1. The shape of things to come
Sylvia Walby OBE
UNESCO Chair in Gender Research
Lancaster University, UK

2. Introduction Too few women in SET The future of work
The future of gender relations: demographic and social change
The future of women in science, engineering and technology
Including gender as a driver of change in the analysis of the future of work

3. Gendered job predictions before the crisis
Estimated employment by occupation and gender
Male
Managers, profs, technicians 44 48
All occupations
Female
Managers, profs, technicians 38 43
Source: Wilson et al 2006

4. Job quantity: the financial crisis and the future of women in work
Financial crisis>economic crisis>fewer jobs overall
How long before employment recovers?
Restructuring at the same time
Will there be disproportionately fewer jobs for women?
Depends on the gendered shape of the recovery packages and bank rescues
Do the companies that are loaned government money and the new public works employ disproportionately men or women?

5. The future of gender relations: care-work; age and retirement
Changes in care-work practices
Increased expectation of life-long employment rather than long breaks for childcare
Increased (if slow!) male sharing of care
Decreased proportions of economically inactive women giving ‘looking after family/home’ as the reason
1997: 50%; 2005: 45%
Women, age and retirement
Women’s tendency to retire earlier than men will diminish as a result of changes in pension ages and other changes e.g. human capital
Aged men in employment 60%
Aged women in employment: 60%

6. The future of gender relations: ethnicity and social change
Gender, ethnicity and religion
Low employment rates among women in some religious/ethnic minorities are likely to rise with increased education, narrowing current gaps
Black 45%; Pakistani 14%; Bangladeshi 9%
Overall implications
Increased employment and expectations of women
Change from a domestic to public gender regime

7. Gender and science in schools and universities
GCSE A-C grades
Maths: 51% female
Double science: 51% female
A level
Biology: 59%
Chemistry: 50%
Mathematics: 40%
Computing/ICT 29%
Physics: 22%
Degrees
Biology: 64%
Maths: 38%
Engineering: 15%

8. Jobs, gender and skills
Young women are better educated than young men – exam passes
But women’s skills concentrated in areas other than SET
Proportion of those taking science A levels that are female is increasing
Proportion of women employed in IT is declining
Problems lie in areas other than education

9. The knowledge economy and science, engineering and technology
High technology manufacturing: 30% female
Information: 36% female
Knowledge intensive services: 51% female
Are the obstacles to women in SET any different from other employment areas?

10. The new(?) organisation of work
Flexibility: whose?
Long hours: 45+ hours 31% of men, 10% of W
EU Directives and decline in men’s long hours
Part-time:
predict decrease as women’s human capital increases
Networks:
Women do better as soft skills become more important, or still excluded by old boys networks?
Chilly climate, hostility, harassment?

11. Including gender as a driver of change in analysing the future of work
Gender as input not only output
Gender equality and productivity
Individual level
Firm level
Whole economy level
Gender an issue of both justice and productivity

12. Conclusions
Gender equality contributes to the productivity of the individual, firm and economy as a whole
More women will be seeking employment with changes in practices around care and retirement
Women do better in education than employment, in general employment than in SET
While the financial and economic crisis will temporarily reduce jobs overall, the drive for high quality work in the knowledge economy will be the growth area