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Issue Description
The roles of men and women have changed dramatically in the last thirty years and women can now expect the same rights and opportunities as men. However, although girls are more academically successful than boys at school, women are still frequently disadvantaged at work and earn on average 17% less than men. This book looks at gender equality in the home, at school and at work.
The information comes from a variety of sources, including government reports and statistics, newspapers and magazine articles, surveys and polls, academic research and literature from charities and lobby groups; articles have been tailored to an 11 to 14 age group. Additionally, at the end of each chapter are two pages of activities relating to the articles and issues raised in that chapter.
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Key Facts
- By about 18 months, most children begin to display gender-specific behaviours. Boys will tend to choose vehicles or construction toys to play with; girls go for dolls. These behaviours appear so early that some suggest that they must be innate, while others argue that they simply reflect parental influences or the child's desire to conform. (page 2)
- Roles within the family are changing, with most new dads no longer seeing their role as just breadwinner and wanting to share caring. (page 4)
- The majority of the world's poor are women: around 70 per cent of the 1.3 billion people who live in extreme poverty, on less than one dollar a day, are women and girls. (page 9)
- Evidence from a variety of sources shows that the gender gap is wide in English and narrower in Maths, with, on average, girls performing better than boys. The gender gap in the Sciences has been traditionally very small. (page 14)
- Despite the fact that women represent 59% of university graduates and have a better educational attainment, their employment rate remains lower than men's. (page 19)
- Women earn on average 17.2% per hour less than men for full-time work. (page 22)
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Table of Contents
Chapter One: The Gender Gap
The gender gap, Upbringing versus biology, Equality for girls?, The gender agenda, Who does the housework?, Men's changing lifestyles, Equality is the way to a woman's heart, Gender equality, Because I am a girl..., Activities.
Chapter Two: Education and Careers
Gender and education, Boys need to be taught separately, Gender bias still blights school careers advice, Better jobs for women still scarce, Women and work: the facts, Gender pay gap, Plug the pay gap, Harman aims to close gender pay gap, Changes since the 1970s, Activities.