Committee Reports > List of Committees > Joint > 1988 > Committee on Women's Rights (2nd Committee) > Report No. 02 - Changing Attitudes to the Role of Women in Ireland Issues Related to Equal Employment Opportunity

APPENDIX

- Social Indicators of Equality -

CHANGING GENDER ROLE ATTITUDES IN IRELANDS: 1975 - 1986

Vol. II: Issues Related to Equal Employment Opportunity

Margret Fine-Davis

Department of Psychology

Trinity College, Dublin

- Report to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on women’s Rights -

I. INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents results of the study dealing with issues of equal employment opportunity. Several inter-related areas were addressed. The first area concerns women’s experience of discrimination in the workplace. Women were asked about discrimination in the areas of hiring, training, pay, promotion and kind of work or quality of work experience. They were also asked about discrimination by the educational system. Comparisons in the level of discrimination experienced by women in 1975 with that experienced in 1986 were made. It was of particular interest to explore whether the anti-discrimination legislation, i.e. the Anti-Discrimination (Equal Pay) Act of 1974 (implemented at the end of 1975) and the Employment Equality Act (1977) had any impact on women’s perceived discrimination during this period.

A second area examined concerned a comparison of women’s own experience of discrimination with their perceptions of the extent of discrimination experienced by “women in general” in the areas listed above. A further comparison point was that between employed women, on the one hand, and other groups (i.e. employed men and non-employed married women) on the other, concerning estimates of the extent of discrimination experienced by employed women in general.

The purpose was to see if employed women were more aware of discrimination, since they could identify with the group in question, less aware, or if there was a general consensus concerning levels of discrimination.

Closely related to this was an examination of attitudes concerning barriers to women’s career advancement. The extent to which women’s relatively poor position in the organisational hierarchy is due to discriminatory attitudes and practices on the part of management and the extent to which it may be due to other factors (such as women not wanting more responsibility) has not been fully established. The purpose of this part of the study was (a) to find out what employed women see as barriers to their own career advancement and (b) to see how this compared with the perceptions of others (i.e., employed men and non-employed married women). By obtaining information on this question from two distinct vantage points it was hoped that some light might be shed on this important problem.

Finally, attitudes were obtained from all groups concerning potential changes in the workplace and community which might be of assistance to working parents. These included such issues as flexible hours, greater availability of part-time jobs, child care facilities, paternity leave, parental leave, etc. All of these questions had been asked in a nationwide survey of mothers’ attitudes to child care and related issues in 1981 (Fine-Davis, 1983a), which formed part of the Report of the Working Party on Child Care Facilities for Working Parents (1983). It was thus possible not only to see how attitudes had changed from 1981 to 1986 but also to see how the attitudes of other groups (i.e. men and single women) compared to those of married women on these issues.

The results are presented in four sections, with a discussion at the end of each section. A final section summarises the main findings and conclusions of all four sections and suggests implications for future policy in this area.

II RESULTS

A. EMPLOYED WOMEN’S EXPERIENCE OF DISCRIMINATION - 1975 - 1986

In the 1975 study employed women were asked a series of questions concerning whether or not they had personally experienced discrimination in the area of employment because of being a woman, and, if so, to what extent. The questions concerned the possibility of discrimination:

1in getting a job

2in job training

3in terms of pay

4in terms of the kind of work or quality of work experience given to her (as opposed to that given to other workers)

5in terms of promotion

In addition, women were asked if they felt they had in any way been discriminated against by the educational system because of being a woman.

Identical questions were put to the 1986 sample of employed women to see if there had been any changes in the intervening 11 years, during which several important developments had taken place. The most important of these were the passage of the Anti-Discrimination (Pay) Act of 1974, which legislated for equal pay, and the Employment Equality Act of 1977 which prohibits discrimination on grounds of sex or marital status in recruitment for employment, in training, in conditions of employment or in the provision of opportunities for promotion. Furthermore, the Employment Equality Agency was established in 1977 as a statutory body with the role of enforcing this Anti-Discrimination legislation.

1. Experience of Discrimination in Getting a Job

Table 11 presents data showing the extent to which employed women experienced discrimination in relation to employment and the educational system. Data are presented for 1975 for Dublin only and for 1986 with separate breakdowns for Dublin and rural areas (1975 data were not available for rural areas). The data are also presented separately for married and single women.

In 1975, 27% of Dublin women had experienced some degree of discrimination in getting a job. Of these, about one-third, or 7.7% of the total sample had experienced either “a fair amount” or “a great deal” of discrimination. However, in 1986 this had increased significantly. Of all employed Dublin women in 1986, 40% had experienced some degree of sex discrimination in getting a job, with 15.8% of the total sample reporting “a fair amount” or “a great deal” of discrimination. This difference was found to be statistically significant (p < .01) even when controlling for age, socio-economic status and marital status, as shown in Table 12.

Rural women reported less discrimination in getting a job than did Dublin women. Only 20% experienced any discrimination. In contrast to Dublin, rural married women did not report the more extreme levels of discrimination at all, although 8.4% of single rural women did.

2. Experience of Discrimination in Job Training

In 1975, 28% of employed women in Dublin reported having experienced some degree of discrimination in job training. However, this figure was much

TABLE 11

EMPLOYED WOMEN’S EXPERIENCE OF DISCRIMINATION 1975 - 1986

higher for single women (40%) than for married (22%). In 1986, the total percentage of employed women in Dublin reporting having experienced some degree of discrimination in job training rose to 45% and the discrepancy between married and single women disappeared. As in the case of “getting a job”, rural women were less likely to report discrimination in job training than were urban women. Just under 20% of rural women reported discrimination in job training. The figure was higher for single women (24%) than for married (15%) (as had been the case in Dublin in 1975).

3. Experience of Discrimination in Terms of Pay

With regard to pay, much higher proportions of women reported discrimination. In 1975, 61% of Dublin women reported some degree of discrimination on the basis of pay; 36% reported either “a fair amount” or “a great deal” of pay discrimination.

While there was no overall significant shift in pay discrimination from 1975 to 1986, for single women there was a trend in the direction of less pay discrimination in 1986 than in 1975 (p = .093), even when other key demographic variables are controlled. In percentage terms, 68% of single women from Dublin reported some degree of pay discrimination in 1975, whereas in 1986 only 53% did so. This indicates some shift during the decade following the implementation of the Anti-Discrimination (Pay) Act, however, much discrimination in this area is still felt.

In both 1975 and 1986 there was a trend indicating that younger women (18 - 34) were more likely to report pay discrimination than older women (35 - 65) (p = .06 - see Table 12).

Rural women were less likely than urban women to report pay discrimination, yet more substantial proportions reported discrimination in this area than in the other areas. Thirty-four per cent of rural women reported some degree of pay discrimination (as compared with 58% of urban women). Among the rurals, married women were more likely to report pay discrimination (42%) than singles (27%).

4. Discrimination in Terms of Kind of Work or Quality of Work Experience

In 1975, 42% of employed Dublin women reported some degree of discrimination in terms of the kind of work or quality of work experience given to them (as women), as opposed to that given to other workers. This proportion remained fairly stable from 1975 to 1986 and married and single women did not differ appreciably from each other.

There was a significant effect of social class in both 1975 and 1986 indicating that employed Dublin women of lower socio-economic background experienced more discrimination in terms of the kind of work or quality of work experience given to them than women of higher socio-economic background.

Rural women in 1986 reported somewhat less discrimination in this area, with 29% reporting some degree of discrimination. Married rural women were somewhat more likely to report discrimination (33%) than single women (25%), however those single women who reported it were more likely to report “a fair amount” or “a great deal”, rather than “some extent” or “very little”.

5. Discrimination in Terms of Promotion

A fairly sizeable proportion of employed Dublin women (34%) reported discrimination in the area of promotion in 1975. Twenty-eight per cent of married women did so and 47% of single women. By 1986 the proportion of married women reporting discrimination in this area increased to 47% whereas the proportion of single women decreased somewhat to 42%. This interaction effect between marital status and year was statistically significant (F = 4.18; p <.05).

As in the case of the previous variables, rural women in 1986 reported somewhat less discrimination in the area of promotion than did urban women. The overall percentage reporting any discrimination in this area was 28%, with the proportion of married women being somewhat higher (32%) than that of single women (25%).

6. Discrimination by the Educational System

In its Commentary on and Recommendations concerning the report Schooling and Sex Roles (Hannan et al., 1983), the Employment Equality Agency notes that the statutory responsibility of the Agency “has to take account of those factors which determine access to and achievement in employment” (EEA, 1983, p.10). The recognition of the vital importance of education in this regard was an impetus for initiating the above study, which documented the existence of unequal opportunity for girls in the educational system:

It is in this sense that the question concerning discrimination by the educational system was put to respondents in both the 1975 and 1986 studies. In 1975 relatively few of the employed Dublin women were aware of having been discriminated against by the educational system. Overall, 18% expresed any degree of perceived discrimination in this area. Differences between married and single women were slight. However, in 1986 this level rose rather dramatically. Overall, 47% reported having been discriminated against by the educational system. This overall figure reflected a somewhat higher proportion of married women (55%) than single women (38%). As may be seen in Table 12, this increase in perceived discrimination from 1975 to 1986 was the most significant trend observed concerning women’s perceptions of discrimination over this period (F = 22.19; p < .001).

We do not have rural data for 1975, but the 1986 data revealed a reasonably high level of perceived discrimination in this regard (33% overall, with 35% for married and 31% for single women).

TABLE 12

A COMPARISON OF EMPLOYED WOMEN’S EXPERIENCE OF DISCRIMINATION 1975 - 1986 (DUBLIN ONLY), CONTROLLING FOR AGE, MARITAL STATUS AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS

Mean Scores and Significant F-Ratios for Main Effects of 4-Way Analysis of Variance

Summary and Discussion

The data have revealed that in each of the areas studies, proportions ranging from 15% to 58% of employed women reported discrimination in 1986. The degrees of discrimination varied from “very little” to “a great deal” and the reader is invited to examine Table 11 in detail concerning these variations. As Table 12 revealed, there were no significant shifts in the direction of less discrimination from 1975 to 1986, overall; however, there was a tendency for single women to experience less discrimination in the area of pay in 1986 than in 1975. There was also a reduction in single women’s experienced discrimination in the area promotion, but this was counterbalanced by an increase in perceived discrimination by married women.

Two of the areas examined showed an overal increase in perceived discrimination from 1975 to 1986:

a.that of getting a job and

b.that experienced in the educational system.

It is unlikely that discriminatory practices increased during this period, particularly in view of the equality legislation introduced in 1975 and 1977. Therefore, the findings suggest that women’s awareness of discrimination was undoubtedly heightened during this period. This was probably due to discussion in the media of the equality legislation and related issues associated with the U.N. Decade for Women (1975 - 1985). Reportage in the media of the report by Hannan et al. (1983) may also have had an effect on women’s awareness of discrimination by the educational system. Further, the Minister for Education, Ms Gemma Hussey who held office from 1983 to 1986, addressed the problem of sex-role stereotyping in textbooks, which obtained media coverage. This too may have affected public awareness of discrimination in schools.

These results should, therefore, not be disturbing in and of themselves, since it may be necessary to achieve an awareness of a problem before one can do something to remedy it.

B PERCEPTIONS OF DISCRIMINATION: A COMPARISON OF EMPLOYED WOMEN AND OTHER GROUPS

In addition to being asked whether they had ever personally experienced discrimination, employed women were also asked how much, if at all, they thought women in general were discriminated against in employment. Table 13 presents a comparison of these two sets of perceptions in terms of mean scores - one regarding oneself and the other regarding women in general. It may be seen that highly significant differences were obtained in all cases. In every case, employed women felt that women in general suffered from more discrimination than they themselves had experienced. This discrepancy was particularly great with regard to perceptions concerning hiring and promotion, but was also highly significant for the other areas, i.e. job training, pay and kind of work or quality of work experience. It also held with regard to perceived discrimination by the educational system.

Table 14 presents essentially the same data in greater detail (showing percentage responses to all five response categories, as well as separate data for married and single women). This more graphically illustrates what was summarised above. For example, in relation to “getting a job”, whereas 70% of employed women had not experienced any discrimination in this area, only 12.9% of employed women thought “women in general” had experienced no discrimination in this area. Conversely, whereas only 30% of employed women had experienced some discrimination in this area, 87% thought women in general had. Looking at the more extreme categories, it may be seen that whereas 10% of employed women reported discrimination in getting a job, 68% of employed women thought that women in general experienced either

TABLE 13

EMPLOYED WOMEN’S PERCEPTION OF EXTENT OF OWN EXPERIENCE OF DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT IN COMPARISON WITH THEIR PERCEPTION OF THE EXTENT OF DISCRIMINATION EXPERIENCED BY WOMEN IN GENERAL (N=240)

a great deal or a fair amount of discrimination in getting a job.

Similar trends held for the other areas of discrimination. While 18.7% of employed women reported personally having experienced “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of pay discrimination, 39% felt that women in general experienced this level of pay discrimination. With regard to promotion, 14.6% reported experiencing either a great deal or a fair amount of discrimination, yet 43.3% thought women in general experienced either a fair amount or a great deal of discrimination in the area of promotion.

Discussion

These large discrepancies in personal experience versus perceptions concerning women in general may be due to at least three factors. First, not all of the employed women have actually experienced discrimination themselves; nevertheless they would be aware of its existence generally. Secondly, even if women have experienced discrimination, it may have been in only one or two areas, rather than in all five. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, women may not recognise that they are personally being discriminated against for several reasons. Among these is the fact that much of women’s employment is largely sex-segregated and since all of one’s co-workers are female, one is not aware of discrimination against oneself per se because one is actually being discriminated against as a woman en bloc. This would certainly be relevant with regard to the issues of pay and kind of work or quality of work experience.

In order to explore the possible reasons underlying these discrepant attitudes, qualitative data was obtained subsequent to the main study from

TABLE 14

A COMPARISON OF EMPLOYED WOMEN’S OWN EXPERIENCE OF DISCRIMINATION WITH THEIR AND OTHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE EXTENT OF DISCRIMINATION EXPERIENCED BY WOMEN IN GENERAL

4 groups of women attending adult education courses.(1) The groups were asked to respond to the two parallel sets of questions concerning own experience of discrimination and extent of discrimination experienced by women in general. They were then asked to write down any comments concerning their own experiences. Several comments made by nurses in one of the groups lent support to the hypothesis concerning the effects on one’s perceptions of working in sex-segregated occupations. For example:

With regard to hiring, many women would be unaware if their sex had played a role in whether or not they had got a particular job, since such information is confidential. Yet women know that questions related to one’s sex such as marriage plans, plans to have children, etc. are often brought up in job interviews (even though such questions are now illegal).

Finally, women may be denying the extent to which they themselves have been discriminated against. This may be for psychologically protective reasons. If one actually felt like a victim of discrimination, this should logically lead to anger and perhaps seeking legal redress. Yet such behaviour is certainly unwelcome by management, causes disruptions in one’s life and is not consistent with expected norms of feminine behaviour, which is supposed to be friendly, cooperative and generally passive. Thus, in order to avoid problems and rocking the boat - and to avoid risks - it has probably been easier for women to deny, even to themselves, that they have suffered discrimination as women. Yet the fact that they are so aware of discrimination against women generally would seem to belie their perceptions concerning their own experience.

The perceptions of employed women concerning the extent of discrimination against women did not differ significantly (except in one case) from that of other groups in the sample, namely men and non-employed women, as may be seen from Table 15. (Percentage data comparing employed women with other groups on these items are contained in Table 14). Concerning hiring, job training, pay, kind of work/quality of work experience and promotion, there were no significant differences between employed women’s perceptions and those of other groups in society regarding the extent of discrimination which women in general experienced. However, with regard to discrimination by the educational system, employed women were more likely than other groups to feel that women in general suffered from this.

The fact that other groups (ie, males and non-employed females) essentially concurred with the employed females’ estimates of the extent of discrimination in general would tend to lend support to the veracity of the employed women’s perceptions. One then must ask again, why are the employed women so significantly under-reporting their own experience of discrimination? The evidence would tend to support the hypothesis that massive denial is taking place and this must be in some way an adaptive mechanism. Apparently acknowledging one’s own experience of discrimination and, of necessity, acting on that knowledge, is apparently not an attractive option for most women. It is more comfortable for them to accept the situation and choose to deny it.

TABLE 15

PERCEPTIONS OF EXTENT OF DISCRIMINATION EXPERIENCED BY WOMEN IN GENERAL: A COMPARISON OF EMPLOYED WOMEN AND OTHER GROUPS (N=599)

C. BARRIERS TO WOMEN’S CAREER ADVANCEMENT: A COMPARISON OF EMPLOYED WOMEN AND OTHER GROUPS.

The previous data have shown that employed women themselves tend to think they have experienced less job discrimination than have other women, although the data also showed that employed women shared views similar to those of the rest of the community concerning the prevalence of discrimination against women in general. Among all groups it was perceived to be fairly widespread. This awareness would seem to be consistent with findings of other studies which have documented women’s poorer position in the labour force (e.g. McCarthy, 1978, Eurostat, 1983; Fine-Davis, 1983, 1985; Smyth, 1984; Blackwell, 1986). Census data, as well as survey data have indicated that “the pattern of job structures in work organisations .... shows that women are clustered at the lower end of the organisational hierarchy, in all the occupations they occupy” (McCarthy, 1978, p.109).

However, the extent to which women’s poor position in the organisational hierarchy is due to discriminatory attitudes and practices on the part of management and the extent to which it is a result of other factors has not been established. It has sometimes been suggested that women do not seek greater responsibility on the job and that is why they are not more represented at the higher levels of management. It is argued that married women in particular already have too much to do balancing job and family responsibilities that they could not cope with more demanding jobs - or at least they cannot do so without more flexible hours and assistance with child care and household tasks.

Some of these issues were explored in the present study in order to see how women perceived their own career advancement. Specifically, women were asked to what extent nine potential barriers to career advancement held for them. In order to see to what extent other groups and, in particular, men had similar or dissimilar perceptions concerning the barriers to women’s career advancement, comparable questions were asked of the other groups in the study, i.e., married men, single men and non-employed married women. Table 16 presents the levels of agreement concerning nine potential barriers to women’s career advancement.

It may be seen that the barriers which employed women themselves see as the greatest to their career advancement are

1The fact that there simply are no avenues for advancement in their jobs (52%, of married women and 56% of single women stated that this was true for them); and

2They would need more training or educational qualifications in order to get ahead (55% of both married and single women agreed with this).

However, an examination of the effects of other variables showed that socio-economic status played a very significant role in determining these responses. In both cases, women of lower socio-economic background were more likely to perceive a lack of avenues for advancement in their jobs as well as a need for further training in order to get ahead. Women from rural areas were more also likely to perceive a lack of opportunity for career advancement, whereas women from urban areas were more likely to think they would need more training in order to get ahead (Table 17). More detailed analysis showed that, while rural women in general were less likely than urban women to feel a need for training, among rural women,

TABLE 16

PERCEIVED BARRIERS TO WOMEN’S CAREER ADVANCEMENT: A COMPARISON OF EMPLOYED WOMEN AND OTHER GROUPS - PERCENTAGE RESPONSES

(N=600)

married women were more likely than single to do so. Among urban women, while there was a generally strong belief in the need for further training in order to get ahead, this was particularly strong among young single women (18 - 34). (1)

Among the other seven potential barriers, none elicited an agreement higher than 37% on the part of employed women. Not surprisingly, certain problems were more salient for some groups than for others. For example, married women were significantly more likely to cite the fact that they already had too much to do balancing job and family responsibilities. However, it will be noted that only 33% of married women cited this as a barrier to their career advancement. The majority of married working women did not.

Similar proportions of married and single women (about 28%) expressed the view that attitudes of management tended to favour promotion of men rather than women. It was found that younger women (18 - 34) were significantly more likely than older workers to see management attitudes as a barrier to their advancement and this held particularly for young women of lower socio-economic (SES) background (2). In rural areas, this attitude on the part of lower SES women was particularly pronounced among married women, whereas in urban areas, it was more prevalent among single women. (3)

It is sometimes said that women do not go forward for promotion because they lack the self-confidence. Contrary to any such stereotypes, only 18.6% of the married women workers and 23.4% of the single ones felt that a lack of self-confidence was a barrier to their advancement.

TABLE 17

EMPLOYED WOMEN’S PERCEPTIONS OF BARRIERS TO CAREER ADVANCEMENT

(N=240)

TABLE 18

EMPLOYED MARRIED WOMEN’S PERCEPTIONS OF BARRIERS TO CAREER ADVANCEMENT

(n=120)

Interestingly enough, in rural areas older women were more likely to express a lack of self-confidence, whereas in urban areas, this applied more to younger women. (1)

Another view that is sometimes put forth is that women do not want more responsibility on the job. This would appear to be true for a certain proportion of women (30% of single and 37% of married). However, it did not apply to the other 63 - 70% of women workers. It also applied far less to women aged 18 to 49 than to women aged 50 and over.

Concerning the lack of availability of flexible hours, about 29% of employed women felt that if they were more available they would be able to manage better and would therefore be better able to advance in their careers. Younger women were significantly more likely to feel that the lack of flexible hours were a barrier to their career advancement.

Among married women, 25% felt that if they had more help with housework and childcare they would be able to put more into their jobs and therefore be more likely to get ahead.

A comparison of these attitudes on the part of employed women is made in Table 19 with the attitudes of other groups in the community. There are striking, and in many cases unexpected, findings throughout. The most striking difference is that other groups were far more likely to see the nine items as barriers to career advancement than the employed women did themselves. They also saw different things as barriers than the employed women did.

For example, whereas the employed women felt that for them the biggest barriers were (a) a lack of avenues for career advancement in their own work and (b) a need for more training and education, these reasons were 7th and 5th respectively in rank for others in the sample. Others were far more likely to see management attitudes, a lack of flexible hours and a lack of household help and child care as significant barriers. The percentage discrepancies here are extremely large (Table 16) and the statistical comparisons (as contained in Table 19) highly significant. For example, whereas only 28% of employed women cited management attitudes as a barrier to their advancement, they were cited as important by 90.8% of employed married men, by 79% of employed single men and by 85% of non-employed married women. With regard to flexible hours, 29% of employed women cited this as a barrier to their advancement, whereas 87% of all other groups felt it was. Regarding lack of household help and child care, 25% of employed married women cited this as a barrier to their career advancement, yet over 86% of employed men and 87% of non-employed married women saw it as a barrier which employed married women faced.

TABLE 19

PERCEIVED BARRIERS TO WOMEN’S CAREER ADVANCEMENT: A COMPARISON OF EMPLOYED WOMEN AND OTHER GROUPS

(N=600)

N.S. = Non-significant

Responses to items on 7 point scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree.

Discussion

Why such large discrepancies in perceptions? It may be useful to refer back to the previous findings which indicated that employed women were less likely to think that they had been discriminated against than others thought employed women in general were discriminated against. This was interpreted in terms of a possible denial of one’s own discrimination, as an adaptive mechanism - because it would be too uncomfortable and indeed dissonance producing to acknowledge to oneself that one was a victim of discrimination. One does not like to see oneself as a victim. This would mean one would have to see oneself as a second class citizen, someone who was being mistreated, and this would be uncomfortable.

The present data concerning perceived barriers to career advancement is, on the surface, surprising. Yet if one looks deeper, it is actually quite consistent with the previous data.

Women do not admit even to themselves that they are being discriminated against: they are just like all other workers. Therefore, they do not deserve any special considerations such as flexible hours or help with housework or child care facilities. They should be able to do it all. What is very interesting, and revealing, is that other groups who one might not expect to be sympathetic to the needs of employed married women, on the contrary, appear to be particularly sensitised to their needs. They realise quite clearly that employed married women need flexible hours, household help and child care facilities. They have no hesitation in citing these as major obstacles to women’s career advancement. They too see very clearly that management attitudes contribute to women’s poorer position in the organisational hierarchy. The fact that most managers are married men and the fact that 90% of the married men in the sample agreed that management attitudes were a key barrier to women’s advancement is something which should be taken seriously. These men know what they’re talking about.

The fact that there has not been more pressure from employed women for things such as flexible working hours and child care facilities may be explained, at least in part, on the basis of the attitudes which we have just examined. Women do not acknowledge - even to themselves - that they deserve certain working conditions that others clearly acknowledge without hesitation.

On the other hand, the data also show that other groups in the population do not fully appreciate the extent to which many women feel trapped in jobs which have no channels for upward mobility - no career ladders. While 54% of employed women cited this as a major barrier to their career advancement, this reality was appreciated by only 35% of single men and 26% of married men.

D. ATTITUDES TOWARD POTENTIAL CHANGES IN THE WORKPLACE AND THE COMMUNITY: 1981-86

In a nationwide survey carried out in 1981 of mothers’ attitudes toward child care and related issues (Fine-Davis, 1983a), which formed part of the Report of the Working Party on Child Care Facilities for Working Parents (1983), a series of questions was put to respondents concerning their attitudes toward potential changes in the workplace and community which might be of assistance to working parents.

In order to see how respondents felt about several of these same issues some five years later, many of the same questions were put to respondents in the present study. The inclusion of male respondents and single female respondents in the present study also made it possible to see how they felt about these issues and how their attitudes compared with those of married female respondents, for whom data were available in both the 1981 and 1986 studies.

Table 20 presents percentage responses for all groups on nine potential changes in the workplace or community. The questions were prefaced with the following statement:

Respondents were asked to indicate their level of support or lack of support for each of the policies on a scale ranging from “would” strongly favour” to “would strongly not favour” of the type shown below:

They were then asked to indicate if the policy might apply to them now or in the future and, if so, to what extent, as follows:

For purposes of simplicity, Table 20 presents the detailed responses to the favourable side of the continuum. One can deduce the percentage not favouring a particular policy by subtracting the total favourable support from 100%. Similarly, responses are presented in the two categories “could apply to me to some extent” and “a great deal”. Again, the reader can deduce the total response of “not at all” and “very little” by subtracting the total from 100%.

1. Flexible Hours

Quite a high level of support was shown for flexible hours. Sixty per cent of employed married women strongly favoured the extension of flexible working hours and 87.5% favoured them to some degree. This corresponds very closely to the 86.5% of employed mothers (1) who said they favoured flexible hours in the 1981 Child Care Survey. Non-employed married women in the present study were also quite supportive, with 91.7% expressing favourable attitudes and 51.7% strongly favourable attitudes. This overall level of support is quite similar to that expressed by non-employed mothers in the 1981 survey (which was 90.8%).

While, in the present study, the most favourable attitudes to flexible hours were expressed by employed married women, positive attitudes toward this policy were widespread among all groups, including men. Among employed married men, 83.2% expressed favourable attitudes to flexible hours and 47.9% expressed strongly favourable attitudes. Single men were somewhat less supportive, but still a clear majority favoured them. Overall, 76.7% expressed favourable attitudes, and 36.7% strongly favourable attitudes. A majority of women saw flexible hours as directly relevant to themselves. Not surprisingly, employed married women saw them as most applicable, with 32.5% saying they applied “a great deal” and a further 30% saying they applied “to some extent”. Over 50% of non-employed married women and employed single women also felt that flexible hours could apply to them. A surprisingly high proportion of married men (43.2%) said flexible hours could apply to them.

2. Greater Availability of Part-Time Jobs

A high level of support was also expressed for a greater availability of part-time jobs, as was the case in the Child Care Survey. Non-employed married women were particularly supportive of this. Overall, 95% of them expressed approval, with 72.5% expressing strong approval. This figure is somewhat higher than previous Irish studies would have predicted, but is clearly in line with expressed preferences of non-employed women for part-time jobs in these studies (Fine-Davis, 1977; 1983; 1983a). Employed married women were also quite supportive, with 69.7% expressing strong support and 94.9% overall support. Over 70% of married women and over 50% of employed single women saw the greater availability of part-time jobs as applicable to them. Men tended to be quite supportive in general of the greater availability of part-time jobs, with over 80% expressing support. However, fewer men than women expressed strong support (48.7% of married men and 43.3% of single men). This may be because fewer men saw them as applicable to themselves (approximately 35% of men did so).

3. Paternity Leave

A majority of all groups expressed support for paternity leave for childbirth. Greater support was expressed by married people, both men and women. 85% of married people approved of such a policy, with over 50% expressing strong approval. The policy was seen to be applicable by 39% of employed married women, 35.6% of non-employed married women and 45.5% of employed married men, who would, of course, be most directly affected.

4. Parental Leave

A majority of all groups also favoured parental leave, which would be available to both parents, in the case of a child’s illness. In the 1981 Child Care Survey, parental leave was favoured by 90% of the respondents. The need for such a policy was indicated by the fact that mothers reported that they commonly had to use their own annual leave, sick leave or unpaid leave in the case of child’s illness. Mothers were also more likely than their husbands to have a flexible arrangement with their employers concerning leave time due to children’s illness (Fine-Davis, 1983a, pp.122 - 123). The Report of the Working Party on Child Care Facilities for Working Parents proposed that “any absence connected with child care, other than maternity leave, should be considered as ‘parental leave’ and any leave allowance of this nature should be available to either parent” (1983, p.6, p.8).

5. Change/Extend Shopping Hours

In the 1981 Child Care Survey, 42.7% of employed married women favoured the extension of shopping hours and 66.7% favoured the extension of banking hours. In the present study these two questions were merged and it was found that 89.1% of employed married women favoured the extension of these two services. 75% saw such extensions as applicable to them.

Non-employed married women also showed an increase from 1981 to 1986 in the proportion favouring an extension of shopping and banking hours. Over 75% favoured this change and 70% saw it as something that would apply to them. Other groups in the population were also quite favourably disposed to such an extension of services, with large majorities both favouring the change and seeing it as something they would benefit from, as shown in Table 20.

6. Change/Extend Hours of Public Offices (e.g. Post Office, Revenue, Social Welfare)

An increase in support for an extension of hours of public offices was clearly present in comparing the 1981 and 1986 data of married women. Whereas in 1981 only slightly over 50% favoured this, by 1986 approximately 75% did. People were also far more likely in 1986 to see this as applicable to them. Single women and men were not dissimilar from married women in their attitudes to these potential changes.

7. Provide a National Programme of Child Care Facilities for Pre-School Age Children

A very high level of support was expressed in the 1981 study for a national programme of child care facilities for pre-school children. Over 90% of the sample favoured such a policy. A comparable level of support was expressed by the married women in the 1986 survey. Ninety per cent of employed married women said they would favour such a policy. 54% were strongly in favour and 20% moderately in favour. Forty-four per cent said such a programme could apply to them. Support was also quite strong on the part of non-employed married women: 88% favoured such a policy (42% strongly) and 48% saw it as applicable to them. Married men were also quite supportive: 81% favoured such a policy (40% strongly) and 50% saw it as applicable to them. A majority of single men and women were also favourable to such a programme, although naturally they were less likely to see it as applicable to them (particularly single men), even though the question included future use.

8. Provide Short-Term Creche Facilities in Shopping Centres, Hospital Clinics, etc.

In the 1981 Child Care Survey 84% of married women expressed favourable attitudes toward the provision of short-term creche facilities in shopping centres, hospital clinics, etc. In the present study this rose to approximately 95% support on the part of this group. Particularly strong support was expressed by employed married women (67.5% were strongly favourable), although strongly favourable attitudes were also expressed by non-employed married women (54%), married men (43%) and single women (40%). Over 40% of married people (male and female) saw such short-term facilities as something they would avail of.

9. Tax Concessions for Child Care Costs

In the 1981 Survey 88% of married women favoured tax concessions for child care costs. A similar degree of support was expressed in the present study: 89% of employed married women expressed support, 81% of non-employed married women, and 83% of married men. A majority of single people was also supportive, but less strongly. Married men were most likely to see this as applicable to them; 57% did so. Employed married

TABLE 20

LEVEL OF SUPPORT FOR POTENTIAL CHANGES IN THE WORKPLACE AND COMMUNITY

(N=600)

women were next most likely to see it as applicable (52% did), followed by non-employed married women (44%). Singles were less likely to see it as applicable now or in the future (approximately 20% did so).

Discussion

The results indicated very high levels of support for the several changes in the workplace and community put before respondents, many of which would be of particular assistance to working parents, but many of which would be of assistance to others as well. Comparisons with data from the 1981 Child Care Survey showed basically little change in level of support, since there had also been a high level of support for these nine policies in 1981. While the questions concerning applicability or relevance of the policies to the respondents were not precisely comparable in the two surveys, there appeared to be an increase in the percentages in 1986 who saw such policies as applicable to them. The present survey also presented data for employed single women and for employed men, both married and single. This enabled one to see to what extent the attitudes expressed by married women in 1981 were more generally applicable. The data indicated that they were, but particularly among married men, who clearly seemed to share the concerns of married women in these areas. This shared concern of coping with work and child care may reflect part of an evolving attitude toward gender roles, which was observed in the previous chapter.

The results are also interesting to ponder in light of the previous results concerning women’s experience of discrimination and their perceived barriers to carrer advancement, in relation to the views of other groups concerning barriers to women’s advancement. While employed women hesitated to acknowledge that the lack of flexible hours and child care facilities were barriers to their own career advancement, they nevertheless were extremely supportive of these policies. Their strong support would clearly seem to indicate that they need these facilities in order to effectively cope with work and family responsibilities. That they failed to see the lack of these policies as barriers to their own advancement (even though others clearly did), would seem to indicate a “superwoman” phenomenon. Women will, on the one hand, say they would favour these things and that they would be useful to them, but they don’t go as far as to blame any lack of success on their part to a lack of social supports. They still feel they should be able to do it all as well as anyone else - even with handicaps.

III CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS.

Because of the anti-discrimination legislation which became operative in 1975 and 1977, one might have expected less experience of discrimination in 1986 than in 1975; however, this was not the case. There was no difference in the level of perceived discrimination over this period in the areas of training or in the kind of work or quality of work experience which women had. Concerning promotion, single women reported slightly less discrimination over this period, but married women reported a good deal more discrimination. There was a trend (which did not quite reach statistical significance) in the direction of single women experiencing less discrimination in the area of pay in 1986 than they had in 1975. This trend did not occur for married women. Furthermore, there was an increase in perceived discrimination in getting a job and as a result of the educational system. The increase in perceived discrimination by the educational system was the most significant finding obtained.

Thus, the only positive effects which appear to have occurred are the very slight improvements for single women in the areas of pay and promotion. However, this was accompanied by a significant worsening of the promotional situation experienced by married women.

It is unlikely that discriminatory practices increased during this period, particularly in view of the equality legislation implemented in 1975 and 1977. Also the results presented in Volume I illustrated that attitudes towards equal opportunity and gender roles generally have shifted in a more egalitarian direction. What the results do suggest is that women’s awareness of discrimination became heightened during the eleven years from 1975 - 1986. This may have occurred as a result of discussion in the media of equality issues, relating to the U.N. Decade for Women (1975-1985) and as a result of the equality legislation. In particular, media attention concerning discrimination in the educational system in terms of access to higher maths and science, as well as sex-role stereotyping in textbooks, may account for employed women’s increased awareness of discrimination by the educational system. These results need not necessarily be seen as disturbing, since it may be necessary to first achieve an awareness of a problem before one can begin to remedy it.

Nevertheless, the fact that women’s perceptions of discrimination have not decreased gives some cause for concern. It would suggest that continued efforts must be made to see to it that actual discrimination decreases. Particular steps which were suggested by the results, as well as by the qualitative follow-up study, include:

1)removing not only remaining sex barriers but also age barriers, which tend to discriminate against women who have left the labour force for a period of childbearing. This applies not only to hiring, but also to training programmes.

2)educating employers that it is discriminatory in job interviews to subject one gender to questions about marital status and plans to have children, etc. The IMI and the FUE, in consultation with the Employment Equality Agency, should take a lead here in setting guidelines for employers in this area.

During the period 1975 to 1986 women became increasingly aware of their own discrimination by the educational system, and in getting a job. This was also true on the part of married women in the area of promotion. Nevertheless employed women tended to underestimate their own experience of discrimination compared with that experienced by “women in general”.

Several interpretations of this discrepancy were put forth. Firstly, not all employed women have experienced discrimination themselves, yet they would be aware of its existence. Secondly, even if they had experienced discrimination, they may have only done so in one or two areas, not in all five (getting a job, job training, pay, kind of work and promotion). Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, many women may not recognise that they are being discriminated against because they are working in largely sex-segregated employment (e.g. nursing, teaching, contract cleaning, etc.). Where all of one’s co-workers are female, one may not be aware of discrimination against oneself per se because there is no basis for comparison. Women are actually being discriminated against en masse. Qualitative data obtained from nurses in an exploratory follow-up tended to support this hypothesis. While it has long been recognised that this is a structural mechanism for keeping women’s wages lower than those of men, it would now appear that sex-segregated employment has an even more insidious outcome, i.e. it blinds women to the fact of their own discrimination because they experience no direct comparisons with men.

Finally, it was suggested that the obtained discrepancies may be due in part to the fact that women may be denying the extent to which they have been discriminated against.

Since an acknowledgement of such discrimination might lead to the necessity of taking action to rectify the situation and since such action as seeking legal redress is inconvenient, risky and inconsistent with expected norms of female behaviour, most women may prefer “not to see” that they are in fact victims of discrimination.

The perceptions of employed women concerning the extent of discrimination against women in general by and large did not differ from those of other groups (i.e. employed men and non-employed married women). This basic consensus about the level of discrimination against women in general would further tend to put a question mark over the reasons for the discrepancies in the employed women’s responses and lead one to ask why are employed women under-reporting their own experience of discrimination? This evidence lends further support to the hypothesis that women are denying their own experience of discrimination because the psychological and practical consequences of fully acknowledging their own discrimination would be too uncomfortable and too costly.

What are the policy implications of this? There is no single solution and no easy solution. To solve this problem will require a multi-pronged approach, involving:

a)educational programmes, perhaps through the trade unions, to make women more aware of their own discrimination and to give them the confidence to deal with it assertively;

b)greater ease of and accessibility to legal redress in cases of discrimination;

c)a greater awareness of the built in dangers of sex-segregated employment and various strategies to try to overcome it, including continued training of women for non-traditional careers.

The findings concerning potential barriers to women’s career advancement showed that employed women were significantly less likely to perceive as barriers several factors which others (i.e., employed men and non-employed married women) saw as obstacles to women’s career advancement. These included: (a) attitudes of management favouring promotion of men; (b) the lack of flexible hours; and (c) the lack of household help or child care.

While these results appear, on the surface, surprising, they are actually quite consistent with the earlier results concerning women’s denial of discrimination of which they are the object. Since they do not acknowledge this discrimination, they do not see it as a barrier to their advancement. Since they do not admit even to themselves that they are being discriminated against, they must then see themselves as just like all other workers, i.e. not deserving of special consideration, particularly in a time of recession and high unemployment in which anyone with a job may feel fortunate and particularly disinclined to rock the boat. The result of this is that married women workers are not demanding the facilities which they require in order to effectively carry out the dual roles of worker and wife/mother, such as flexible working hours and child care facilities. What is very interesting and revealing is that other groups which one might not expect to be sympathetic to the needs of employed married women, on the contrary, appear to be particularly sensitive to their needs. They realise quite clearly that employed married women need flexible hours, household help and child care facilities. They have no hesitation in citing these as major obstacles to women’s career advancement. They too see very clearly that management attitudes contribute to women’s poorer position in the organisational hierarchy.

The fact that there has not been more pressure from employed women for things such as flexible hours and child care facilities may be explained, at least in part, on the basis of the attitudes revealed by the study. Women do not acknowledge - even to themselves - that they deserve certain working conditions that others clearly acknowledge without hesitation.

On the other hand, the data also show that other groups in the population do not fully appreciate the extent to which many women feel trapped in jobs which have no channels for upward mobility - no career ladders. This obstacle was particularly important for women working in jobs of lower occupational status. Such women were also particularly aware of the need for further training and education in order to get ahead.The fact that employed women were significantly more likely to perceive “no avenues for advancement” as a more significant barrier than others did suggests the need to educate employers about the demoralising and inequitous situation of dead-end jobs, which many women find themselves in. The conscious creation of career ladders within organisations would be an aid to remedying this situation. This could go hand-in-hand with on-the-job training. Training outside the organisations themselves is also important in breaking the cycle of dead-end jobs. For this reason it is particularly significant that women’s unique needs be taken account of. These include the provision of child care during training programmes, the removal of age barriers and greater access to training in non-traditional areas.

The results concerning women’s under-emphasis of factors such as management attitudes, lack of flexible hours and other social supports is in stark contrast to the perceptions of others. The fact that others are quite aware of these other barriers should be taken as an encouraging sign by employed women that their needs are appreciated and may be received with greater understanding than might have been anticipated. Trade unions clearly have a key role to play in encouraging women to press for the social supports to which they are entitled. Results presented in the final section, if anything, supported the above recommendations. There was extremely widespread support in the community for a range of innovative policies which would assist working parents, and in some cases, other segments of the community as well. These included flexible hours, greater availability of part-time jobs, paternity leave (for childbirth), parental leave (available to both parents for child’s illness), a national programme of child care facilities for pre-school children, short term creche facilities in shopping centres, hospital clinics, etc., tax concessions for child care costs, and the extension of shopping and banking hours as well as the hours of public offices.

The results indicated that the high levels of support for these changes which were evident on the part of mothers studied in 1981 in the Child Care Survey (Fine-Davis, 1983a; Working Party on Child Care Facilities for Working Parents, 1983) were also widely supported by other groups in 1986. This was particularly true of married men, who clearly seemed to share the concerns of married women in these areas. This shared concern of coping with work and child care may reflect part of an evolving attitude toward gender roles which was observed in the previous chapter.

The results are also rather interesting in the light of the other findings concerning employed women’s hesitation in acknowledging that the lack of flexible hours and child care facilities were barriers to their own career advancement. The fact that employed married women endorsed these policies very strongly in this section, but not in the other context suggests that they need and want such social supports, but they do not feel justified in attributing any lack of career advancement to their absence. This smacks of a deep-seated “superwoman” phenomenon. Women seem to feel they should be able to do it all (i.e. perform two roles) just as easily as other workers who are performing just one role.

Women need to come to terms with the unreasonable demands they are making on themselves and begin to accept that they are entitled to work which is flexible and accommodating to their needs, since the dual roles which they perform are in the interests of society as a whole.

Employers and legislators must also acknowledge their social responsibility to provide the necessary social supports which women require in the workplace. When economic constraints are cited, for example, as a reason for not creating a programme of child care facilities, one must question the values and attitudes underlying decisions about economic priorities. In other countries - even those with economic problems as serious as those of Ireland - where the will is there, change can occur quite dramatically. For example, in the first four years following 1981 when the current Greek Government took office, the number of child care centres tripled: 400 new centres were opened in the space of four years (Ministry to the Presidency, Hellenic Council for Equality, 1985). It is thus clear that necessary policies can be implemented speedily if the underlying attitudes, values and priorities are there.

It is quite apparent that attitudes are changing dramatically, as shown in the first volume of this report. The challenge now remains for legislators and employers (see McCarthy, 1986) to grasp the nettle in a spirit of common purpose to create appropriate legislation and programmes to deal with the legitimate needs of women workers.

References

Blackwell, J. Women in the Labour Force. Dublin: Employment Equality Agency, 1986.

Employment Equality Agency. Schooling and Sex Roles: Agency Commentary, Recommendations and Summary Findings of Report. Dublin: EEA, 1983.

Eurostat. EEC Labour Force Sample Survey 1981. Luxembourg: Statistical Office of the European Communities, 1983.

Fine-Davis, M. Attitudes toward the status of women: Implications for equal employment opportunity. Report to the Department of Labour. Dublin: Department of Psychology, Trinity College, Dublin, 1977.

Fine-Davis, M. Women and Work in Ireland: A Social Psychological Perspective. Dublin: Council for the Status of Women, 1983.

Fine-Davis, M. Mothers’ Attitude Toward Child Care and Employment: A Nationwide Survey. In: Working Party on Child Care facilities for working parents. Report to the Minister for Labour. Dublin: Stationery Office, 1983a, pp. 73-168.

Fine-Davis, M. Working Life and Well-Being Among Men and Women in the European Community: Representative Results From 8 Countries. Brussels: Commission of the European Communities, V/611/86-EN, 1985.

Hannan, D. Breen, R., Murray, B., Watson, D., Hardiman, N., and O’Higgins, K. Schooling and Sex-Roles: Sex Differences in Subject Provision and Student Choice in Irish Post-Primary Schools. Paper No. 113. Dublin: Economic and Social Research Institute, 1983.

McCarthy, E. Women and work in Ireland: The present and preparing for the future. In M. MacCurtain and D. O’Corrain (Eds) Women in Irish Society: The Historical Dimension. Dublin: Arlen House, 1978, pp. 103 - 117.

McCarthy, E. Transitions to Equal Opportunity at Work: Problems and Possibilities - Employment Equality Agency Summary. Dublin: Employment Equality Agency, December 1986.

Ministry to the Presidency, Hellenic Council for Equality. What Has Been Done Towards Equality, 1981-1985. Athens: Ministry to the Presidency Hellenic Council for Equality, 1985.

Smyth, A. Breaking the circle: The positin of women academics in third-level education in Ireland. EEC Action Programme on the Promotion of Equal Opportunities for Women: Action B11 Vocational Choices National Advisory Group, 1984.

Tansey, J. “The Main Findings of the Report” In: Employment Equality Agency, Schooling and Sex-Roles: Agency Commentary, Recommendations and Summary Findings of Report. Dublin: EEA, 1983, pp 21 - 37.

Working Party on Child Care Facilities for Working Parents. Report to the Minister for Labour. Dublin: Stationery Office, 1983.

* p < .05

** p < .01

*** p < .001

*** p < .001

Mean scores were based on 5-point response scales:

1 Grateful appreciation is expressed to Muireann Conaty, who collected this qualitative follow-up data in the context of counselling courses which she teaches at Maynooth College.

1 F = 4.49; p = .035

2 F = 9.43; p = .002

3 F = 6.71; p < .01

* p<.05

** p<.01

*** p<.001

** p<.01

1 F = 5.52; p = .02

+ Data presented on these two items for married women only in the employed group

*** p < .001

1The samples being compared are very similar, but not identical. In the 1981 Child Care Survey all employed women had at least one child under 15, whereas in the present study, approximately half of the employed married women had at least one dependent child (in primary school or younger). Also, the response format differed slightly in the 1981 study. Respondents were presented with three possibilities:

1 would not favour; 2 would favour; and 3 would favour and it affects me.

Data from the Child Care Survey are contained in Fine-Davis (1983a, Table 55, p. 135 and Table 56, pp. 137 - 140).