In a new pamphlet the Young Fabians have launched an important debate on the future of progressive politics. Bringing together a group of twelve young parliamentary candidates, ‘The New Progressives: Voices of Labour’s Future’ asks what the progressive challenges of the future will be and how we should respond to them. While the future may be difficult to predict, there are some issues that will always remain relevant and that progressives must continue to fight for.
Take gender equality. I was fairly recently a young woman in my twenties, so the hopeful, but false, impression that we live in a society in which men and women are treated equally is still fresh in my mind. However, after my first decade in employment, the cracks in that façade are beginning to show.
We celebrate the achievements of young girls at school (on average they have been outperforming boys for some time) and at university, but this differential is soon reversed when we consider the status of men and women in the labour market. A brief look at some key statistics across the European Union gives us some food for thought.
Having children has huge implications for a woman’s employment, career prospects and lifetime earnings. Recent statistics show that having children decreases the employment rate of women by as much as 12.4% (compared to women without children), whereas it has the reverse effect of driving up men’s employment rates by 7.3%. In addition to the employment gap, the gender pay gap remains stubbornly high in the UK and across the European Union. On average in the EU, women earn 17.4% less for every hour worked than men, in the UK the gap stands at 21.1%.
The progressive case for gender equality is usually articulated in the language of social justice. It is socially just for women’s talents and skills to be valued and used to the same extent as men’s. We should therefore act to narrow and eliminate the gender pay and employment gaps. This argument usually falls on deaf ears because it comes up against complaints about the excessive costs of supplying childcare and financing generous leave entitlements.
However, a powerful economic case can be made, particularly against the backdrop of the demographic challenges which most European countries currently face. In terms of economic efficiency, it simply does not make sense to waste the potential of half of the workforce. Moreover, an ageing population has huge implications for the public purse. Our economies and welfare states are becoming unsustainable as the dependency ratio increases. It therefore makes economic sense to continue to increase the participation rate of women but also to address the problem of falling birth rates.
The key to a progressive vision for gender equality – on social justice and economic grounds – is that the state should create the framework for women and men to balance the demands of the labour market with family responsibilities. There are three essential elements to this policy mix: universal, affordable childcare provision, shared parental leave and the changing role of men.
For the purposes of this article, I would like to focus on parental leave. The main sticking points are the length of parental leave and how this leave is divided between mothers and fathers.
It is too easy to assume that the best solution is to simply extend maternity leave provision. The balancing act surrounding leave entitlements is more complicated than that. If parental leave is too long, the chances of discrimination against women increase and employers are unlikely to invest in the skills of women of childbearing age. If parental leave is too short, this could act as a deterrent to starting a family or the mother might decide to stay at home longer and thus lose her connection with the labour market.
There is a powerful argument that forcing each parent to take half of the leave entitlement is the only way to fight discrimination in the labour market. Women would no longer be disadvantaged because employers would see men and women as equally likely to take parental leave. However, as progressives, I believe that we should empower men and women to share their entitlement to the period of parental leave equally if they choose to do so, given their individual circumstances and preferences.
Currently, in the UK, fathers are only entitled to two weeks paternity leave. We need to address this imbalance and seek to overcome attitudinal obstacles to men taking longer periods of leave. If we are to live in a society which recognises men and women as truly equal, mothers and fathers should have the choice of equally sharing parental leave. We are a long way from this. Our next manifesto should commit to carrying forward this deeply progressive policy.
To download your copy of The New Progressives: Voices of Labour’s Future visit www.youngfabians.org.uk
If you are a young Prospective Parliamentary Candidate and would like to join the Young Fabians Candidates Network contact James Green at [email protected].