Gender Roles | Nurhani Abd Muis | 2991 17 2024

SHIFT IN GENDER ROLES

IN THE GREAT BRITAIN

Nurhani binti Abd Muis

ID: 2991 17 2024
 Gender Roles | Nurhani Abd Muis | 2991 17 2024

Gender roles as stated by Vláčil is a set of expectations associated with the perception of
masculinity and femininity (1996). In most societies, males are always regarded as the breadwinner
for the family, while the roles of the females are always related to child-rearing and homemaking.
However, with the change of time, some cultures have transitioned into a mixed gender workforce.
Many employers are accommodating more females in the workforce in order to compensate for
the lack of employees, or perhaps in the females’ point of view, it is to increase the total income
per household. In this essay, I will venture further into how the gender roles have changed in
contemporary Great Britain’s society and how females are slowly being incorporated into a role
usually dominated by males.

One of the causes of the change in gender roles between males and females is
modernization. However, modernization is not the only cause for the change in gender roles.
Gender roles have always changed whenever a crisis pops up. Some of the examples of crisis
changing gender roles across the globe:

• The roles of men and women can change radically if external sudden events or crisis
occur (like war or famine). During World War II (1940-1945), for the first time in Europe, the
number of economically active women increased significantly (GLOPP, 2008).

• Sometimes after a crisis, old attitudes to gender roles may return and a gender role that
was accepted during the crisis (e.g. women being active in armed struggles) are no longer accepted,
as many women combatants found after liberation struggles in Latin America. Sometimes gender
role changes may be permanent (GLOPP, 2008).

• The slight shift in gender roles occurred among Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Despite some
shifting gender roles, refugee men generally retain control over household income, and as the head
of household is often the primary recipients of income-generating activities or cash transfers. Men
decide how cash is spent, although women are often responsible for receiving distributions of food
or other (e.g. blankets, jerry cans etc.) items. Widowed and other women on their own frequently
lose out and are often excluded from receiving aid as there is no male member of the household to
be registered with humanitarian agencies and cultural norms often prevent them from going to
register by themselves (Roula El-Masri, 2013).
 Gender Roles | Nurhani Abd Muis | 2991 17 2024

Although the conflict or crisis affects an entire population, men and women experience and
respond to conflict differently due to their different traditional gender roles. When men leave to
fight, women have to take over the tasks previously done by men in addition to their own tasks
(GLOPP, 2008).

Although the change in gender roles can be permanent, most of the times the slight shift in
gender roles will revert back to how it used to be: the clear-cut male-female traditional gender
roles. In the early 1940s of Great Britain when the traditional roles began to slowly dissipate,
women started to participate in the labor force. Regardless of whether women participation was
necessary or not, 1949 Royal Commission on Population report was concerned that the then
existing employment bars against married women working were harmful all around, to women,
the family, and the community. This is because the Commission perceives that a real conflict
always arises between taking care of their families and career. Nevertheless, the report went on to
acknowledge that, at least in part, the conflict is due to artificial barriers that restrict the
contribution that women can make to the cultural and economic life of the nation. The report urged
that a ‘deliberate effort should be made to devise adjustments that would render it easier for women
to combine motherhood and the care of a home with outside activities’ (Jacqueline Scott, 2008).

Soon after, the marriage bar was removed, and this further opened up the working
opportunities for women. But after the war, many married women returned home, in part due to
the widespread sentiment that jobs ought to be ‘kept for the boys’ as things got ‘back to normal’
(Myrdal and Kline 1956). This shows that gender roles can be converted back to how it used to be
even though efforts have been done to encourage the participation of females in the workforce.

From the mid-1990s, however, full-time employment for both women and men continued
to grow steadily and the gap between men and women’s employment is narrowing. The dip for
men in the 1980s and early 1990s partly reflects an increasing number of retired men aged over 55
years old (Guillemard, 1989). As men’s participation continued to decline over the years,
participation rates of women in labor force have increased remarkably until 2000, which
maintained a stable balance of workforce (Duncan Gallie, 2000).

Do the attitudes toward gender roles also change over time? Traditional gender roles are
not always supported by the public in the history. In Great Britain, almost half the public during
the mid-1980s (43% in 1984 and 48% in 1987) agreed that “a man’s job is to earn money; a
 Gender Roles | Nurhani Abd Muis | 2991 17 2024

woman’s job is to look after the home and family”. This view has changed drastically over the
decades and in 2013, only 13% (or one person in eight) subscribe to this view. This decline is
primarily a result of generational replacement, with consecutive generations being less supportive
of traditional gender roles. In 2013, 33% think a mother should stay at home when there is a child
under school age, compared with 64% in 1989. The most popular choice in 2013 is for the mother
to work part time which is 43% and 26% in 1989 (Park, A., Bryson, C., Clery, E., Curtice, J. and
Phillips, M., 2013). This decline in support for traditional roles, however, does not proves that
females and males in Great Britain have gender equality. It is still well-known that women do more
housework and childcare than their male partners, even in combination with paid employment, and
in their careers women earn less and are less likely to end up in top career positions, such as
company directorships (Stephanie Taylor, 2011).

When asked whether men and women should both contribute to the household income in
Great Britain in 1989, 53% of the public agreed this should be the case. In 2012, the people
agreeing with this view has risen to 62%. So, even though only a few people now support the idea
that there should certainly be a clear gender division of labour - whether men working outside and
women working inside the home - there is still considerable support for both men and women to
contribute to the total household income (Park, A., Bryson, C., Clery, E., Curtice, J. and Phillips,
M., 2013).

The views on the agreement for females to work only increases slightly if pre-school
children are involved. In 1989, two-thirds of the public thought a mother should stay at home with
pre-school children; by 2012, the proportion thinking this had dropped to a third. Over the same
period, the proportion thinking females should work part-time rose from 26% to 43% While
support remains rare for the idea that a mother with a child below school-age should work full-
time, it has doubled from 2% in 1989 to 5% in 2012 (Park, A., Bryson, C., Clery, E., Curtice, J.
and Phillips, M., 2013).

As women in the Great Britain’s society have been widely accepted to participate in the
workforce, does the pay however differs between men and women? In April 2016, 79% of men
and 69% of women of working age were in paid work. However, women are more likely than men
to work in low-paid jobs, and will be paid lower than men for the same amount of work, even with
the longstanding legislation of equal-pay. The hourly rates for women working part-time are
 Gender Roles | Nurhani Abd Muis | 2991 17 2024

£11.17; for men working full-time they are £16.79 and top-earning men earn 55% more than top-
earning women. Although the full-time pay gap between women and men was decreasing but has
now stalled, and the Fawcett Society estimates it will take over 50 years to close (British Council,
2016)

To conclude, there is a shift in the gender roles in Great Britain, with women being widely
encouraged to enter the labor force and to earn income alongside the men in the households.
However, it does not necessarily mean the women and men receive the same amount of wages or
salary for the equivalent work done; men are usually paid more than women. Besides the difference
in pay, there are some who are still in agreement with the traditional gender roles of men as the
breadwinner and women as the homemaker. Thus, the change in gender roles assumption among
the public in Great Britain is not tremendously different than how it used to be, as women are not
encouraged to participate in the labor force if pre-school children are involved.
 Gender Roles | Nurhani Abd Muis | 2991 17 2024

REFERENCES

British Council (2016) Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women and Girls in the
United Kingdom. Retrieved from: https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/
gender_equality_an_empowerment_in_the_uk_0.pdf
Date accessed: 1st January 2018

Gallie, D. (2000), ‘Labour force change’, in A. Halsey, with J. Webb (eds), British Social
Trends 3rd Edition, Houndsmill: Macmillan, pp. 281–323.

GLOPP (2008) ILO International Training Centre, Module on Gender, Poverty and
Employment. Gender Roles, pp 1-2.

Jacqueline Scott (2008) Changing gender role attitudes. Retrieved from:

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/2734215.pdf
Date accessed: 1st January 2018

Myrdal, A. and V. Kline (1956), Women’s Two Roles: Home and Work, London: Routledge
and Kegan Paul.

Park, A., Bryson, C., Clery, E., Curtice, J. and Phillips, M. (eds.) (2013), British Social
Attitudes: the 30th Report, Gender roles: An incomplete revolution? London: NatCen Social
Research; pp 115.

Roula El-Masri (2013) Shifting Sands: Changing gender roles among refugees in Lebanon,
Changes in gendered control over resources; Abaad-Resource Center for Gender Equality; pp 5.

Stephanie Taylor (2011) Proper men, proper women: Gender roles in contemporary UK
society. Retrieved from: http://www.open.edu/openlearn/body-mind/proper-men-proper-women-
gender-roles-contemporary-uk-society
Date accessed: 1st January 2018