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Sociology Research

 

Research by Professor Jackie Scott and those involved in the ESRC Research Priority Network entitled ‘Gender Inequalities in Production and Reproduction' (GeNet) has raised public awareness and made a significant impact on policy makers, government commissions, NGOs and charities. The research combined qualitative and quantitative analyses and focused on the processes of selection and exclusion that reflect and create gender inequalities in changing lives and structures.

What was the problem that this research aimed to address?

GeNet brought together a range of cross-disciplinary research using state-of-the-art quantitative analysis. In doing so, GeNet’s main aims were to (1) examine the changing dynamics of gender inequalities in contemporary society, and (2) explore why the demise of the breadwinner family has brought more gender equality in paid work than it has in unpaid domestic work and family care.

What is the underpinning research?

The research, which was conducted between 2004 and 2010 and involved eight different higher education institutions, included both quantitative and qualitative approaches. GeNet conducted new quantitative analysis of large and complex data sets such as the National Child Development Study (NCDS), the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) and the British Household Panel Study (BHPS). Moreover, new qualitative studies were conducted to gain a contextualised understanding of the mechanisms that maintain or challenge gender inequalities, within households, and in different employment sectors and nations.

GeNet benefitted from a strong theoretical framework that emphasised the importance of the State in shaping family and individual life course trajectories. This theoretical framework also emphasised the way social policies can support or undermine efforts to reduce gender inequalities, including their manifestation in the perceived conflicts between work and family. One of GeNet’s key goals was thus to enhance the methodological rigour of empirical investigations of gender equality, whilst one of its main theoretical and methodological challenges was to identify the mechanisms of change. For example, the life course approach taken on by GeNet focused attention on how the gendering of paid and unpaid work perpetuates inequalities.

 

"Gender inequalities matter because they affect both people's economic well-being and societal integration.  A lot of progress has been made to eradicate gender inequalities of earlier eras.  But new barriers and constraints  are slowing-down UK progress towards a more egalitarian society.   Some other European countries are still doing  much better than the UK  in promoting a more equitable work and family balance, for all" - Professor Jackie Scott.

 

 

What is the impact?

GeNet’s research made a significant impact on policy makers, government commissions, NGOs and charities. It also fostered greater awareness in the general public through media coverage and use of knowledge brokers. For example, the accessibility of the research was testified by an unsolicited letter to Scott from David Willetts (16/12/04), the then Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions stating "I am trying to make sense of the debate about the extent to which attitudes are shaped by the cohorts to which people belong or alternatively shaped by the stage in the life cycle. Your essay `Family Change: Revolution and or Backlash in Attitudes' is one of the most interesting and valuable studies of the subject". In point of fact, one of the things especially commended by the ESRC Evaluation report (2011) was the extraordinary interest that the purposive GeNet website attracted, with over a quarter of a million hits per year at its peak. The GeNet website is now archived for future generations through the British Library. As a whole, the scientific quality of the Network was considered exemplary in the 2011 review commissioned by the ESRC.

As GeNet Director, Scott co-ordinated efforts to ensure GeNet’s research were used by Government Commissions and NGOs. One of the key issues for evidence based research concerned the factors that underpinned the gender pay gap and what could be done to ameliorate such inequalities. For example, Scott provided evidence in the 2006 Women and Work Commission, which emphasised the persistent constraints of childcare and domestic labour that impede gender equality in employment. Similar issues were picked up in the 2009 Report on 'Shaping a Fairer Future', which reviewed progress on the Commission's recommendations, three years on.

GeNet was very successful in both media dissemination and public engagement sparking new public debate. The University of Cambridge's External Communication team provided support to publicise the GeNet's research. For instance, after a press release on 'Gender Equality on the slide' (2008), Scott gave interviews on the BBC World Service (with the President of Liberia, Africa's first female elected president), BBC Radio 4 and over 15 local radio stations — several of which encouraged 'phone-ins' and 'bloggings' to debate what was referred to as 'the changing gender roles of women and men'.

The research conducted by GeNet also made an impact through the researchers’ work with independent charity organisations. For instance, Scott was invited to give a plenary address to the Family and Parenting Institute's Annual conference at Church House (in 2009), along with Ed Balls, the then Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families. In giving this address, Scott focused on the social costs of gender inequalities in parenting. The address has been made available on Youtube.

The international impact of the GeNet research is evident from the award of a further grant (2008-2009) from the European Commission to identify institutional best practice for the promotion of gender equality in science. The grant led to identification of 'best practice' guidelines to evaluate schemes whereby higher education and research organisations are seeking to reduce gender inequalities e.g. Athena SWAN awards.

Resources relevant to this case study

Key publications

1. Scott, J., D. Alwin and M. Braun. (1996) "Generations and Changing Sex-Role Attitudes: Britain in a Cross-National Perspective" Sociology, vol 30: 471-492. Available on request.

2. Scott, J. Family Change: Revolution or Backlash in Attitudes in S. McRae (ed) Changing Britain : Families and Households in the 1990s, pp 68-99, Oxford: Oxford University Press

3. Scott, J., S. Dex and H. Joshi, eds. (2008) Women and employment: Changing lives and new challenges, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar (375pp) and, specifically: J. Scott `Changing gender role attitudes' pp.156-178; and, Deakin, S. and McLaughlin, C. 'The Regulation of Women's Pay: From Individual Rights to Reflexive Law?' pp. 313-328.

4. Scott, J. (2010) Quantitative Methods and Gender Inequalities ` International Journal of Social Research Methodology

5. Scott, J., R. Crompton, C. Lyonette, eds (2010) Gender inequalities in the 21st Century: New barriers and new constraints, Edward Elgar (297pp) and specifically: Scott, J. Plagnol, A. and Nolan, J. Perceptions of Quality of Life: Gender Differences Across the Life Course, pp 193-214

6. Scott, J., Dex, S and A. Plagnol (2012) Gendered Lives: Gender Inequalities in Production and Reproduction, Edward Elgar (231pp) and specifically: Scott, J and Plagnol A. `Work-Family Conflict and Well-Being in Northern Europe', pp 174-205 and Deakin and McLaughlin `Equality Law and the limits of the business case for addressing gender inequalities, p 153-173.

Key Grants

1. Gender Inequality in Production and Reproduction Priority Network (GeNet), PI Prof Jacqueline Scott, Economic and Social Research Council 1st October 2004-31st March 2010, £3,226,281, http://www.genet.ac.uk/index.html

2. Practising Gender Equality in Science (PRAGES) , PI Michelle Palma, Department of Equal opportunities, Italy; European 7th Framework Programme, Jan 2008- July 2009; Six countries involved with Co-PI (UK) Prof J Scott, 998,418 Euros (in total). http://www.retepariopportunita.it/prages/; PRAGES Report:
http://cordis.europa.eu/search/index.cfm?fuseaction=result.document&RS_LANG=EN&RS_RCN=11485582&q=