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Esther Breitenbach and Fran Wasoff, University of Edinburgh
The Gender Audit of Statistics was commissioned by the Scottish Executive to provide a review of current gender differences and inequalities in Scotland relevant to key areas of economic and social life. The audit was carried out byDr Esther Breitenbach and Professor Fran Wasoff of the University of Edinburgh. The gender audit of statistics adds to the growing body of work in Scotland providing analyses of statistical trends on gender and other equality issues, such as ethnicity and disability, and is the most comprehensive analysis to date of gender disaggregated statistics for Scotland.
A key resource for implementation of the Gender Equality Duty
The Gender Equality Duty has the need for evidence and information at its heart. The Gender Audit of Statistics is a key resource to assist listed public bodies in the development and implementation of their gender equality schemes. It provides:
- A review of trends in gender differences and inequalities across key areas of social and economic life
- A wide range of statistical tables, with interpretative commentary and analysis
- Guidance on how to use the data and on sources of data
MAIN FINDINGS
- There are more women than men in the population of Scotland overall, with women's average life expectancy being 5 years greater than men's. The population is ageing, while fertility is declining, and is below the level needed to replace the population. The average age of mothers has risen, and almost half of all births are to unmarried parents. There is a growth of smaller households, especially single people and lone parents.
- Women remain consistently under-represented in decision-making bodies in political and public life. Though women have increased their representation in some areas, for example making up 39% of MSPs in the Scottish Parliament, in other areas such as local government and public appointments the gender balance has remained static in recent years.
- More girls than boys stay on at secondary school after the compulsory school leaving age; girls leave school with more and higher qualifications than boys on average; girls are more likely than boys to go on to further and higher education after leaving school, with young women now making up the majority of entrants in both sectors. Women are the overwhelming majority of primary school teachers, a majority of secondary school teachers and academic staff in Further Education, while men are the majority of academic staff in Higher Education. Women are under-represented in senior positions in all spheres of teaching, from primary school to Higher Education.
- Over time there has been a significant narrowing of the gap between employment rates for women and men, as women have increasingly taken up paid employment. Women are more likely than men to work part-time and to use flexible working arrangements. Women and men are concentrated in different industrial sectors and in different occupations, with women, for example, predominating in key public sector workforces, and in lower occupational grades. Men are more likely than women to be self-employed.
- Over time the gap in average earnings of women and men has decreased, though in 2005 full-time women workers' average hourly earnings were still only 88% of full-time male workers' average hourly earnings. Women part-time workers earn lower rates of pay on average, and women part-time workers' average pay compares particularly unfavourably with that of full-time male workers. When all sources of income are taken into account, the disparity between average incomes of women and men is greater than the disparity for earnings alone. Women are more likely than men to be reliant on state benefits, while male workers are more likely than female workers to have some form of pension provision.
- Childcare provision for pre-school age children and out of school provision for school age children has increased in recent years, with the vast majority of 3 and 4 year olds now having access to pre-school provision. Formal childcare provision for pre-school and school age children exists in a variety of forms, with in 2004 there being on average 12.4 places per 1,000 children aged 0-14 across Scotland. However, the majority of children receiving childcare are using informal provision, such as being looked after by relatives, friends or neighbours. The childcare workforce is overwhelmingly female, and women also make up a large majority of social work services staff in Adult Community Care. Women are the majority of unpaid carers caring for people in their own homes, and outwith the home, and women are also the majority of those requiring help and care, whether home care services or residential care.
- Women live longer than men on average, and while the main causes of death are similar for men and women, the patterns of mortality from these main causes differ to some extent. With respect to mental health, women are more likely than men to suffer from anxiety and depression while men are more likely than women to commit suicide. Men are more likely than women to risk their health through smoking, alcohol consumption and poor diet, though men are also more likely than women to have a high level of physical activity.
- Men are much more likely than women to commit crimes, they are more likely to commit serious crimes, and more likely to receive custodial sentences. There are far greater numbers of men than of women in prison, though the numbers of both men and women in prison in Scotland have been rising in recent years. Men are more likely than women to be victims of violent crime in general, while women are overwhelmingly the victims of domestic abuse. Men are the majority of the workforce in the judiciary and the police services, while women are the majority of the social work workforce working with offenders, and of children's panel members. Women are under-represented in senior positions in the judiciary and police services.
- In the past two decades there has been a significant shift in the balance of types of housing tenure, with two thirds of all households now being owner occupied. Households in which men are the highest earners are much more likely than households where women are the highest earners to be home owners, 74% compared to 55% in 2005, and male single pensioners are more likely than female single pensioners to be homeowners, 51% compared to 48%. Of all types of household lone parents are the least likely to own their home, with only 30% of lone parents being home owners. Half of all single men in 2005 were reliant on rented accommodation, and single men were the largest group making applications to local authorities because of homelessness.
- Men are more likely than women to hold full driving licences, though a majority of both sexes now do so. The proportion of men holding driving licences has been relatively stable since the early 1990s, while the proportion of women doing so has been rising. Men are more likely than women to have access to a car for their private use, and they drive more frequently, while women are more likely than men to use local bus services. Men are more likely than women to be involved in road accidents, and men and boys are more likely to be casualties than women and girls respectively.
The Gender Equality Duty
The Gender Equality Duty, much like the Disability Equality and Race Equality Duties, is split into two parts: a general duty and specific duties. The general duty, to promote equality of opportunity and to eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment, is incumbent on all public authorities in Scotland. The Scottish specific duties however, apply to the Scottish Executive and a range of other public bodies in Scotland that are listed alongside the legislation. These include local authorities, health boards and trusts, police forces, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, passenger transport executives and transport authorities, the higher education funding council, the sports council and a range of cultural bodies. Listed public bodies in Scotland will be required to produce gender equality schemes and, in addition to consultation, will be expected to use relevant statistical and research evidence of gender inequalities in the development of their schemes. Listed public bodies will also be required to gender impact assess their current and proposed policies to ensure that they have had due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment and to promote equality of opportunity when developing policy and delivering services. In this context the gender audit report provides a key resource for public bodies as it provides some indication of where the key issues are for women and men, and boys and girls across Scottish society.
The Scottish Executive aims to promote gender equality in all aspects of policy making through its strategy of mainstreaming equality. The Scottish Executive recognises the importance of data and research in informing gender equality policies, and seeks to facilitate the implementation of the new Gender Equality Duty through the dissemination of gender statistics and research.
Guidance on using gender statistics
Gender disaggregated statistics are currently published in a wide range of Scottish Executive statistical publications, while further data may be available for secondary analysis to academic and other researchers. The report contains an extensive range of tables, utilising data from official sources. It also provides guidance on statistical publications, key data sources and data sets, such as the recently published High Level Summary of Equality Statistics: Key Trends for Scotland, 2006, available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/HLSES . Examples of how gender disaggregated data may be used in the development of gender equality schemes are given for each topic area. Key findings for each topic area are summarised below.
Gender equality in Scotland: key statistics and trends
Population, households and families
There are a number of key demographic trends in Scotland with significant gender dimensions, such as changes in family life, partnership formation and dissolution, and parenthood. With respect to patterns of family formation and family life trends include the following: more people are single; marriage is occurring later; fewer people are marrying; more people are cohabiting; there is more marriage and relationship breakdown; and there are more lone mothers. There are also more diverse household forms, and more frequent transitions between different forms of household, and there is greater visibility of same-sex couples and same-sex couple households. More births are occurring outside marriage, and parenthood is occurring at a later age. Currently the fertility rate in Scotland is low and below replacement level. There is an ageing population, with people enjoying greater longevity, while this also means that there are changing dependency ratios (i.e. the ratio of the non-working age population to the working age population).
Participation in political and public life
Statistical evidence of the position of women and men in political and public life underlines the continuing gender imbalance in political institutions and in decision-making bodies in public life, with, for example, women making up 14% of Scottish MPs, 39% of MSPs, 22% of local authority councillors, and 34% of Scottish Executive sponsored public appointments. Though women continue to be under-represented changes are slowly taking place, and within certain areas the numbers of women holding office or prominent positions in public life in Scotland is increasing, for example, the judiciary and the Senior Civil Service. While there do not appear to be any significant differences between men and women in their propensity to vote, there are some differences in their degree of engagement with and trust in political institutions, with, for example, women being less likely than men to think that the government is good at listening to people, whether the UK government or the Scottish Executive. Levels of involvement in their community and in volunteering are similar for men and women, though there are some differences in the types of organisations that men and women volunteer for. Men are more likely than women to be involved in sports organisations, for example, while women are more likely than men to be involved with children's organisations. This suggests that as citizens men and women are equally active, but that their patterns of activity differ in some respects.
Education and Training
Statistical evidence of gender differences in educational participation and performance indicates that girls perform better than boys at school, tend to stay on longer at school, leave school with better qualifications, and that women now make up a majority of entrants to further and higher education. Boys are more likely than girls to be excluded from schools, and to have particular support needs for educational or behavioural reasons. While girls' performance has been better than boys' for some time, subject choices at secondary school, and in further and higher education, remain noticeably gendered, and tend to follow patterns of 'traditional' male and female career choices in certain areas, such as nursing for women and engineering for men. Women are more likely than men to benefit from work-related training, though there is little difference between women and men in the likelihood of undertaking some sort of learning as an adult, with the most significant factor differentiating people being the level of qualifications held. The gender balance of those taking part in government training programmes varies across programmes, with men being in the majority in most programmes. Women make up the majority of teachers at primary and secondary school level (75% of these taken together), but remain under-represented in senior positions. Women are a slight majority of academic staff in further education, but are under-represented in senior management positions. Men are the majority of academic staff in higher education overall (61%), and make up higher proportions the more senior the level, with men making up 86% of all professors.
The labour market
Statistical evidence of patterns of men's and women's participation in the labour market indicates that over time the gap between men's and women's rates of participation has narrowed considerably and that women now make up half of the labour force in Scotland. Despite such convergence in participation rates, there remain significant differences between women and men in patterns of labour market participation, especially with regard to the following: average working hours, and in particular mothers' and fathers' working hours; use of flexible forms of working; industrial distribution; occupational distribution; and patterns of self-employment. Minority ethnic groups and disabled people have lower rates of employment generally, with women in these groups having lower rates of employment than men. As with elsewhere in the UK, there has been a period of significant change in the labour market in recent decades with women being particularly affected by this as opportunities have opened up to them. There remain barriers to gender equality, however, such as women's concentration in low paid part-time jobs, occupational segregation, and lack of affordable childcare.
Income and wealth
Statistical evidence of gender differences in levels of income from earnings, and from assets, savings and benefits, indicates that women's level of income from these sources is persistently lower than men's, and that women are in general more vulnerable to poverty than are men. Specific groups of women are particularly vulnerable to poverty, for example, lone parents and lone pensioners, and women make up the majority of those on benefits. While the gender pay gap has been decreasing, in 2005 there was a gender pay gap of 12% in the average hourly earnings of men and women and a gender pay gap of 19% in the average weekly earnings of men and women. Low pay remains a significant problem in Scotland and particularly for women, with 23% of all workers being low paid in 2005, and 31% of women workers being low paid. The gender gap in individual incomes is greater than the gender gap for earnings, with the gap between men's and women's average individual incomes in 2004/05 being 40%.
Care and caring
The statistical data indicate that care remains a gendered sphere, with women taking the major share of responsibility for this, whether as unpaid carers or as paid workers. In general childcare provision has increased, but the pattern of provision is both complex and varied across Scotland. Research has indicated that many parents have a preference for informal care, and that the desire to work is the most important factor in parents deciding to use childcare, with work being a financial necessity for many. Research has also indicated problems of costs and lack of awareness of available provision, and makes clear that for some groups of parents there still exists an unmet need. Women are the majority of unpaid carers of adults, though the gender differences in the share of caring decrease with age. Care responsibilities often have an economic cost as they reduce the capacity of carers to participate in paid work. Women are also the majority of those being cared for, with the tendency for women to live longer than men being a key contributory factor to this. The childcare workforce is overwhelming made up of women, and women are also a large majority of the workforce in other care services.
Health
Statistical data indicate a number of differences in health for women and men. Women continue to have greater life expectancy than men, though over time the gap in the average life expectancy of men and women has decreased. While cancer, coronary heart disease and stroke are the main causes of death for both men and women, there are differences in the patterns of mortality from these diseases for men and women. There are also gender specific cancers, such as cervical and breast cancer in the case of women, and prostate and other genital cancers in the case of men. There is little difference between men and women in self-reported levels of health, but there are differences in health behaviours and in mental health. Men are more likely than women to risk their health through smoking, high levels of alcohol consumption, and poor diet, and a higher proportion of men than of women are obese. However, men are more likely than women to be physically active. Men are also more likely than women to report high levels of psychological well-being, and women are more likely than men to suffer from anxiety and depression. Men, however, are more likely than women to commit suicide. With regard to reproductive and sexual health, the birth rate has been declining, and infant mortality rates have also decreased to a very low level over time. The rate of teenage conceptions has declined to some extent in recent years, while the abortion rate has remained fairly stable over the past decade. Sexually transmitted infections have been rising for both men and women. Women tend to use health service provision more than men, partly as a consequence of their reproductive role, and because there are gender specific services such as cervical and breast cancer screening programmes. Women also tend to visit their GPs more frequently than do men, and are more likely than men to be day patients and outpatients. Women make up a significant proportion of the NHS workforce, particularly of nursing staff, and now make up almost half of all GPs.
Crime and justice
Statistical evidence of gender differences in patterns of offending and in penalties for offences indicates that the numbers of men who commit offences and the rate of offending of men as a proportion of the population are both much higher than for women. Men are more likely than women to commit serious offences and to commit violent offences, and women are less likely than men to receive custodial sentences. Correspondingly, there are far greater numbers of men than of women in prison, though the numbers of both men and women in prison in Scotland have continued to rise over the past decade, with the rate of increase for women being much faster than the rate of increase for men. With respect to victimisation, men are more likely to be victims of violent crime in general, with young men being twice as likely as young women to be victims of assault, while women are overwhelmingly the victims of domestic abuse, and of crimes of indecency such as rape. Women are more likely than men to perceive crime as a problem and to be worried about crime. Within certain sectors of criminal justice workforces, women remain in the minority, and are particularly under-represented at senior levels, for example, in the judiciary and in police forces, while they make up the majority of those working with offenders in social work services and of children's panel members.
Housing
Statistical evidence indicates that a substantial proportion of households are couple households, with men and women in such households having access to the same type and quality of housing. However, households where men are the highest income earners are likely to have access to better quality housing than households where women are the highest income earners, being more likely to be home owners and less likely to rent from a social landlord. Households headed by women, such as lone parent and lone pensioner households tend to be most disadvantaged in the quality of housing to which they have access. In general, there is little difference between women and men in their ratings and perceptions of their neighbourhoods, though lone parent households seem to experience greater problems. The groups most vulnerable to homelessness are single men, followed by lone parents and single women. For lone parents a high proportion of the disputes which lead to their homelessness involve violence.
Transport
Statistical evidence of gender differences in access to and usage of transport indicates that men are more likely than women to hold a driving licence and to have access to a car. They are also likely to drive more frequently and to travel greater distances. Women are more likely than men to use local bus services, though the majority of both women and men do not use local bus services frequently. Despite being higher users of bus services than men, women are more likely to feel unsafe using such services. Of those who use local bus services, the majority of men and women have a positive attitude towards these services. Men are more likely than women to use a car for travel to work and work related travel. The majority of men and women carry out some journeys on foot, but only a small minority walk on a daily basis, while only a very small proportion of men and women cycle regularly. There are some gender differences with respect to purpose of journeys, particularly with respect to journeys to work, and food shopping journeys. Men are more likely than women to be involved in road accidents as drivers, and they are also more likely than women to be casualties in road accidents, and boys are more likely than girls to be casualties.
Conclusion
Statistical evidence comparing the position of women and men in Scotland indicates that despite some convergence in the position of women and men, such changes are slow, and in some areas significant gender inequalities persist. In the main such inequalities disadvantage women, though in some instances the position of boys and men is disadvantaged compared to girls and women. The key trends in gender inequalities and differences outlined in the gender audit report indicate not only the persistence of gender inequalities, but that they affect many aspects of social and economic life. Furthermore, in interaction with gender, characteristics such as socio-economic status, ethnicity, and disability, significantly influence access to employment and pay, patterns of health, access to housing, and to resources such as private cars. Thus, many factors interact to reinforce patterns of gender inequality and other forms of inequality. The data and trends described in the report indicate which factors are the most significant in the persistence of gender inequality, and therefore which need to be taken into consideration in policy development. The use of good quality gender disaggregated statistics in the production of equality schemes and in evaluating and monitoring of these should help to further clarify the extent and nature of gender inequalities and to assess the impacts of specific policies in bringing about positive changes.
About this study
The audit of gender statistics was commissioned by the Scottish Executive to provide a review of current gender differences and inequalities in Scotland relevant to key areas of economic and social life. The audit was carried out by Dr Esther Breitenbach and Professor Fran Wasoff of the University of Edinburgh. The research reviewed a wide range of gender disaggregated statistics for Scotland, and for other areas such as local authority areas, including statistics currently published and/or available online from the Scottish Executive and other producers of official statistics for Scotland. For some topic areas data analysis was specially conducted for the review. Selected recent research was also reviewed. The report contains a wide range of statistical tables indicating the comparative position of women and men in Scotland and indicating changes over time, and provides commentary interpreting these data. The report also provides guidance on sources of statistical data and possible uses of data in the development of gender equality schemes. The gender audit of statistics adds to the growing body of work in Scotland providing analyses of statistical trends on gender and other equality issues, such as ethnicity and disability, and is the most comprehensive analysis to date of gender disaggregated statistics for Scotland.
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