem is the need for flexible working?  Isn’t this ALL of the problem for women with children?  Why would they push themselves forward for a job that means they won’t see their children very often?  

Still, at least the initiative is a start.

Read the full story in the Observer. 

Women teachers dominate profession in Wales

Women teachers are outnumbering males by three to one in Wales and the gap is growing.

In primary schools this rises to five to one according to the General Teaching Council for Wales in a report for the BBC.

However despite their dominance, it comes as no surprise that only 55 per cent of headteachers are women in the primary sector, and in the secondary sector only 26 per cent of heads are female.

More male graduates are opting for teaching, and with redundancies in other sectors it is envisaged more men will join the profession. It will be interesting to see how quickly they will climb the ladder.

Indian lecturer resists efforts to make her wear the veil in class

Shireen Madiha, a female Indian lecturer at a Muslim university in West Bengal, who refused to wear a full veil at work has been vindicated in her stand and allowed to return to teaching on her terms (see earlier WVoN story). 

By failing to wear her veil in class, Ms Madiha attracted the attention of the students' union at Kolkata's Aliah University where she teaches Bangla literature. It asked her to dress in the same way as other women at the university - in other words, wear the burka - but she refused. 

Initially moved onto another campus, Ms Madiha has now been allowed to return to her original place of work, minus the veil. 

You can read the story on twocircles.net.

Californian nurses' union accuses hospital of discrimination against Filipino nurses

The California Nurses Association has filed a grievance with the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, accusing the hospital of discriminating against Filipino nurses as its St Luke's campus. 

Claiming that the percentage of Filipino nurses dropped from 48% to just 10% between January 2007 and February 2008, the union has also called on the San Francisco Human Rights Commission to investigate the hospital. 

Officials from the hospital have rebutted the claims, calling them "ridiculous". Dr Warrne Browner, chief executive officer, said it had diverse hiring policies and a long-standing commitment to equality. 

However, the union has produced affidavits from two former nurse supervisors who said they were discouraged from hiring Filipino or "foreign graduate nurses". 

Read the full press release from the CNA here. 

Thanks to the Feminist Majority Foundation for this story. 

Gendered breakdown of exam results

As those of you who actually sat the exams and their parents/relatives will be only too well aware, today is A-level results day in the UK (if you need a laugh, have a look at our earlier post about a blog called sexy A-levels). 

If you're interested in a gender breakdown of the exam results for every subject taken at A and AS level, then look no further than the BBC news site which has it all. You could spend many happy hours (well, hours anyway) poring through this. 

Good luck. 

The gender pay gap - finally the truth

For those of consistently bemused at the strange persistence of inequality in wages for men and women, the answers have finally been supplied by Michael White of the Guardian, who you might remember for enlightening us all previously on the issue of why we have quite enough women in the Cabinet, thank you very much (see WVoN story).

To save you the effort (and frustration) of going through his article yourself, we've summarised Michael's main reasons for the continuing pay gap here:

It's the nature of the job: "investment banking must be a very testosterone-driven activity which requires relaxation in lap-dancing clubs, expensive motors and other toys for boys – a lifestyle that can't have much appeal for sensible women."

It's the hours needed to earn big money: "Men tend to put in more hours at work, a detail that leads to the old familiar core issue – women are both inclined and/or obliged to make their families a greater priority in the work/life balance equation."

And this last one really seems to be the crux of it - it's the fact that women keep on choosing family over a decent career, silly little things that we are, and Michael White has the answer to that one, too:

"Women aren't obliged to make that choice any more, either by society's dictates or by lack of control over their own fertility. They can work and use childminders, and they can let their partner stay at home while they become the No 1 breadwinner – an increasingly visible choice."

So that's it, all your gender pay gap questions answered. And in case you weren't sure about why women choose family over career, Michael White tells us that the answer's all in the genes, which is where women really have the advantage:

"(Women) still live significantly longer than their menfolk, a fact that would cause a lot more media outrage if the high-heeled boot were on the other foot."

Astounding.

Interview with woman head of trade union centre for migrants in Costa Rica

In March 2010, Costa Rica passed new legislation providing greater protection for migrant workers but the International Trades Union Congress (ITUC) says there is still a lot to be done to ensure full respect for the exercise of their trade union rights.

The ITUC-backed Trade Union Centre for Migrants in Costa Rica provides workers with training and legal assistance. Bertha Navarro Muñoz, head of the centre, told the ITUC in an interview with her today that progress is being made with the unionisation of migrant workers, especially in the retail, agricultural and domestic work sectors.

The biggest problem, she says, is that there are just not enough government labour inspectors to make sure that bosses comply with the law. Although trade unionists aren't killed for being active in Costa Rica, she says instead that bosses try to kill the ideology underpinning unionism. So it can be hard work convincing workers that the union offers the best defence. 

Read the interview on the ITUC site here.

Women face a long wait for equal pay - about 57 years

New figures published today by the Chartered Management Institute and XpertHR show that UK businesses are still more than five decades away from paying men and women equally.

The 2010 National Management Salary Survey reveals that although women's salaries increased by 2.8 per cent over the last 12 months (compared to 2.3 per cent for men), women managers in the UK still earn £10,071 less than than male managers.  At the current rate of progress, women face a 57 year wait before their take-home pay is equal to that of their male colleagues.

Although this year marks the 40th anniversary of the 1970 Equal Pay Act, data collected from 43,312 individuals in 197 organisations reveals that male pay outstrips female pay by as much as 24% at senior level. Even at junior level the gap still persists with male junior executives receiving £1,065 more than female executives. 

The worst sectors are the IT and pharmaceutical industries where the pay gaps here run at £17,736 and £14,018 respectively.

As well as stark differences in pay, the research also reveals a contrast between male and female labour turnover rates, particularly with regard to redundancy. Over the last 12 months, 4.5 per cent of the female workforce experienced redundancy, compared to just three per cent of men.

Indian women's website launches competition for making workplaces more family-friendly

Womensweb, an Indian website, magazine and community for Indian women, has launched a contest for making workplaces more flexible and family-friendly for women.  

It's therefore asking women to give one specific suggestion on what an organisation could do to offer greater flexibility at work. It could be related to human resource policies, time arrangements, technology or anything else that helps employees to manage their work-life commitments better. 

You can use the comments box on their website which is www.womensweb.in or send them a tweet at http://twitter.com/womensweb. Alternatively you can e-mail them at contests@womensweb.in. 

Entries must be submitted between 16 and 25 August, ideally no more than 150 words. Ideas geared to the Indian workplace stand a better chance of winning. 

The two best suggestions will get a one-on-one session with Fleximoms Career Advisory. So get thinking and send in your ideas. 

There are far more women public sector workers than men, but not at the top

Although women make up 65% of public sector workers in the UK, the Public Sector online section of the Guardian notes that they only make up a fifth of council chief execs and a third of senior managers. 

Although there are exceptions (women are in the majority in Surrey council's senior management team for instance), these only serve to prove the rule. 

The story notes that some barriers for women getting to the top include working practices and conditions that are not family-friendly enough - a long hours, late hours, rigid hours culture. The Welsh Equality and Human Rights Commission says that just rethinking this approach could result in more women progressing through the organisation. 

But Blair McPherson, author of the aptly-named "An Elephant in the Room: An Equality and Diversity Manual" says that for many women, the traditional macho management style is the real culprit. Organisations need to change their culture to get more women into senior management posts, he says. 

Something that Lord Davies, a former Labour trade minister, currently tasked with compiling (yet another) report into the barriers that keep women out of the top jobs, would do well to note (see WVoN story).