Background to the Research

• Existing evidence has suggested that the clothing industry in Northern Ireland is highly sex-segregated and that high turnover rates among women are related to their terms and conditions of employment. This study therefore set out to compare the terms and conditions of employment of men and women in the Northern Ireland clothing industry and accordingly to:
  • examine the extent of occupational segregation in the industry;
  • examine and compare the terms and conditions of employment of male and female workers;
  • understand how sex segregation is reproduced by existing structures and attitudes.

Research Approach

• The study involved a postal survey of employers in the industry together with in-depth studies of three production units.
• The survey collected information on the terms and conditions of employment in 46 production units and the sample reflected the current nature of the industry quite well, although the very small firms (fewer than 10 employees) were slightly under-represented in the achieved sample. The survey achieved a 35% response rate.
• The in-depth studies were of production units of the following sizes and types: one production unit with 200 workers (and part of a larger company), a unit with 17 workers (locally owned independent firm) and one small business with four employees. The case studies involved extensive interviewing and observational work with both employers and employees.

Main Findings

• Of the 2,500 people employed in the 46 production units surveyed, 94% were employed in sex-segregated occupations and 83% in highly segregated occupations.
• Women were disproportionately likely to be employed in the lowest-grade and lowest-paid occupations.
• The industry as a whole is characterised by lower than average wages at all occupational levels, and by few occupational welfare benefits. What few benefits exist, are targeted at the higher occupational grades and hence are disproportionately likely to be received by men.
• The segregation of women into low-paid and low-status jobs results from selection and training procedures and structures, and promotion processes and occupational structures, which fail to acknowledge the extent of skill and responsibility inherent in the jobs done by many women in the industry.
• In contrast with men in the industry, most women are employed in jobs where their acquisition of skills and experience, and the levels of responsibility inherent in their jobs, go largely unrecognised and unrewarded. The levels of skill required by different sewing jobs and the varying extent of skills held by machinists are not acknowledged formally by management in the industry.
• The 'hidden' nature of much of women's training greatly contributes to this lack of recognition of women's skills, both as production workers and supervisors. Women with greater skill, who are useful to the industry because they can be moved around between jobs as required, far from being rewarded for their expertise, may find that this works to their disadvantage - something which could never occur in male production and technical occupations.
• The lack of recognition of women's skills as machinists, and their undervalued responsibilities as official or unofficial supervisors, results in a characteristically flat pay structure for women compared with men, and the low pay of female-dominated occupations compared with male-dominated occupations.
• The research evidence suggests that the industry is paying a 'female rate', that is, operating a payment system where women's pay levels reflect their sex rather than the requirements of their jobs.
• The grading and payment structures in the industry are the result of traditional practice and informal assessment. Formal gender-neutral job evaluation is now needed in order to determine the full extent of grounds for concern on equal pay for work of equal value and to establish training, grading and promotion structures which are free of gender bias.
• The report concludes with a series of more specific recommendations for action focusing on ways of restructuring existing employment in the industry, reforming access to employment, re-evaluating the rewards from employment, and making terms and conditions of employment relevant to the circumstances of women employees.