Creating Kids as Consumers Piles Pressures on Parents

Creating Kids as Consumers Piles Pressures on Parents

22 September 2011

It was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who declared that there were four freedoms - freedom of speech and expression, freedom to worship, freedom from fear, and freedom from want.
Today in more affluent times, a less laudable one might be added - the freedom to shop till you drop.
Neal Lawson, Chair of Compass, the Left-of-centre pressure group, noted an article in the "Times" Style magazine earlier this year on young girls’ preferences in handbags with the sub-heading "If you want to belong in the playground, you got to have the right arm candy".
Girls as young as 8 are being targeted.
If children were driven by markets rather than raised by parents, childhood would be as short as possible, so that children and youths become young consumers.
This month UNICEF reported on the comparative states of contentment of children in the UK, Spain and Sweden.
All parents surveyed were deeply committed to their children, but the unhappy grip that pervasive consumerism has on the lives of some parents in this country was in evidence.
Research in each of the countries discovered that the children surveyed regarded "happiness" as having a stable family and plenty of things to do , especially outdoors, rather than owning the latest piece of electronic technology or the latest brand in clothes.
By contrast, some of the UK parents surveyed were " continually buy new things both for themselves and their children.
"Boxes and boxes of toys, broken presents and unused electronics were witness to this drive to acquire new possessions, which in reality were not really wanted or treasured.
"Most parents realised that what they were doing was often ‘pointless’ but seemed pressurised and compelled to continue.
"UK parents were often buying their children status brands believing that they were protecting them from the kind of bullying they experienced in their own childhood.

"This compulsive acquisition and protective, symbolic brand purchase was largely absent in Spain and Sweden where parents were clearly under much less pressure to consume and displayed greater resilience."
UNICEF looked at the effects of inequality.
The Gini coefficient is a standard statistical measurement of inequality of income in a country. Its values range between perfect equality -0 per cent - to complete inequality -100 per cent.
Sweden is a much more equal country than Britain, and had a Gini coefficient of around 23 per cent .
Scotland is a much more unequal society than Sweden with Scotland’s Gini coefficient rising over the past three years from 33 to 35 per cent (In the UK overall, it has remained the same at 36 over the same period.)
Spain’s Gini coefficient is around 35.
The research found that sensitivities about differences in possessions emerge by secondary school .
"At this stage material goods and brands began to play an important part in identifying and categorising people. …Inevitably, expensive brands symbolised wealth with the rich and the poor marked out clearly by their possessions…"
Being a "have" or a "have-not" of the latest products of turbo-charged consumerism created unease amongst children in all three countries to some extent, but the UK parents seemed far more of a "consumer generation" than parents from Sweden and Spain.
UNICEF reported,
" We find children’s growing awareness of inequality as they approach secondary school and the role of consumer goods in identifying and creating status groups within peer groups. Children have a very ambivalent attitude to those who appear to be able to afford all the latest status goods.
"Whilst many UK parents are complicit in purchasing status goods to hide social insecurities this behaviour is almost totally absent in Spain and Sweden. "
"Deprivation for Swedish parents was understood as living in an area where personal safety was threatened, whilst for Spanish mothers not being able to spend time with your children was seen to confer disadvantage relative to others."
" In the UK inequality was also seen in access to outdoor, sporting and creative activities, with poorer children spending more sedentary time in front of screens whilst the more affluent had access to a wide range of sports and other pursuits."
What makes the contents of the report especially troubling is that it is low-income parents already struggling to make ends meet who feel most pressurised and can least afford to buy new consumer goods for their children.
They are also some of the ones who work some of the longest hours.
Tired-out parents who are trying to balance family budgets daily on the edge of unremitting insecurity, will find it very difficult to provide theirs and their children’s priority - more time together as a family.
UNICEF have called upon the UK Government to introduce a Living Wage for all its employees and sub-contracted workers to help establish a better work life balance for parents to work less and so spend more time with their families.
A Living Wage , as determined by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, is the minimum income required by a family or individual to maintain an acceptable standard of living.
Currently the minimum hourly wage rate stands at £7.20p an hour but this leaves part-time workers, mainly women, earning less than the accepted Living wage.
At the same time as UNICEF, Save the Children and the Daycare Trust have been highlighting the rocketing cost of childcare in Scotland, one of the highest world-wide, as low -income families find that its cost leaves comparatively little left for living costs, putting affordable work beyond their reach.
The Daycare Trust established that in Scotland the cost for 25 hours of nursery care was over £420 a month.
By comparison in Sweden a maximum rate is set at just over £100 per month for full-time care. Families pay less for further children, around 1 per cent of the family’s income.
As a consequence of the high cost of care in Scotland, many parents inevitably have to cut back on spending as a result.
An estimated half of those in deep poverty cut back on food.
Save the Children are calling on the Scottish Government to increase the numbers entitled to free childcare and nursery education.
It says that just a handful of Scottish councils are providing 15 hours of free nursery education for three and four-year-olds, which is a statutory obligation in England.
What is worrying is that as society overall has become more affluent, markets have trespassed into childhood just when children are developing ideas about who a child is, what a child should have, and how he or she is regarded by other children.
Fearful that their child will be the odd one out in the class without the latest transient favourite toy, gadget or clothes now on sale, some parents relent.
Children grow up to become parents themselves and have children who will be subject to the same influences of consumerism that they were, such as television.
Children are one of TV’s most captive audiences.
The viewing habits of children under 5 in Scotland were revealed in the 2009 report "Growing Up in Scotland" with over a third watching more than an hour and a half of TV a day, and one child in ten watching more than two and a half hours of TV every day….and advertisers know that children can wield great power over adults to purchase for them.
That’s why, since 1993, in Sweden television adverts aimed at the under 12 are banned before, during and after main time TV programmes because children in that age group cannot distinguish between a programme and an advert which is essentially a biased statement.
In Britain, the Bailey Report on the commercialisation and sexualisation of children has just been issued, and amongst its recommendations is the banning the employment of children under 16 as brand ambassadors and in peer-to-peer marketing
The culture of consumerism may bring instant status , but it doesn’t bring long-term well-being nor long-term satisfaction.
It sharpens inequalities between those whose parents can afford and those who cannot, and there is a wealth of evidence showing that children who live in relative poverty or experience the effects of income inequality will continue to feel their effects beyond childhood and throughout the whole of their lives.
Being caring and tolerant towards others are more important than the defining people by what they possess as market-based economies generally do.
"What’s good for business" and the "freedom of individual choice" are not what’s best for families.

Girls outperform Boys at school - so why is the Gender Pay Gap still there?

Marlyn Glen

Girls outperform Boys at school - so why is the Gender Pay Gap still there?

16 September 2011

In my previous piece ( link ) I looked at explanations of why girls generally perform better in education than boys, and the belief for some that Margaret Thatcher was a suitable role model for girls to emulate in adult careers.

While there was little evidence of this from her polices and her lack of identity with women and their needs as a group, Thatcherism, the term that came to describe her politics, certainly had its effect upon males.

Thatcherism directly challenged male identity in working class areas with traditional industries.

As life and jobs were stripped out of communities across the country, and millions were sent to the dole queues, the identity of men with their work was broken.

Broken too was the link between boys striving to be academically successful at school to ensure a good start in adult working life.

There were simply not such jobs in these communities, and hence the value of education for boys' future fell.

Coming back up to date, the hope that the higher levels of success displayed by girls and young women as opposed to boys and young men at national exams would have ushered in the beginning of the end for the gender pay gap has yet to be borne out.

This year and last , two heavyweight institutions, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the Home Office found that this permanent reminder of inequality was still as spacious as ever and that progress to close it was " grinding to a halt"

The HRC declared,"Despite women now doing better than men in every aspect of educational qualification, the mean gender pay gap for women and men working full time was 16.4% in 2009. "The gap is lowest for the under 30s, rising more than five-fold by the time workers reach 40, when women earn on average 27% less than men of the same age."

The Home Office report on "Women and work" noted that almost half of this country’s workforce are women, but that "evidence from a range of studies suggest our labour market is still failing to make the best use of people’s talents. "

In particular, pay levels for women, while improving, still do not reflect their qualification levels.Last month , the EHRC published "Sex and Power" which estimated that over 5,000 women were missing from the top positions of power in the public and private sector

It reported that while women graduates on average had higher degree passes than men and the number of women graduates continues to grow, this is not reflected in their numbers in senior management categories in employment after graduation.

The percentage of women in positions of influence included :

22 per cent of MPs

17 per cent of the Cabinet

13 per cent of local government council leaders

22 per cent of local authority chief executives

14 per cent of university vice-chancellors

10 per cent as national newspaper editors

The dearth of women in top positions resulted from factors such as the "outdated" culture of long-working hours and "the unequal division of domestic responsibilities"

EHRC emphasised that ,

"If Britain is to stage a strong recovery from its current economic situation, then we have to make sure we’re not wasting women’s skills and talents."

The reluctance to tackle this significant division of priorities at the centre of women’s working lives, which is virtually absent from the lives of many men, between the needs to earn to bring up a family and the dependent needs of those same family members has its consequences for the economy.

Many women choose part-time work to resolve these competing demands.

The TUC has reported that the Gender and Employment in Local Labour Markets study recorded 54 percent of women working part-time as being ‘employed below their potential’ – the equivalent of 2.8 million women.

The TUC emphasised , "What this means is that previously they had worked in jobs that demanded higher qualifications/skills or more responsibility than the jobs they now did

"If employers offered more high status and better-paid jobs on a part-time basis or with other flexible arrangements these women would be able to apply for these opportunities."

So while some progress has been made through women gaining better educational qualifications, the gender pay gap remains firmly in its place.

Shifting the work-life balance more in favour of women now takes on a new importance.

This means that that many employers must be made to recognise that :

women would be better employees if their ( unpaid) domestic and caring duties could be integrated more harmoniously with their ( paid) work.

women face considerable obstacles in career progression as the standards set for such advancement were made initially by men to accommodate men’s working needs.

women’s work is consistently undervalued compared with that of men, and that their work is rewarded accordingly.

Girls and young women have come a long way in education in a relatively short time.

If we want to close the gender gap significantly, then employers must also make a similar journey in a much shorter time scale.

Girls outperforming Boys at School : The XX Factor

Marlyn Glen

Girls outperforming Boys at School : The XX Factor

7 September 2011

The gender gap in school educational qualifications that shows girls outperforming boys is now a well-established trend.
It's been around now for at least two decades in Scotland - or three generations of the 6 year secondary school session
The Scottish Government summarises the gap as follows :
"Nowadays in Scotland, more girls than boys stay on at secondary school after the compulsory school leaving age;
"Girls leave school with more and higher qualifications than boys on average;
"Girls are more likely than boys to go on to further and higher education after leaving school, with young women now making up the majority of entrants in both sectors.
This year’s SQA exam results show that girls are ahead in subjects long regarded as the bastion of the boys such as Physics and Mathematics.
For Scotland as a whole, these are :
Higher Maths Pass Rate Girls 73% Boys 72 %
Advanced Rate Maths Pass Rate Girls 71% Boys 63 %
Higher Physics Pass Rate Girls 82% Boys 76%
Advanced Higher Physics Pass Rate Girls 86% Boys 78%
The gender qualification gap is not purely a Scottish or British experience; it's to be found across Europe , the US and beyond.
Academic research frequently explains the gap through factors such as girls working harder, applying themselves more, having better skills in language, recognising the value of an education more, treating school more seriously, , being better organised, more mature, more respectful of authority, and a more "female-friendly" learning environment, and seeing more career opportunities becoming available to them as a result.
It is fascinating to put female education into the wider perspective of women struggling for the right to have their place in society, at work, in the home and in democracy recognised.
A century ago it was extraordinarily difficult for most girls to benefit from education.
They received a restricted curriculum, with a school leaving age at just 14, and horizons set for many at the level of the factory or in domestic service.
Arguments were expounded that education would wasted on women because they would just get married.
They might threaten the livelihood of professional men by competing with them for jobs.
Education might make girls "strong-minded".
In "A Woman's Place", Judy Batson describes the obstacles placed in women's path to achieve equal access at university.
Citing Oxford University, she wrote,
"By 1906, all colleges theoretically admitted women to lectures, although individual dons could exclude them if they wished.
"At first, the University only allowed women to take special women's examinations, despite the argument that, if their higher education was ever to be taken seriously, then women should be judged by the same standards as men.
"Some feared that access to ancient literature and modern physiological research would be morally detrimental to young women.
"Others doubted that women's physical and mental health could endure the strain of taking university examinations."
100 years ago a woman could enter a school classroom to teach, but not to vote in a General Election.
Arguments against Votes for Women pressed the case that women could " not be trusted with the vote " because of their "emotional" thinking, whereas emotions never swayed male decision-makers, particularly those in positions of power.
Advance now to the 1980s when women now had the vote and when a female decision-maker was in such a position of power with Margaret Thatcher as Britain’s first female Prime Minister.
Successful role models are frequently projected as examples of achievements for both girls and boys to aim for in modern adult life, and Margaret Thatcher has been one such favourite for some.
The young Margaret Thatcher showed some early signs as a potential advocate for the cause of women.
Writing in the now-defunct Sunday Graphic in 1952 she said,
"Why have so few women in recent years risen to the top of the professions?
"One reason may be that so many have cut short their careers when they marry. In my view this is a great pity.
"For it is possible to carry on working. taking a short leave of absence when families arrive, and returning later.
"Should a woman arise equal to the task, I say let her have an equal chance with the men for the leading Cabinet posts. Why not a woman Chancellor—or Foreign Secretary? "
However once installed as Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher did very little to promote such women, with just one woman promoted appointment to her Cabinet in 11 years.
Add to that the figure of one million women in Britain who became unemployed during the second term of her premiership, and the conclusion is that Margaret Thatcher had little interest in being an advocate for women and their rights.
However, the doctrine that became Thatcherism does have some part to play in explaining boys’ educational performance.
That’s for my next article …as is the question … if the gender qualifications gap favours girls over boys why does the gender pay gap favour men over women?

Nurses, Who's loking After Them?

Marlyn Glen

Nurses, Who's Looking After Them?

1 September 2011

This week , a figure intruded into the world of Scottish Government spin.
The type of figure that no photocall by Government Ministers could ever distract from
An example of sound evidence winning against soundbites .
That figure was the one showing that the number of nursing and midwifery staff in NHS Tayside is now lower than it was when Alex Salmond's Scottish Government took power in 2007.
The number of nursing and midwifery staff in NHS Tayside is now 4,974 full-time equivalents.
In 2007 , at the time of the annual staffing census, the number was 4,995.
That's 21 more nursing and midwifery staff than there are today.
All across Scotland, similar figures are standing up for the NHS against the Scottish Government.
This is the second year in succession that the number of nursing and midwifery staff in NHS Tayside has fallen as a result of the imposition by the Scottish Government on the health board of "efficiency savings", a softer-sounding version of the word "cuts".
As a result, last year, across the entire range of front-line health services in the health board, 190 posts were lost.
The consequence of cuts of this severity will damage the quality of patient care as rising demand continues, with nursing staff, fewer in number, being overstretched.
Last year, the Scottish Parliament’s Health Committee report on health boards’ budgets made clear its concern about the effect of planned reductions in staff on the quality of service in the NHS through "vacancy management", by pointing out the problems created by the filling of vacant posts by existing staff and how the quality of service would be affected.
It highlighted that the remaining staff "may be left to cope, with implications in terms of increased stress and sickness absence, damaging the quality of service.’ RCN Scotland work in unflagging pursuit of what's best for their members, and 5 months ago they unveiled another stark side of the upshot of hundreds of the "efficiency savings" that the NHS was commanded to find.
Their members' survey indicated :
Only 10 per cent regarded staffing where they worked as satisfactory
Over 95 per cent stated working beyond the hours of their contract, and over 25 per cent of them stating that this occurred on every shift.
Almost 30 per cent said they missed meal times at work three times each week
Over 15 per cent said that they rarely or never took entitled breaks.
Around 20 per cent displayed "presenteeism" in the past 6 months - being unwell but still at work.
It's small wonder then that RCN Scotland are campaigning for the recommendations of the Boorman Review to be implemented by all health boards in Scotland.
Boorman's study of the NHS in England recognised that a healthier NHS staff would lead to improvements in patient care and, at the same time, save significant sums of money.
His work claims that the number days lost by illness absence alone could be reduced by one third, resulting in an additional 3 million working days per year, and annual savings of over £500 million to the NHS.
Among its recommendations are :
service-wide culture transformation to promote better understanding health and well-being issues from board to ward level
an improved provision of wellness and early intervention services for staff
a national minimum standard of occupational health Teamwork is at the heart of working in the NHS, as it should be for all other organisations and individuals working with the NHS.
We, as a society, should take better care of those who, one day, will take care of us.
In this financial year, the NHS in Scotland has been ordered to find record "efficiency savings" of £350 million.

Scottish Studies - No place for playing time added on at Bannockburn

Marlyn Glen

Scottish Studies : No place for playing time added on at Bannockburn

26th. August 2011

The Scottish Government is to introduce "Scottish Studies" as a new compulsory course in schools , described in the SNP manifesto as a "distinct strand of learning on Scotland and incorporating Scottish History, Scottish Literature, the Scots and Gaelic Languages, wider Scottish culture and Scottish current affairs."
Education Secretary Mike Russell adds that "Scottish horticulture or Scottish Cookery could even be looked at", risking the potential for the soundbite - "Clootie Dumplings on the Curriculum".
Questions galore are already being asked about this proposed new course which will begin in primary schools and continue throughout secondary schooling with an externally marked exam.
If Scottish Studies is compulsory doesn’t that mean less time for pupils to study traditional exam subjects, on which their future career opportunities depend so much?
What’s the point of this new subject , if it’s already covered elsewhere across a range of subjects? Where are the teachers to come from, given that the Scottish Government did away with 3,000 teaching posts in its first four years in office?
Others are concerned that the subject is to be compulsory, and not an option, raising fears of a political agenda behind its introduction.
Some fear the possibility of "Scottish Studies" being another "National Conversation" , the Scottish Government consultation with the alias of the "Nationalist Conversation".
Let’s be gracious at its outset and accept without equivocation that the intention of the course is to promote a wider understanding of Scottish literature, history and culture for the educational benefit of Scottish pupils.
Let’s look firstly the "wider Scottish culture" feature of Scottish Studies that would include science and mathematics in Scotland.
Scottish science and mathematics should not be portrayed as exceptional.
The work of the famous 19th. century Scottish physicist and mathematician James Clerk Maxwell may have been described by Albert Einstein as the "most profound and the most fruitful that physics has experienced since the time of Isaac Newton", and there are certainly other famous Scottish scientists and inventors.
However, Scottish Studies should make the case that the same can be said for many other countries where the remarkable achievements of their scientific sons and daughters can engender a quiet patriotism.
The work of scientists in modern-day Scottish institutions, and Scottish scientists in similar institutions abroad is international in its outlook, and its most important method of explanation, mathematics, also has no national identity or boundaries.Scottish pupils should and do learn of the work of their country's writers, poets, and artists, and of how they have depicted life in our communities and beyond.
Good literature and art lifts its reader or viewer up above his or her immediate location and time to present a broader perspective of their country and of the world, of shared experiences and common goals.
Perhaps the greatest challenge facing Scottish Studies in fostering a distinct Scottish culture is the resident Americanisation of Scottish, and indeed English, as well as European popular culture.
This is a particular problem because those studying Scottish Studies, the pupils, are the most enthusiastic consumers of US cultural imperialism, which has stormed the commanding heights of millions of living rooms and bedrooms across Scotland through television screens, DVD players, and music downloads.Why do Scottish pop singers sing with American accents?
Why do they sing about Tennessee rather than about Dundee, Chicago rather than about Glasgow?
Will the teaching of Scottish Studies be intended to address the pervasive influence of American popular culture upon Scotland and the rest of the world?
The study of History is probably the subject of greatest contention.
How does understanding Scotland's past help us understand present-day Scotland?
How does judging past events and beliefs in their own contemporary setting and the changes that they created help prepare young Scots for the society they will live in?
Tom Johnston was the legendary Secretary of State for Scotland in Churchill's wartime Cabinet .
His political career included 5 years as Labour MP for Dundee in the 1920s.
Before then he wrote two famous books, "A History of the Working Classes in Scotland" and " Our Scots Noble Families"
This is most definitely not the Scotland of Walter Scott's novels such as "Tales of A Grandfather".
Right from its relentless introduction, Tom Johnston's "Our Scots Noble Families" never lets up thereafter :
"Show the people that our Old Nobility is not noble, that its lands are stolen lands - stolen either by force or fraud; show people that the title-deeds are rapine, murder, massacre, cheating, or court harlotry; dissolve the halo of divinity that surrounds the hereditary title; let the people clearly understand that our present House of Lords is composed largely of descendants of successful pirates and rogues; do these things and you shatter the Romance that keeps the nation numb and spellbound while privilege picks its pockets."
Johnston dismisses the sanctified image of Robert the Bruce in one sentence.
"The Bruce, a Norman, convinced our forefathers that his fight against the English was for Scottish freedom; and lo, when the invading hosts were driven back, the Bruce handed our common fields to his fellow Normans."
What place in Scottish Studies' perspective on Scottish history will Johnston's work have? or will it be dismissed as being too radical or as propaganda?
There's a TV series on Scottish history waiting to be made of Johnston's work and it should be on everyone's booklist.
If there is to be one common theme running through Scottish Studies' treatment of Scottish history, then perhaps Kenny MacAskill has provided us with it.
Almost 10 years ago, the present Justice Secretary wrote an article in the "Sunday Times" telling some traditionalists in the SNP that it was time to move on from its annual Bannockburn rally :
"Bannockburn’s position in the psyche of the party and the people must change. We must advance — both as a party and as a nation — and stop defining ourselves in terms of a victory over the English....
"What is it about the Scots that makes us hark back to a romanticised idea of that and other battles? Other nations have important junctures in their history but do not act as we do. Few go back 700 years in their celebration. While this may be testimony to the fact that we are an ancient nation, what does it say about us as a modern country...
"For too many people history commences with Bannockburn and ends with the Union in 1707, both events defined by our relationship with England. "
Something other than a military history of Scotland is called for; something other than a history of royal aggression; something other than the identification of "Scotland" with the territorial ambitions of its vain, warrior kings of small status.
That might go some way to quell the unease of the sceptics.

Inequality and the Gini Coefficient

Marlyn Glen

Inequality and the Gini Coefficient

17 August 2011

"Lower the Gini Coefficient!" isn't a compelling slogan that you'll see on a banner at a Labour movement rally.

Nor is it the subject of the chant : "What do we want? When do we want it?

The Gini coefficient is the most commonly used measure of income inequality.

It reflects the gap between the rich and the rest, the kind of society we live in, and its inequalities.

If we had a society where there was perfect equality of income, the Gini coefficient would be 0, full inequality 100.

In Scotland over the past three years, the value of the Gini coefficient has risen from 33 to 35, meaning that inequality has increased .
(In the UK overall, it has remained the same at 36 over the same period.)

In the USA, the coefficient is a stark 47 per cent.

However not far from us are Sweden, Norway and Denmark, countries which have values for the Gini coefficient much lower than Scotland's.

They are some of the lowest measured in the world - recent values are Sweden at 23 per cent, and its neighbours, Denmark( 24) and Norway (25)

All three feature regularly in the top grades of international surveys which assess people's satisfaction with their lives alongside the quality of life in housing, income, their communities, education, health, and the work-life balance.

The latest world-wide survey of the OECD Better Life Index (data compiled by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) saw Denmark come first, with Norway third and Sweden in sixth place.

Generally speaking, fairer societies such as the Scandinavian ones are healthier societies.

So let's look at statistics that compare important health indicators in Sweden with Scotland.

Let's examine life expectancy, the number of years a child at birth is expected to live.

Life expectancy at birth for males in Sweden - 79

Life expectancy at birth for males in Scotland - 76]

Life expectancy at birth for females in Sweden - 84

Life expectancy at birth for females in Scotland - 80

Men in Sweden can expect to live three years longer and women four years longer than they can expect to live in Scotland.

Comparing Norway with Scotland shows the same life expectancy gap.

Life expectancy figures can be supplemented by Healthy Life Expectancy figures.

These indicate the percentage of life that a male or female at birth can expect to live in a healthy condition.

It measures the quality of life.

Healthy Life Expectancy for a male in Sweden is 88 per cent of his life

Healthy Life Expectancy for a male in Scotland is 79 per cent of his life

Healthy Life Expectancy for a female in Sweden is 83 per cent of her life

Healthy Life Expectancy for a female in Scotland is 77 per cent of her life

Both men and women in Sweden can expect to live longer and to live longer in better health than men and women in Scotland.

The annual report of Scotland's Chief Medical Officer of Health, published last November, states candidly,

"At present, Scotland has the lowest life expectancy of all Western European countries.

"On another important indicator of health, infant mortality, the Chief Medical Officer of Health states that Sweden, Norway, Denmark, (Finland and Iceland) all have "significantly lower" infant mortality rates than Scotland."

Health inequalities arise from the lack of control that people have over their lives.

The less order that people have over their jobs, and their family situation, the greater their insecurity.

Low income, job uncertainty, underemployment and unemployment, all make people more vulnerable to stress which can express itself in unhealthy behaviour, and ultimately, disease.

Everyday experience tells us that despite decades of life-enhancing landmarks in new medical technology and scientific discovery, the relatively poorer health of the least advantaged persists.

In February of last year, the Marmot Review published its study of health inequalities in England for the UK government.

This intra-national contrast in health demonstrated the same degrees of inequality that international ones had found.

People who live in the least well-off areas of England are likely to die, on average, seven years earlier than those in the most affluent areas.

As the report said," People with higher socioeconomic position in society have a greater array of life chances and more opportunities to lead a flourishing life. They also have better health. The two are linked: the more favoured people are, socially and economically, the better their health. This link between social conditions and health is not a footnote to the ‘real’ concerns with health – health care and unhealthy behaviours – it should become the main focus."

The report produced a startling calculation - " If everyone in England had the same death rates as the most advantaged, people who are currently dying prematurely as a result of health inequalities would, in total, have enjoyed between 1.3 and 2.5 million extra years of life.

" They would, in addition, have had a further 2.8 million years free of limiting illness or disability. "It is estimated that inequality in illness accounts for productivity losses of £31-33 billion per year, lost taxes and higher welfare payments in the range of £20-32 billion per year, and additional NHS healthcare costs associated with inequality are well in excess of £5.5 billion per year."

A Scottish version of the calculation would possibly reveal a total sum of around £5 billion - roughly half the value of Scotland's NHS resources budget - a budget of over £10 billion this year.
The healthier you are, the more productive you are, and the more you help society.
While pointing out health differences between Scotland and Scandinavia, we mustn't delude ourselves or romanticise about society in Scandinavia.

All have recently witnessed populist penetration by the far Right into their politics in recent years, challenging the long periods of dominance by the Scandinavian Left.

However, in his essay in Policy Network, Mikko Kuisma says that this entry was " symptomatic of poor political strategy" of the left of centre parties.

"Research shows that certain core values of social democracy are still alive and that there is a future for progressive politics.

"Recent evidence of the widespread acceptance of not only the values of welfare but the broad structures and policies that maintain the welfare state comes from Denmark.

"According to a Danish newspaper , around 66% of the Danish population is happy to maintain the current level of taxation.

"This is in and of itself a remarkable result, as the levels of taxation in Denmark are the highest in the world."
Challenging health and income inequalities won't come by the "Lend a Hand" voluntarism of David Cameron's Big Society.
Reductions in them come from the actions of an interventionist government.

The abolition of maternity leave and "blue skies thinking"

Marlyn Glen

4th. August 2011

The abolition of maternity leave and "blue skies thinking"

Management- speak, the identity language of upper-echelon, fast track career advance - has a phrase that's been heard by those amongst the humbler ranks of life - "blue skies thinking"
Its terrestrial equivalent is " horizon-shift thinking" and it's this that Steve Hilton, one of David Cameron's closest policy advisers at 10 Downing Street , was supposedly indulging in when he advocated that maternity leave should be abolished in order to help small businesses.
It's no good dismissing the proposed ending of maternity leave as just a thought, because before it is even considered publicly , it has to be measured against what we insist are the bedrock criteria of a responsible society , which includes maternity rights for working mothers.
In the UK maternity leave is 52 weeks.
In the European Union countries, the minimum is 14 weeks.
In thinly-populated Iceland it is 9 months in total , 3 of which is to be taken by the mother, 3 of which must be taken by the father and the remaining three months decided between them.
Even in the US where maternity rights lag extremely far behind our own, unpaid leave is the law of the land.
From a purely employment perspective, maternity leave allows the recruitment and retention of competent , highly-skilled experienced women, a necessary step for any successful business.
The TUC have welcomed figures published earlier this year showing that there is now virtually no difference between the percentage of women with and without dependent children in work ( 66 to 67 per cent).
The TUC described these figures thus : " The rising proportion of mothers in work over the last 15 years is a ringing endorsement of family-friendly working practices such as better parental leave and pay, and the right to request flexible working."
However, progress in maternity rights in one area have come at the same time as setbacks in others.
Late last year, the EU council of Ministers, lobbied by Tory MEPs, shelved plans passed by Euro MEPs to extend the maternity leave to a statutory 20 weeks on full pay throughout the EU.
New figures show that in the past 5 years, in Employment Tribunals verdicts in Scotland, only 1 case in 10 was successful on the grounds of dismissal from the job or disadvantage at work related to preganancy, childbirth or maternity. Out of 660 cases only 51 were successful.
If maternity leave were to go, then by the same logic the cessation of paternity leave would surely follow , as ending a further "barrier" to the smoooth running of small businesses.
So it is reassuring to know that this present UK Government is encouraging paternity leave.
Evidence from Europe of the benefits of paternity leave is that a mother's future earnings can rise by an average of 7 per cent for each month that the father takes paternity leave, and so helping to close the gender pay gap. (Swedish Institute of Labor Market Policy Evaluation, March 2010)
However the workplace remains an important area where women's hard-won rights have to safeguarded and progressed and it is no place for a whimsical "thoughtshower", to quote management-speak, on abolishing maternity leave.
So do all of these outlandish outpourings mean anything more for us other than just the sound of a Tory eccentric winding back the clock?
Yes they do.
He may have already advocated the abolition of consumer rights, shutting down Job Centres, and, when the Tories were in opposition, using "cloud-bursting technology" to give us all more sunshine .
However, Steve Hilton is not just any old policy adviser of David Cameron.
Steve Hilton is the architect of David Cameron's Big Society.

Equal Pay : Remember, Remember the Fourth of November

Marlyn Glen

Equal Pay : Remember, Remember the Fourth of November

27 July 2011

Equal Pay Day - a day of national campaigning to raise public awareness and tackle the gender pay - takes place on 4th. November this year.
Across Britain as a whole the full-time pay gap between men and women stands at around 16 per cent.
The 4th. November has been chosen for the Day of Action to demonstrate that the pay gap is equivalent to men being paid to work for all of the year while women, in effect, work for nothing for the rest of the year.
This representation of the gender pay gap poses the question of what value society places on the work of women compared with that of men.
Last year, Equal Pay Day was not on 4th. November but on 2nd. November, illustrating the sluggish rate of progress towards pay equality which, on present trends, is still decades away in the distance, 40 years on from the introduction of the groundbreaking Equal Pay Act.
However, even this 16 per cent gap in pay does not reflect the substantial differences in the manner of working between women and men.
Some 40 per cent of women in Scotland are in part-time employment, more than three times greater than the number of men.
Comparing the hourly pay of full-time men with that of part-time women in Scotland reveals a severe gender pay gap of 34 per cent, over twice the all-inclusive 16 per cent figure.
Traditionally, women are to be found in low pay occupations, and the Fair Pay Network estimate that almost two-thirds of those earning low pay are women in "essential jobs".
They spell out the likely life-long consequences of low pay for women thus:
" The correlation between the low-paid conditions endured by most women and female poverty is more than a mere coincidence.
" The high rates of female low-pay thus contribute to the fact that a woman in Britain has a 14% higher chance of being in poverty than a man.
" Over the course of their lives women save less, have smaller pensions, and fewer assets than men.
" Low hourly pay is a crucial contributor to the tough conditions which many women throughout Britain face on a daily basis. "
Even amongst the security of higher earnings and career opportunities, inequality remains strong.
The gender pay gap thrives in the, by popular perception, supposedly glitzy world of banking and financial services .
In their evidence to the High Pay Commission, UNITE the Union quoted the findings of research by the Equality and Human Rights Commission demonstrating an astonishing gender pay gap of 55 per cent in that sector.
The principal determining factors of the gender pay gap cluster round pay discrimination, undervaluing women's work, the employment penalty for mothers, and gender segregation whereby the vast majority of those in a particular occupation are women and that these occupations tend to be low paid.
These are not the excuses of the unsuccessful.
They are real deterrents which remain stubbornly in force.
The TUC quote Equal Opportunities Commission modelling research which arrived at tangible figures to quantify the pay gap.
Just over one third ( 36 per cent ) was accounted for by differences in lifetime working patterns, with women generally spending less time in full-time jobs than men, taking breaks for family and caring.
Just under one fifth ( 18 per cent) resulted from gender segregation, with women in smaller, less unionised firms.

Over one third ( 38 per cent ) arose from direct discrimination and the career choices made by men and women.

Just under one-tenth ( 8 per cent) came from the poorer educational qualifications of older women.
The latest attempt to take action on the gender pay gap comes from the Equalities Act, passed by the previous Labour Government, and described by the Tory Daily Telegraph as " the poisonous legacy of Labour's equalities legislation"
Section 78 of the 2010 Act, requires employers in the private sector with 250 or more employees to publish details of any differences in pay between male and female employees.
This requirement acknowledges that employees' right to information about the extent of the pay gap between women and men is a necessary first step towards tackling it.
Compulsory disclosure of such information was to be introduced only if commensurate progress had not been made in doing so by 2013, but the Tory-led Coalition have shown no appetite for this - nor for the radical proposals of the Fawcett Society to transfer the responsibility for closing the gender pay gap from the individual to the employer with full pay audits.
So Equal Pay Day on 4th. November will be the next big national display to raise and maintain public awareness of the gender pay gap and of the personal, moral, societal and business case to end its persistence.
One of the great campaigns of the early years of the 20th. Century was Votes for Women.
In the early years of the 21st century will the 40-year old Equal Pay for Women campaign be, at last, brought to a successful conclusion?

Women pick up the pieces left behind by the banking crisis

Marlyn Glen

Women pick up the pieces left behind by the banking crisis

5 July 2011



It's the heckling, name-calling, rudeness, finger pointing, aggressive, competitive, ego-preening behaviour of some male politicians that turn a lot of women off politics.
This behaviour, some would say, is the effect of testosterone at work - testosterone is the hormone that men produce ten times more women do - working where power is the purpose.
Imagine, then if money, not political power, was the design, and where behaviour had abandoned all considerations of ethical standards, where outrageous risk-taking was a macho-symbol , and where Greed was not only Good, but that Greed made you feel Good.
In other words, to what extent can the extreme behaviour of some male bankers be blamed for the financial crisis of 2008 when a testosterone-inflamed banking system crashed ?
What difference would there have been if women had run the banks, or had there been a more diverse mix of bankers?
Iceland, which teetered on the brink of national bankruptcy , was a major victim of the testosterone culture.
The crisis ushered in Iceland's first female prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, with half of her Government as women.
Women were appointed to run the country's largest banks.
Slowly, Iceland is emerging from its dark economic cloud.
The American Business magazine Blomberg reported in February ,
"Today, Iceland is recovering.
The three new banks had combined profit of $309 million in the first nine months of 2010. GDP grew for the first time in two years in the third quarter, by 1.2 percent, inflation is down to 1.8 percent and the cost of insuring government debt has tumbled 80 percent.
"Stores in Reykjavik were filled with Christmas shoppers in early December, and bank branches were crowded with customers. "
This, of course, is not a simple case of cause and effect.
However, the Icelandic Government's promotion of women to deal with the aftermath of the economic crisis has encouraged women in Iceland to bring forward their own standards for business behaviour.
Audur Capital , set up by two women, who have established a green technology investment fund, display a philosophy that is worlds away from the reckless Gordon Gekko "Greed is Good" power-surge.
Instead, Audur say,
"We see incredible economic potential in women, their increased level of education, growing economic power and their entrepreneurial flair.
"A growing body of research demonstrates that companies owned or managed by women yield a higher long term return. Second, we see tremendous growth opportunities in businesses that embrace different values, turning social, ethical and environmental responsibility into their business advantage.
"Consumers and investors alike will increasingly look towards companies that emphasize responsible behaviour."
As they told the Guardian,
"We have five core feminine values.
"First, risk awareness: we will not invest in things we don't understand.
"Second, profit with principles - we like a wider definition so it is not just economic profit, but a positive social and environmental impact.
"Third, emotional capital. When we invest, we do an emotional due diligence - or check on the company - we look at the people, at whether the corporate culture is an asset or a liability. "Fourth, straight talking. We believe the language of finance should be accessible, and not part of the alienating nature of banking culture.
"Fifth, independence. We would like to see women increasingly financially independent, because with that comes the greatest freedom to be who you want to be, but also unbiased advice." 　
By contrast, in Britain, the Royal Bank of Scotland, which was in the eye of the banking storm, has less than 10 per cent of its board as women.
Just 11% of directors of the blue chip FTSE- 100 companies are women.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission, estimate that at the current rate of change it will take 73 years for women to achieve equal representation on the boards of FTSE 100 companies.
A new EU proposal says that one third of the directors of banks should be women, in an attempt to reverse the "group think" behaviour at the core of banking meltdown in 2008.
However, the UK Davies report "Women in the Boardroom" went only as far as saying that the top rank FTSE-100 companies should have women in 25 percent of board directorships by 2015.
Intitial responses to the Davies Report has shown some increase in the number of women directors , but Europe has been far more radical.
Norway has already introduced a 40 per cent quota of women on all boards, a Norwegian Minister declaring, "What’s the point in pouring a fortune into educating girls, and then watching them exceed boys at almost every level, if, when it comes to appointing business leaders in top companies, these are drawn from just half the population – friends who have been recruited on fishing and hunting trips or from within a small circle of acquaintances?"
France is to follow the same route with the 40 per cent quota set for country's largest companies.
Spain has given companies there giving companies until 2015 to ensure that women make up between 40 and 60 per cent of boards.
The global financial crisis resulted primarily from the poor regulation of rampantly capitalist banks.
Within it lay a culture of risk-taking that is not commonly observed in women.
One way of preventing its recurrence is to promote more women to their boards and to give more encouragement for women to join banking as a profession.
Such measures mean more than satisfying just gender equivalence.It’s about access to power for women.
If we want women's issues to be given their proper importance and to be embedded in everyday life , we need more women at the centre of powerful institutions making decisions about them.
Think how much more importance the issues below would receive and how much more seriously they would be addressed :
*women prejudged on their abilities in a muscular masculine working culture
*the perception of men being "natural" leaders
*the undervaluing of women's work *the gender pay gap,
*the need for family-friendly flexible working hours for women,
*career breaks to start and raise families,
*sexual harassment at work
*occupational segregation by gender in the UK being more severe than in other countries in Europe

Cameron-Clegg pension plans worsen women's prospects

Marlyn Glen

Cameron-Clegg pension plans worsen women's prospects

22 June 2011
The Cameron-Clegg Coalition have reneged on a commitment in their own Coalition Agreement on pensions.
The commitment in the Coalition Agreement was that the government "would review the rise to 66, though women's state pension age would not start to rise to 66 until 2020".
Under their new proposals, the speed of raising of the pension age to 65 for women will be now accelerated to take place by 2018 for women, and to 66 for both men and women by 2020.
Throughout the UK, some 300,000 women born between 6 December 1953 and 5 October 1954, will be required to wait for additional 18 months, and a further 33,000 born between 6 March 1954 and 5 April 1954 will be required to wait an extra 2 years before being granted their state pension.
The latter group stand to lose around £10,000 in their state pension or over £15,000 if they receive full pension credit.
In Parliament, the Tory-led government , faced with voices of opposition from within the Coalition have declared itself, through Duncan Smith, to be "tempted" to look again at arrangements for the switchover.
The fast-tracking of pension age breaches the recommendations of the 2005 Turner Report that enjoyed comprehensive political support, and which proposed that women be given 15 years' notice to prepare for rises in pension age to enable them to adapt their arrangements for living accordingly.
However, under the Cameron-Clegg plans many women will now have less than half of that time to adjust, leaving insufficient time for alternative plans for the future.
If we examine women's employment opportunities and earnings, we can see how their pensions are already disadvantaged by their roles in life other than as employees.
By midlife, women more so than men have provided unpaid care for their families at all stages of life, and have seen their employment opportunities and earnings reduced by bringing up a family.
As a consequence, they lose out on their pensions.
Most women do not have the male-pattern of continuous employment opportunities because this pattern is not compatible with what are still mainly women's caring responsibilities.
Women form the large majority of employees in public sector areas such as local government and the NHS, and the public sector provides better prospects of adaptive work for women compatible with domestic caring duties and caring.
However, government spending cuts have seen thousands of these jobs vanish, with the result that women's employment prospects are eroded even more, further affecting their pensions.
Add to this a working lifetime of a gender pay gap and in retirement generally higher levels of pensioner poverty amongst women than men, and we can see how the Tory-led Coalition's plans will reinforce these depressing inequalities.
For younger women, the pensions "reform" augur pensions based on higher contributions for "career" average pensions.
However, there are alternatives such as those advocated by the Women's Budget Group.
Oh that the Tory-led Coalition could be "tempted" into introducing some of their proposals : *Ensuring adequate pension rights for those with justified career breaks – mainly women – must be the policy priority in the EU to guarantee a dignified life in old age for both women and men’ (AGE Europe, 2010).
*Allowing more time for women’s State Pension Age to rise
*Continuing to combat age discrimination in employment
*Introducing a residence-based Citizens Pension for all over state pension age, set above poverty level (60% of median population income).
*Ensuring adequate indexation of pensions