UK NEWS
MOTHERS BOOST THE RANKS OF WOMEN AT WORK
JOBS BOOM: For the first time women fill as many jobs as men
Saturday September 27,2008
By Jo Willey
MOTHERS are fuelling a surge in the number of working women – with more than ever taking jobs.
For the first time women fill as many jobs as men, with 13.6million going out to work, new figures revealed yesterday.
But almost half of the jobs they do are part-time, compared with only one in six of jobs filled by men.
And the majority of part-time workers are mothers.
More than two-thirds of working-age women with dependent children (68 per cent) were working in the second quarter of 2008.
The figure for childless women in jobs is only slightly higher, at 73 per cent, compared with 79 per cent for men.
The report, Work and Family, by the Office for National Statistics, showed having children has a marked impact on employment.
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Women want to raise families and look after children but they also want a career.
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Fathers are more likely to be in work than men without children, while 38 per cent of mothers worked part-time compared with only four per cent of fathers.
“Women want to do both things,” explained occupational psychologist Professor Cary Cooper, of Lancaster University Management School.
“They want to raise families and look after children but they want a career.
“Women are not giving up one for the other and, given more flexible working options by companies, they can do both.”
He said the desire to develop themselves was a bigger factor than the need to supplement the family’s income.
But the so-called “glass ceiling” is still a real obstacle for women at work. Men are more likely to be managers and senior officials and are 10 times more likely to be employed in skilled trades, 19 per cent compared with two per cent.
Around 20 per cent of women do administrative or secretarial jobs, compared with four per cent of men.
The report revealed that the total number of Britons of both sexes going out to work has steadily increased since the early Seventies.
But the type of jobs they do has changed significantly since 1985.
Then, 28 per cent of jobs held by men were in manufacturing which now stands at 16 per cent.
Only 15 per cent of working women were employed in manufacturing in March.
The services sector has boomed, accounting for 74 per cent of men’s jobs and 92 per cent women’s jobs.
