Research and analysis
Attitudes towards Equality
This report provides a summary of results from a survey on attitudes to equality and ambition at work.
Documents
Details
Research was commissioned to examine attitudes to gender equality at work and different working patterns. Results provide a baseline on which to track progress and help feed into the government’s work programme to tackle the barriers and challenges faced by women at work.
Key findings:
- Whilst the majority of men and women agree that there is no gender difference between their level of ambition in their working careers; one in seven disagree
- Men hold less positive views about the ambition levels of women who chose to take a break in career to raise children or have a flexible work pattern. Men were less likely to than men to agree that women in these situations have as much ambition as women in continuous employment (54% v 62%) or working a traditional pattern (56% vs 64% respectively)
- Two-third of adults think sexism is still a problem in many workplaces with 1 in 5 report it being a problem in their current or previous workplace. 1 in 8 adults report being a victim of sexism at work from a current/previous boss, while 1 in 7 report they have experienced it from current/previous colleagues. Women are significantly more like to both perceive sexism as a problem in the workplace as well as report being a victim of it
- Part-time workers were less likely to agree that their current employer is supportive of working parents than full-time workers (47% compared with 60%)
Sexism (i.e. gender discrimination) is still a problem in many workplaces
Published 3 June 2014