Confronting Gender Inequality
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Knowledge Exchange HEIF 5 CONFRONTING GENDER INEQUALITY FINDINGS FROM THE LSE COMMISSION ON GENDER, INEQUALITY AND POWER INDEX Introduction 3 Executive Summary 5 The Economy 10 Politics 26 Law 36 The Media 48 Concluding Remarks 60 Commission Participants and Acknowledgments 61 Evidence Givers/ Evidence Contributors 62 Acronyms 63 2 INTRODUCTION It is almost a century since A recurring theme throughout out the LSE by weaving through our sector-based analysis Commission on Gender, Inequality and Power is four cross-cutting themes: those of power, rights, the full admission of women the decisive impact of the economic crisis of 2008 work-life balance and gender-based violence. to the legal profession; almost on gender relations. Across the Commission’s 90 years since the right to vote four areas of focus: the economy, politics, law Forces that shape persisting gender inequalities and media, the impact of that crisis and the do not operate independently within different was granted to all women; austerity policies that followed was found to be social sectors: rather, vectors of power affecting almost half a century since considerable. Recovery from the great recession the position of women and men in one sector the implementation of equal- has been uneven and the costs of austerity almost invariably affect their opportunities, have fallen disproportionately on women. status, position or the worth of their rights and pay and anti-discrimination Representations in the media and across popular entitlements in others. The gender inequalities legislation, and today, female culture have contributed to the normalisation of which persist in the labour market and the participation in the labour austerity politics, disguising the systematic impact distribution of income, for example, privilege on women and other groups. This environment the already advantaged and curtail opportunities market is increasing rapidly. has in turn adversely affected the law’s ability for women in the political sphere and within Yet for all the gains made, to redress urgent issues such as gender- the law; the persisting inequalities and biases in based violence and access to justice and legal the representation of women in the media and inequality between women enforcement. A legislature dominated by men culture affect the opportunities of, and attitudes and men persists and what has has failed to adequately recognise the importance to, women in other spheres; the inadequate been achieved appears easily of gender audits when devising policy. design or implementation of legal provisions shapes the status and opportunities of women in dismantled. All of which makes this report timely and economic life. necessary. The Commission’s work is distinct because it investigates links between different We have woven four crosscutting themes into forms of gender inequality and the operation our sector-based analysis: power, rights, quality of of gender-based power across four of the most life arising from (un)healthy work-life balance and important sectors of our society: the economy, gender-based violence. the political sphere, the legal system and the world of media, culture and communications. Power and rights The main focus of our report is gender inequality The report explores the way in which vectors in these four spheres in the United Kingdom, of power in the media, the economy and the but we draw upon comparative evidence where political system shape the relative worth of appropriate, and set our analysis within key rights formally established by the legal system to aspects of international context and contrast. differently situated women and men. Intersecting inequalities: power, rights, Work-life balance violence and work-life balance Evidence gathered in all four areas revealed that Bringing these ideas together matters to any the structure of gender relations – in particular, discussion on gender and power. While our report is the unequal distribution of responsibility for structured around four main sections corresponding the care of children and of the elderly – creates to the economy, the political system, law and the dilemmas of work-life balance which are media, intersecting themes run all the way through detrimental to women’s quality of life, and to the report, producing an integrated analysis. women’s life chances, across social spheres. Our four areas of the economy, the political Gender-based violence system, the legal system and the media are While gender-based violence might be thought very far from exhausting the social spheres to be a concern primarily of the law, we seek in which inequalities both persist and shape to show the ways in which gender inequality opportunities and status in other fields. To take in the political sphere dilutes the will to tackle just two obvious examples which we might have gender-based violence or identify salient issues. considered, inequalities in the education system Equally the ways in which media representations have long-lasting effects in virtually every other enact and normalise certain forms of gender- sphere of life, while gender inequalities in the based violence, with economic insecurity making provision of health care seep into life chances and women more vulnerable to violence. In particular, the quality of life across the spectrum of social the government’s austerity policies have reduced life. Not every sector could be considered within funds for refuges for domestic violence survivors, the ambit of a single report; but we have further despite analysis that shows how this violence tried to capture the inter-relationships between generates significant costs to the economy in inequalities of power in different social spheres addition to the harm borne by women. 3 Recognising the multiple Within these areas of inquiry, overlapping themes dimensions of gender and patterns emerged over the course of our Our effort to set questions of gender inequality discussions with experts – academics, activists, within the context of overlapping areas of social, policy-makers and professionals: their evidence political, professional and economic life constitutes informs the report. In addition to the impact of one form of what social scientists have called the recession described above, experts presented intersectionality: in other words, the insight that significant evidence on the role of implicit social outcomes such as gendered inequalities are assumptions in shaping and reinforcing gender produced by multiple intersecting forces. inequalities. There is much work to be done, even in mainstream public and social life, to unearth and Gendered outcomes are produced by interacting subject to critical scrutiny the gendered assumptions social causes and so, as well as power and gendered on which individual actions, regulatory norms and assumptions, the report considers the impact of institutional designs still tend to be based. ethnicity, wealth and educational and social status, migration status, sexuality, age, care responsibilities, Another key concern voiced in all four areas is the and marital status. Gender is experienced within underuse of existing instruments – for example, this multi-dimensional intersection of social gender auditing and quotas – to advance gender positions, therefore it makes sense that gendered equality policy, strategy and action within existing discrimination or disadvantage be examined within institutional and legal arrangements. We develop this broader context. these ideas in our recommendations. Throughout our report, we draw attention to Evidence was presented in all four sessions intersectionality, pointing for example to the of the detrimental impact of the increasing differential impact of recent social, welfare organisation of social and professional life around and labour market policies on people living in unconstrained commercial or market logics which poverty, on those with caring responsibilities, on undermine welfarist, collective or redistributive single mothers, and on people from certain ethnic policy initiatives as contrary to the demands of minority groups. Other areas covered include the efficiency. These ideas have helped to produce lower worth of legal protections against violence the disproportionate impact of austerity on for those with insecure migration status and the women. Such trends have increased the degree differential impact of implicit biases in the media of polarisation among women, potentially on older women and women from particular weakening the basis for pro-gender-equality social groups. political alliances. 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Why focus on gender inequality and to all areas but take different forms when 2. Gender mainstream all disadvantage? The reason is perfectly defined by placed in context. Below is a summary of the government policies the popular phrase “everyday sexism”: the idea recommendations discussed in each section of the We recommend that gender-responsive that certain forms of gender discrimination are report and informed by the Commission’s inquiries. budgeting, gender auditing and impact normal, even amusing. It indicates that, despite analysis be introduced so as to identify the various forms of “progress” on discrimination, The Economy distributive impact of economic policy- sexism is still both real and trivialised. This makes There are many challenges to tackle if we are making. Gender budgeting identifies the the job of arguing the case and fighting for to redress gendered imbalances in power that gendered impact of policies