|Posted May 2010||The
burden of unpaid work
How can there be gender equality if women are still doing most of the unpaid, domestic work? University of Cambridge sociologist Professor Jacqueline Scott says the issue goes to the crux of the gender equality debate, but it's hard to disentangle from related subjects such as equal pay and gender expectations, particularly around childcare. She will be talking about it at a session at the Guardian Hay Festival on 31 May. (more)
|Posted May 2010
|| The link between divorce and men
who help around the house
Divorce rates are lower in families where husbands help more with housework, shopping and childcare, according to new research from the London School of Economics and Political Science. A study of 3,500 British married couples after the birth of their first child found that the more husbands helped, the lower the incidence of divorce. The research, Men's Unpaid Work and Divorce: Reassessing Specialisation and Trade, was carried out by Wendy Sigle-Rushton, one of several UK academics comprising the Gender Equality Network (GeNet), part of the Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC) Priority Network Programme. Findings are published in the latest edition of Feminist Economics. (more)
|Posted April 2010|| Happiness hinges on the lives of
People’s happiness is significantly bound up with that of their “significant others”, a new study into men and women’s differing attitudes to well-being has found. Sociologists at the University of Cambridge found that although men and women give different answers when asked about what affects their quality of life, many in fact associate personal happiness with the welfare of families and loved ones at a deeper level. The Cambridge study, which appears in the book Gender Inequalities in the 21st Century (published by Edward Elgar) was carried out by Professor Jacqueline Scott, Dr. Anke Plagnol and Dr. Jane Nolan.
Telegraph; Independent; New Zealand Herald; Express; The Medical News; Cambridge News; WM Magazine
|Posted April 2010|| Gender Inequalities In the 21st
Century: New Barriers and Continuing Constraints
edited by Jacqueline Scott, Rosemary Crompton and Clare Lyonette
Both women and men strive to achieve a work and family balance, but does this imply more or less equality? Does the persistence of gender and class inequalities refute the notion that lives are becoming more individualised? Leading international authorities document how gender inequalities are changing and how many inequalities of earlier eras are being eradicated. However, this book shows there are new barriers and constraints that are slowing progress in attaining a more egalitarian society. Taking the new global economy into account, the expert contributors to this book examine the conflicts between different types of feminisms, revise old debates about ‘equality’ and ‘difference’ in the gendered nature of work and care, and propose new and innovative policy solutions.
It is currently available on the publisher's website with a 10% discount.
|Posted February 2010|| Children of the 21st
century (Volume 2): The first five years
edited by Kirstine Hansen, Heather Joshi and Shirley Dex
This book documents the first five years of life of the children of the influential Millennium Cohort Study, looking at the children's lives and development as they begin formal education and the implications for family policy, and service planning in health and social services. The book has recently received a lot of media attention, including coverage in the Guardian, Telegraph and Times. It is currently available on the publisher's website with a 30% discount.
|Posted February 2010|| Are women
now the new breadwinners?
New research found 19 per cent of women earn more money than their husband or boyfriend - five times as many as 40 years ago - with some 44 per cent of those women surveyed saying they earned at least as much as their partner. Jacqueline Scott comments on shifting gender roles.
Cambridge News; Times online; Daily Express; Daily Mail
|Posted January 2010||PRActising
Newsletter No 4
|Posted January 2010
Britain in 2010 showcases the diversity of ESRC-funded research around the state of the nation in 2010 (more). The magazine includes three articles about the work of GeNet researchers.
Inequalities within households (page 76) describes the research of Fran Bennett, Susan Himmelweit, Holly Sutherland and colleagues.
Pay penalty for mums who work (page 82) reports on the results of research conducted by Jenny Neuburger, Heather Joshi and Shirley Dex.
Working mothers - do young children benefit? (page 102) describes research by Denise Hawkes and Danielle Crosby.
|Posted December 2009||PRActising
Guidelines for Gender Equality Programmes in Science (pdf)
Synthesis document on the good practices database (pdf)
|Posted December 2009
|| Are women
suffering worst in the recession?
Professor Jacqueline Scott discusses at a debate at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas whether women or men were more affected by this recession
More at WorkingMums.co.uk
|Posted October 2009
Professor Willie Brown and a panel of experts discuss the legacy of the recession at the 2009 Cambridge Festival of Ideas
|Posted March 2009
Press coverage about research presented at a GeNet seminar on 6 March 2009 (more details about the seminar)
Time; TimesOnline; The Hindu; Financial Times; Scotsman
|Posted Jan 2009||Gender
Article about GeNet in Research Horizons (January 2009, Issue 8). The largest multidisciplinary research network of its kind in the UK is investigating why gender equality is still a pressing social issue in the 21st century (more).
|Posted Jan 2009
Britain in 2009 showcases the diversity of ESRC-funded research around the state of the nation in 2009 (more). The magazine includes three articles about the work of GeNet researchers.
Migrant workers in London's service sector (page 75) describes the research of Linda McDowell and colleagues.
Childcare for dual-earner couples (page 78) reports on the results of research conducted by Rosemary Crompton and Clare Lyonette.
Happiness: How being a man or a woman makes a difference (page 100) describes research by Jacqueline Scott, Jane Nolan and Anke Plagnol.
|Posted Oct 2008||How
"Children with highly educated parents, and from families with two working parents, display higher cognitive ability and appear to have fewer behaviour problems," the Millennium Cohort Study says. GeNet researcher Heather Joshi (Institute of Education) is the director of the report. Guardian
|Posted Oct 2008
||International research on gender equality
The project "PRActising Gender Equality in Science" - PRA.G.E.S. consists of an action of coordination, lasting 18 months, aimed at comparing the various strategies implemented for promoting the presence of women in decision-making positions relating to scientific research in public institutions. It pursues the objective of collecting, classifying and evaluating good practices and positive actions that can be found in OECD countries, both at the national level and at the level of the individual institutions, and to make them available, in a usable form, to a number of selected targets, including both decision-makers and other relevant stakeholders.
PRAGES: PRActising Gender Equality in Science;newsletter1; newsletter2 ; newsletter3 ; newsletter4
|Posted Sept 2008
Profile of Jonathan Gershuny, Head of the Centre for Time Use Research at Oxford University. He has shown that men are doing more housework after studying detailed information about how people spend the minutes of their day-to-day lives. Guardian
|Posted Aug 2008||Gender
Support for gender equality in Britain and the US appears to have peaked and could now be going into decline, research at Cambridge University has revealed. The study, by Professor Jacqueline Scott from the University's Department of Sociology, found evidence of "mounting concern" that women who play a full and equal role in the workforce do so at the expense of family life. The study appears in a new book, Women And Employment; Changing Lives And New Challenges (Edgar Elgar)(link), which Professor Scott also edited. Press release
In the news: BBC News; Guardian; Guardian (2); The Independent; The Independent (2); Daily Mail; Telegraph; Telegraph (2); Daily Express; The Sun; Malaysia Sun
|Posted Aug 2008||Women
Less able to achieve their life goals, women end up unhappier than men later in life – even though they start out happier, reveals new research by Anke Plagnol of the University of Cambridge, and University of Southern California economist Richard Easterlin.
CBS News (article) (video); BusinessWeek; Daily Mail; Ottawa Citizen; USA Today; Telegraph; Washington Post
|Posted Mar 2008||What's Holding
Any woman wanting to succeed in business should act like a 'surrogate man'. that's the conclusion of leading social scientists from across Europe, gathering this month for an international conference at City University on gender, class, employment and family. more
|Posted Mar 2008||'The trouble with women' . Shirley Dex, IOE, and others - including Baroness Margaret Prosser - on the gender pay gap in Management Today 29 Feb 08 more|
|Posted Feb 2008||Yvonne Roberts of The Guardian commenting
on Genet Working Paper 15 'Achieving
Equality in the Knowledge Economy'
by Kate Purcell and Peter Elias's more
|The falling birthrate across Europe, and possible measures to encourage women to have more children, is discussed by Ceridwen Roberts, Oxford University, and Catherine Hakim, LSE on Woman's Hour more|
|Radio programme about highly educated women, 'March of the Monstrous Regiment', in which Professor Heather Joshi participated more...|
|Professor Heather Joshi comments on the Women and Work Commission’s report on the gender pay gap: ‘Shaping a Fairer Future’ more…|
|'Meg Munn, Minister for Women and Equality, addresses GeNet Conference' more...|
|'New Network Addresses Gender Pay Equality Questions', Newsletter of the British Sociological Association more...|
|'Casting the Genet', Cambridge University News & Events more...|
|'Battle of the sexes moves on',
Alexandra Frean, Social Affairs Correspondent, The Times more...
Barchart Source: Cohort Studies, IoE and UCL, University of London