You are invited to a symposium to debate the current state of play for Gender Equality at Work. This event in celebration of International Women’s Day, will bring together an important and inspiring range of speakers: policy makers, practitioners and academics, to debate the current state of play for Gender Equality at Work, and to consider where and how, policy interventions might make a difference.
An Introduction by Professor Susan Halford and Professor Pauline Leonard of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, University of Southampton, will be followed by a panel discussion with Alan Whitehead (Labour MP for Southampton Test), Baroness Margaret Prosser (Deputy Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission), Samantha Mangwana (Principal Lawyer for Slater & Gordon Lawyers), Evangelia Bourmpoula (Economist for the International Labour Organisation), Helen Sachdev (Director of UK Strategy, Retail and Business Banking at Barclays Bank) and Lynne Berry OBE (Deputy Chair of the Canal and River Trust and Director of Public Benefit).
The floor will be opened up to questions from the audience afterwards and there will be a summary of the debate.
Recent figures produced by the Office for National Statistics have raised suggestions that a dramatic shift is occurring in the gendered nature of work. For the first time in British history, young women graduates now typically earn 2.1 per cent more than their male peers- a reversal of the gap that has long been entrenched in pay.
Some now claim that the ‘gender quake’ demonstrated in educational attainment is spreading to the labour market.
At the same time a recent report by the EHRC (2011) ‘Sex and Power’ reveals that in many sectors, women continue to be passed over for the top jobs and that the current recession is having a significant and regressive effect on women’s employment opportunities and careers.
How can we evaluate this mixed picture and what can be done to support Gender Equality at Work?
This event will be held in London on 7 March, marking International Women’s Day, the seminar is organised by Professor Susan Halford and Professor Pauline Leonard of the Work Futures Research Centre, University of Southampton. Co-authors of the internationally best selling ‘Gender, Power and Organisation’, both have extensive research careers in the issues of gender equality at work.
Please register at http://publicpolicy.southampton.ac.uk/genderequality by 28 February. Please note that transport will be provided from the University to the House of Commons.
Places are limited, and for any questions please email [email protected].
See more details in the Gender Equality Poster.