Background to the Research
- Women's
Working Lives Survey (WWLS) was commissioned by the Equal Opportunities
Commission for Northern Ireland in 1990. The survey was designed to:
(1) identify factors which determine whether or not women participate
in paid work and how the unpaid work undertaken by women in the home
influences their involvement in the labour market; (2) record the
type of paid work women have done and do, as well as their attitudes
and experiences of employment.
Research Approach
- 1000
women were interviewed who lived in private households and were aged
between 18 and 65. The sample was drawn from the 1990 Register of
Electors using a 2 stage proportionate random sample. The interview
took a semi-structured approach, including some prompt items. Training
in this context refers to government and job-related training schemes
specifically.
Main
Findings
Access
to Education
- Women's
experience of education has increased over the years, although nearly
one fifth of women had not attended secondary level schools. 69% left
school by age 16, and 21% left at aged 14 or younger (73% of those
aged over 60).
- 88%
of respondents had received their secondary education exclusively
in Northern Ireland, and 29% of those who went to secondary school
attended a grammar school.
- 74%
of women left school to start work; only 28% said they left as they
were needed at home. 60% of women who left school had no regrets on
leaving when they did. Half of those who had regrets felt they had
not achieved their potential at school.
- 19%
of those who had left school were planning further education e.g.
GCSE, A levels, as well as courses related to employment (mostly in
traditional female occupations such as childcare, nursing and clerical/secretarial).
Most of these women were doing this for personal development reasons.
- 79%
of women who continued education after secondary level did so immediately.
The majority of courses were not degrees. 27% of these full time courses
and 41% of part-time courses were in secretarial or business studies.
Educational
Processes
- 56%
of women attended a post-primary mixed sex school.
- Most
(64%) of those attending grammar schools attended single sex schools,
with the reverse for those attending non-grammar schools. A higher
percentage of Catholic women than Protestant women attended single-sex
schools.
Educational
Outcomes
- Half
the women of working age do not possess any educational qualifications
(38% of women attending secondary school left without any qualifications).
- 35%
of women left school with qualifications up to GCSE standard and 9%
had A levels.
- The
results show that older women are disadvantaged in the labour market
as more older women left school unqualified and more younger women
gained higher qualifications. For example, three quarters of those
with A levels were aged 21-50. This means that a high percentage of
the potential pool of women returning to the labour market (aged 31-50)
had no qualifications.
- 45%
of part-time employees were unqualified compared to 27% of those working
full-time. For those working full-time, the higher their qualifications,
the higher their earnings. This isn't necessarily so for part-time
workers.
Government
Training Schemes
- Less
than 10% of respondents had participated in government training schemes,
most of which were in 'traditional' female occupations. 79% rated
their course as being very or quite useful for work opportunities.
Job
Related Training
- 49%
of employees had not received any training associated with their work
(40% of full-time workers, and 64% of those working part-time). 9%
had received over 6 months training.
- More
than half those in clerical, selling and catering occupations received
no training in their current employment. 63% of those receiving more
than 6 months training were professionals.
- 85%
of women in mixed sex workplaces thought they received similar levels
of training to men.
Conclusions
- The
chapter concludes with identifying barriers to women's participation
in the labour market i.e. external structural barriers, social pressures
and internal barriers. These must be overcome in order for women to
progress with their careers, for example, by improving access to science
and technological courses and training.
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