Women and Employment Survey

The conference offers a unique opportunity for internationally recognised researchers and influential policy makers to meet and reflect on one of the most pressing social issues of our time: gender equality.

The conference is being organised through the ESRC Research Priority Network on Gender Equality, which is co-ordinated by Professor Jacqueline Scott, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Cambridge.

The Women and Employment Survey was commissioned by the Department of Employment and carried out in 1980 jointly by the Office for Population Censuses and Surveys and the Department of Employment. The last major survey covering women and employment had taken place in 1965.

The main aims of the survey were to establish what factors determine whether or not women are in paid work and to identify the degree to which domestic factors, or more broadly the sexual division of labour, shapes women's lifetime labour market involvement. It set to collect full information about the work women do, their pay and conditions of employment, as well as the way they behave in the labour market when they leave jobs or look for work.

The study also set out to determine the importance of work to women and their job priorities. An important and innovative feature of the survey was the collection of detailed work histories covering the whole of women's working lives since leaving full time education and detailed histories of other vital events such as the births of children which were likely to have consequences for women's labour market behaviour.

The conference will focus on conducting a historical evaluation of policy interventions in the family and work interface, changes in labour market inequalities, and evaluating data quality and methodological issues.

The conference is sponsored by the Women and Equality Unit DTI and CRASSH, University of Cambridge.

For further information contact Jacqueline Scott 01223 335610 jls1004@cam.ac.uk; Ceridwen Roberts 07 947 589 633 ceridwen.roberts@btopenworld.com; or Jane Nolan - 01223 334539 jpn23@cam.ac.uk