A Privileged Pole? Diversity in Women's Pay, Pensions and Wealth in Britain

Abstract

Is gender on its own becoming redundant in the analysis of employment experiences? There is a growing interest in economic diversity amongst women within the social sciences, with commentators suggesting, firstly, that a polarization in women's labour market experiences is occurring. Secondly, economic diversity amongst women may even be so distinct that a privileged pole is faring substantially better in wage and occupational terms than most men. This article uses data from the Family Resources Survey to explore these two suggestions. It concludes that the success on the labour market that has been achieved by an economically privileged pole amongst women supports the decline in the power of gender to explain variation in occupational patterns and wages, but it is clear that gender (tempered with awareness of the ways that it is cross-cut by class, ethnicity and other social divisions) remains an invaluable explanatory variable for our understanding of economic security in its fuller sense, not least in the pension positions of women.

Gendering Pensions: Making Women Visible

“…Given that women are more likely to be low paid (Saari 2013;Warren, 2003), we see a higher proportion of women being excluded (Meyer, 2014). However, even for those enrolled there are concerns that the value of the pension will not to deliver sustainable retirement incomes (PWC, 2012;Uren 2013).…”

Women's pensions in the European Union and the current economic crisis

“…During the last recessionary period pay gaps were larger. Whilst there are greater numbers of women in high-paid managerial and professional positions with access to private pension schemes in many countries than in previous recessions, polarisation between pension prospects of the lowest and highest paid women are increasingly apparent and women still tend to have lower wages than men (Warren, 2003). Previous explanations of the impact of recessions on women's employment by Rubery (1988) indicated that women represented a flexible reserve or buffer, to be drawn into the labour market in upturns and expelled in downturns, especially in female-dominated sectors, but that during recessions there is a more significant demand for cheaper forms of labour (which often does not involve private pension opportunities).…”

Making the Best of a Bad Job? Women and Part-Time Work in the United Kingdom

“…Not only are there clear gender differences, but also occupational class differences, in part-time working in the UK (e.g., Lyonette, Baldauf, & Behle, 2010 ;Warren, 2003 ). Only 23 % of higher professional and managerial women work part-time, compared with 58 % of women in semi-routine occupations and 64 % in routine occupations 1 (LFS, Oct-Dec 2013).…”

“…However, extensive research has shown that most part-time work is offered in lower-level jobs, with lower training and promotion prospects than fulltime jobs (e.g., Hoque & Kirkpatrick, 2003 ). Part-time work has also been consistently shown to pay less than similar full-time work (Connolly & Gregory, 2009 ;Warren, 2003 ).…”