The limiting impacts of gender stereotypes are apparent from an early age and are reflected in the careers children hope for, the school subjects they choose and think are ‘for them,’ and the ways in which they behave towards one another in school.   These powerful influences are reflected in the gendered inequalities of later life such as career choice, pay, mental health and violent behaviours.

Gendered inequalities in childhood

 Aspirations

The gender divide is as strong at age 4 as it is at 14 when it comes to children’s career choices.

The tendency for boys to be attracted to technical and physical occupations, and girls to be attracted to caring and creative jobs, remains evident. These preferences (and later, choices) reflect the different life experiences according to gender to which children are still subject… many people are still having their ambition and potential capped by horizons that are narrowed by gender.

Choices

‘masculine’, ‘brainy’ and ‘not nurturing’ – and therefore at odds with conventional femininity”

 

22% Girls account for only 22% of Physics and less than 12% of computing A-Levels – see chart	23% Boys account for only 23% of English Lit  A-Levels
15% Girls outperformed boys in English Lit GCSE by 15% at Grade 4 (pass level) in 2018	12% At key stage 2 SATS tests (aged 10-11), girls out performed boysby 12% at ‘expected’ levels in writing in 2018.

Behaviours

Even in schools, sexual harassment is normalised, accepted by young people as ‘just a ‘normal’ part of their everyday lives:

There’s no rules for like skirt lifting or anything. There’s rules for swearing at each other but not for like touching or skirt lifting.

 

34% of primary school teachers witness gender stereotyping on at least a weekly basis	64% of secondary school teachers hear sexist language on at least a weekly basis
37% female students at mixed sex schools who have personally experienced some form of sexual harassment at school	17% primary school teachers have witnessed sexual harassment in school
Source: It’s just everywhere report

Gendered inequalities in society

These figures show some stark differences in outcomes for women and men. Of course, many great initiatives already exist which tackle issues such as the gender pay gap and under-representation of women in engineering.  Other organisations work tirelessly to prevent and deal with the consequences of domestic violence and male suicide.  However, such work is often struggling against the effects of gender norms which have been learnt young – norms which can inhibit boys and men from expressing their emotions other than through anger, steer girls away from choosing subjects or careers seen as ‘male’ and give boys and girls differing expectations of their future domestic roles.

11% of the UK engineering workforce is female	11% of registered nurses are male
16% Proportion of women on FTSE 350 company Executive Committees	14% The gender pay gap remains around 14% for full time workers
75% of suicides in the UK are male	1 in 4 of women will suffer domestic violence in her lifetime

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