“If a job needs doing give it to a busy woman”: The gendered division of labour within voluntary organisations that are ideologically committed to equality An in-depth study of the Woodcraft Folk By Agnes Taylor Supervisor: Jonathan Moss The University of Sussex School of Politics, Law and Sociology Contents 1. Introduction 2 2. Literature review 4 3. The Woodcraft Folk 7 4. Research Aims and Methodology 8 4.1 The Survey 8 4.2 Interviews 9 5. Quantitative Analysis 10 5.1: Camp Results. 11 5.2: Group Night Results 12 5.3: Committee/district organising group results 14 5.4: Frequency of types of activity 15 5.5: Affected by Gender 16 5.6 Summary of quantitative analysis 16 6. Qualitative Analysis 17 6.1: Believed no gender differences (Post-Feminism) 17 6.2: Gender inequality exists 18 6.2.1: Organisational, Extra or Hidden Labour 18 6.2.2: Emotional Labour 18 6.2.3: Value of Work 19 6.3: Justifications of the inequalities in labour 20 6.3.1: Wider Social Structures 20 6.3.2: Natural or Innate Differences 20 6.3.3: Different skills, abilities, experiences 21 6.3.4: Social gender roles 22 6.4: Organisational commitment to gender equality 22 6.5: Volunteer reactions 23 6.6 Summary of qualitative analysis 24 7. Concluding Discussion 24 Bibliography 26 Appendix A – Survey Results 29 Table A: Survey Descriptive Table 29 Table B: Descriptive table for the membership data supplied by Folk Office 2020 30 Survey results 30 Gender 30 Age 31 1 Ethnicity 31 Education 32 Work 32 Joining 33 Regions 33 Appendix B: Interview participants 34 Appendix C: Interview Questions 35 Appendix D: Supporting quotes 37 2 1. Introduction The presence and variations of gendered divisions of labour are documented extensively in the labour market and the home (Eagly & Wood, 2016; Riggs & Bartholomaeus, 2020), but to a lesser extent in the voluntary sector (Rotolo & Wilson, 2007). This gap in research reflects common understandings of work where voluntary labour is under-researched as it is neither paid nor reproductive (Taylor, 2005). However, investigation of the voluntary sector could provide valuable insights into gendered divisions of labour, if they occur in organisations individuals participate in willingly. While it would be relevant to examine all types of volunteering to broaden understandings of these divisions, this dissertation focuses on organisations with commitments to equality. The mainstreaming of feminism and gender equality without practical commitment has been noted both in popular media (Framke, 2020) and in academia, in relation to paid labour (Gill, 2014). This gap between ideology and reality is dangerous in a time when attitudes such as post-feminism present sexism as a thing of the past. Organisations which hold strong commitments to these values, while inequalities within them are hidden, fuel these narratives. This research examines and attempts to understand this gap between ideological commitment and practice through firstly establishing its presence in an organisation and then looking at how their volunteers understand and justify it. This paper shows how this gap undermines the organisation’s ideological commitments while furthering research into the gendered division of labour and the mainstreaming of equality. This dissertation uses an in-depth case-study of the Woodcraft Folk (WCF), a charity with a constitutional commitment to gender equality (WCF, 2012) including quantitative and qualitative analysis of the voluntary experiences and habits of its members. To set up the research, there is a literature review on gendered divisions of labour, studies into voluntary labour and the mainstreaming of equality. Next, a brief history of the WCF and an introduction to the research questions and methodology. Two research questions are formulated to examine if there is a gap between ideology and practice in the form of a division of labour: RQ1: Does WCF demonstrate gendered inequalities in voluntary labour? RQ2: If a disparity between ideological commitments and reality is found, how and why might this happen? RQ1 was approached quantitatively through a survey completed by seventy WCF members, gathering data on roles and jobs undertaken while volunteering for the organisation, which was then analysed for gendered differences. This showed some small but significant differences in tasks taken by volunteers which were unpacked using qualitative methods. RQ2 was analysed qualitatively through interviews and one open-ended survey response. A division in emotional, hidden and domestic labour was found as well as a difference in valuing work, although there were also distinctly post-feminist understandings that presented WCF as free from gender inequality. 3 Volunteers made sense of these differences through a combination of understandings, including demographics, natural differences, social roles, skills or abilities and personal characteristics. These findings support and reflect literature on the gendered division of labour and present these theories to be applicable to voluntary work. The presence of a gap between ideological commitment and reality shows the need for self-critical reflection within organisations to ensure feminism is enacted and not a performative label. The volunteers’ justifications of this gap demonstrate the need ​ ​ for more nuanced understandings of both sexism and work which include more than overt discrimination and acknowledge and value emotional and hidden forms of labour. 4 2. Literature review The gendered division of labour refers to how work is structured along gendered lines. Women tend to participate more in domestic labour, while men generally spend a higher percentage of their time in paid work (Thane, 1992). Traditionally, this referred to women doing the caring responsibilities and household tasks, while men participated in paid employment as the ‘breadwinner’ (Breen & Cooke, 2005). Despite women’s advancements within the labour market, this division of labour has persisted with women still doing the bulk of domestic labour while working outside of the home (Riggs & Bartholomaeus, 2020). An aspect of the gendered division of labour in employment is the sex-segregation of jobs. Women and men tend to be clustered in different occupations, men taking a higher percentage of manual jobs like builders or drivers, while women form a higher percentage of secretaries and shopping clerks (Rotolo & Wilson, 2007). Across all occupations, women hold the majority of part-time jobs, lower paid and lower status jobs while men make up the majority of higher positions such as company CEOs, managers or directors (Thane, 1992; Acker, 2006). These differences in labour participation were once seen as reflections of innate gender differences, where women were better suited to the private sphere and nurturing roles and men to the public sphere, paid employment and physical labour (Eagly & Wood, 2016). However, feminist theory dismisses this biological rationale (Thane, 1992) in favour of a more complex picture relating the domestic division of labour and sex segregation to social roles (Eagly & Wood, 2016), the patriarchy (Witz, 2013), and legal and political barriers to equal labour participation (Fagan & Rubery, 2018; Conley, 2016). The continuance of gendered divisions of labour, despite safeguards such as the Equal Pay Act (ukpga, 1970) and mass female participation in the labour market, stimulates continuing research into its presence combining social, political and legislative causes (Thane, 1992; Verniers & Vala, 2018). Social role theory, or gender role theory, refers to the way gender is learned, enforced and reinforced through socialisation, creating almost universal gender norms with women as nurturers and carers (Eagly & Wood, 2016). This gender socialisation impacts the development, opportunities, and mental and physical health of individuals (Saewyc, 2017; Elgarte, 2008), influencing perceptions of them and their social interactions. The patriarchy as a theoretical tool seeks to link this socialisation with women’s relative disadvantage and subordination to men, referring to a social system and ideology which is rooted in male dominance and superiority (Walby, 1990). The division of labour has been examined from many angles. Qualitative research documents women facing patriarchal discrimination in traditionally male sectors (Soklaridis, et al., 2017). Social role theory has examined how children are encouraged in different subjects leading to specific 5 careers and occupational segregation with fewer women in engineering, sciences and maths (Barone, 2015). Quantitative research has documented vertical segregation within occupations like social work (Pease, 2011) as well as showing how work-place discrimination is justified by the strength of myths surrounding motherhood roles (Verniers & Vala, 2018). These studies show the persistence of the gender division of labour despite the popular expectation of progress towards gender equality (McRobbie, 2004) as well as highlighting circular causalities between occupational sex-segregation and the domestic division of labour. Given their primary caregiver role, women are more likely to take part-time work to manage their domestic duties, which can then mean they are less likely to be offered a promotion remaining in lower paid, lower status jobs. Recent research examines inequalities in different, less traditional, types of labour. Research into managers in a company showed female managers doing quiet, unobtrusive organisational housekeeping that kept everything