Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- List of Abbreviations (selected)
- Part I Introduction
- Part II The early school years
- Part III Career planning during adolescence
- Part IV Choosing a science career
- Part V Longer-term consequences of early experiences
- Part VI The role of context
- 19 Gender differences in attainment across generations from a historical perspective
- 20 Gender inequality by choice?
- 21 Comparing young people’s beliefs and perceptions of gender equality across 28 different countries
- Index
- References
19 - Gender differences in attainment across generations from a historical perspective
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2014
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- List of Abbreviations (selected)
- Part I Introduction
- Part II The early school years
- Part III Career planning during adolescence
- Part IV Choosing a science career
- Part V Longer-term consequences of early experiences
- Part VI The role of context
- 19 Gender differences in attainment across generations from a historical perspective
- 20 Gender inequality by choice?
- 21 Comparing young people’s beliefs and perceptions of gender equality across 28 different countries
- Index
- References
Summary
Abstract
This chapter examines gender differences in socioeconomic attainment and wellbeing among English men and women born in the first half of the 20th century using the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). We find a fairly traditional picture of gender difference. Women’s attainment in education and occupational class was significantly and substantially lower than that of men, and there was no evidence of a decrease in these gender differences with each subsequent birth cohort. A steadily decreasing gender differential was seen in the number of years men and women spent in paid work, however. Relationships between family forms and socioeconomic attainment ran in opposite directions for men and women. Non-normative family forms, such as never having lived with a spouse/partner or not having children, were associated with higher socioeconomic attainment for women, but lower socioeconomic attainment for men. Results suggest that recent reductions seen in gender inequality have been not so much a gentle shift over the course of the century, but the result of relatively swift and dramatic social change. For the cohorts of men and women who represent our current ageing population, gender inequality in education and occupation was deeply entrenched.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Gender Differences in Aspirations and AttainmentA Life Course Perspective, pp. 429 - 455Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014
References
, , , & (2004). Gender differences in the relationship of partner’s social class to behavioural risk factors and social support in the Whitehall II study. Social Science & Medicine, 59, 1925–1936.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
(1996). The origins of sex differences in depressive disorder. International Review of Psychiatry, 8, 295–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2010). The politics of happiness: What government can learn from the new research on well-being. Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2011). The universal right to request flexible working. Retrieved from .
, , & (1995). Highly qualified women (Employment Department Research Series No. 50). London: Employment Department.Google Scholar
, & (1986). Credentials and careers: Some implications of the increase in professional qualifications amongst women. Sociology, 20, 2542.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, & (1995). Highly educated women: Evidence from the National Child Development Study. London: Employment Department.Google Scholar
(1987). Women’s occupational mobility: A lifetime perspective. London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , & (2008). Gender differences in occupational wage mobility in the 1958 cohort. Work, Employment and Society, 22, 263–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , & (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
. (2010). Gender pay activity in large non-public sector organisations. Retrieved from .
(1991). Modernity and self-identity: Self and society in the late modern age. Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
, , , , & (2009). Reduced midlife physical functioning among never married and childless men: Evidence from the 1946 British birth cohort study. Aging Clinical and Experimental Research, 21, 174–181.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , & (2012). World Happiness Report. New York: The Earth Institute, Columbia University.Google Scholar
, , , & (2003). A measure of quality of life in early old age: The theory, development and properties of a needs satisfaction model (CASP-19). Aging & Mental Health, 7, 186–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, & (1998). Unequal pay for women and men: Evidence from the British Birth Cohort Studies. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
, , , , & (2006). Would you be happier if you were richer? A focusing illusion. Science, 312(5782), 1908–1910. doi: .CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2003). Cohabitation and divorce across nations and generations (CASE paper 65). London: Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, London School of Economics.Google Scholar
, , , & (2006). Life course social roles and women’s health in mid-life: Causation or selection?Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 60, 484–489.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , , & (2012). Cohort and gender differences on work–family patterns in the UK. Paper presented at the Third Meeting of the Society for Longitudinal and Life Course Studies & European Cohort Studies Network, Paris, France, October 29–31.
, , , , & (2009). National accounts of wellbeing: Bringing real wealth into the balance sheet. New Economics Foundation. Retrieved from .Google Scholar
, , , , & (Eds.). (2012). British social attitudes: The 29th report. London: National Centre for Social Research.CrossRef
(Ed.). (1997). Women’s history: Britain, 1850–1945 – An introduction. London: UCL Press.
(1977). The CES-D scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1997). A century of women: The history of women in Britain and the United States. London: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
. (2011). Reaching out: Involving fathers in maternity care. Retrieved from .
(2009). The parenthood effect: What explains the increase in gender inequality when British couples become parents? Paper presented at the ESRC Gender Equality Network Conference, “Gender Inequalities in the 21st Century,” Queen’s College, Cambridge, March 26–27. Retrieved from .
, & (1999). Reports of subjective well-being: Judgemental processes and their methodological implications. In , , & (Eds.), Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology (pp. 61–84). New York: Russell Sage.Google Scholar
(2000). Documentation of affective functioning measures in the Health and Retirement Study. Ann Arbor, MI: HRS Health Working Group.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
. (1944). Marriage bar, red tape. London: London Metropolitan University, TUC Library Collections.Google Scholar
(1991). Domesticity as the dangerous supplement of liberalism. Journal of Women’s History, 2, 69–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2006). Marital history and the burden of cardiovascular disease in midlife. The Gerontologist, 46, 266–270.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, & (2006). Gender, the marital life course, and cardiovascular disease in midlife. Journal of Marriage and Family, 68, 639–657.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- 1
- Cited by