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Social engineering

Social engineering is the control of behaviour through government legislation.

In recent years policy-makers in the Scottish Government have made claim that sex discrimination is the primary source of unfairness in the labour market and encouraged by an ever increasing range of lobbyist groups it has forced radical feminist agendas on Scottish society; eg the equal opportunities act, family friendly employment, sex discrimination and transgender recognition.

But recent research indicates that high levels of female employment, family-friendly and equal rights policies actually reduces gender equality and produces glass ceilings for women in the workforce.

The relentless pursuit of radical feminist equality, by a minority group of work centered women has backfired since its aims defy logic and reality which is that the numbers are stacked against them:

80% of men are work-centred and will retain their dominance in the labour market, politics and other competitive activities, because they are prepared to prioritise their jobs over lifestyle choices.

In consequence they are more likely to survive, and become high achievers.

20% of women are work-centred and this group is still a minority, despite an influx of women into higher education and into professional and managerial occupations.

Work-centred women are focused on competitive activities in the public sphere, in careers, sport, politics, or the arts.

Family life is fitted around their work, and many of these women remain childless, even when married.

Qualifications and training are obtained as a career investment rather than as an insurance policy.

60% of women are adaptive and are by far the largest group among women, and are to be found in substantial numbers in most occupations.

Their preference is to combine employment and family work without giving a fixed priority to either.  They want to enjoy the best of both worlds.

Certain occupations, such as school-teaching, are attractive because they facilitate a more even work-family balance.

The great majority of women who transfer to part-time work after they have children are adaptive women, who seek to devote as much time and effort to their family work as to their paid jobs.

In certain occupations, part-time jobs are still rare, so these women must choose other types of job, if they work at all.

For example, seasonal jobs, temporary work, or school-term-time jobs all offer a better work-family balance than the typical full-time job, especially if commuting is also involved.

When flexible jobs are not available, adaptive women may take ordinary full-time jobs, or else withdraw from paid employment temporarily.

Adaptive women are the group interested in schemes offering work-life balance and family-friendly employment benefits, and will gravitate towards careers, occupations and employers offering these advantages.

20% of women are family oriented and relatively invisible given the current political and media focus on working women and high achievers.

They prefer to give priority to private life and family life after they marry and are most inclined to have larger families.

They avoid paid work after marriage unless the family is experiencing financial problems.

This may be why these women remain less likely to choose vocational courses with a direct economic value, and are more likely to take courses in the arts, humanities or languages, which provide cultural capital but have lower earnings potential.

This group of workers is most likely to drop out of work centred careers relatively early in adult life.

Article compiled paraphrasing the views of: Catherine Hakim: London School of Economics