Key professions such as nursing, teaching and social work are losing thousands of potential recruits as student mothers drop out of higher education due to a lack of support from universities. New research led by IER's Dr Clare Lyonette is published today. The research, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, highlights the true scale of the pressures placed upon mothers who go to university and calls for more to be done to assist them. Read more about the project and download the reports here.

Podcast from the Inaugural Rosemary Crompton Memorial Lecture 2015 held at City University, London. Professor Kate Purcell talked about the life and work of Professor Rosemary Crompton and Professor Crompton's contribution to our understanding of work, employment, social class and gender. Watch the podcast here.

Professor Rosemary Crompton was a pioneering sociologist. Her insights into class and gender inequalities produced a large body of work which continue to have resonance today. After Rosemary's premature death in 2011 the Academic community sought to perpetuate her memory by holding an Annual Rosemary Crompton memorial lecture. The lecture series is to be organised around the key themes of her work: gender, class and employment. The inaugural speaker was Professor Erik Olin Wright, University of Wisconsin-Madison, an international expert in class inequalities and a former colleague of Professor Crompton.

This study, by Professor Anne Green with others from IER and in partnership with Dr Paul Sissons and Kevin Broughton (Coventry University), reviews UK and international evidence on local approaches linking people not in work to jobs, and those in work to better jobs. It looks at four stages in a stylised ‘pathway to employment’: pre-employment; employment entry; staying in work; and in-work progression. It found that variations in the challenges and opportunities facing cities have an impact on how anti-poverty policies are likely to succeed. Although there are differences in cities’ precise powers and resources, their policies can reduce poverty in their area. However, the evidence is clear that progress can be made without greater local autonomy and with no or limited additional resources. Among other factors in the success of anti-poverty strategies are how strong the local leadership is and what priority is given to change in local areas.

For more information see:

Green, A.E., Sissons, P., Broughton, K., and de Hoyos, M. with Warhurst, C. and Barnes, S-A. (2015). How cities can connect people in poverty with jobs. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation. (A Summary is also available)

As part of the Social Sciences Festival celebrating the University of Warwick 's 50th Anniversary, the University's network on Connecting Research on Employment and Work (CREW) will be holding an event on 8th May, 11 am - 3 pm, to be held at the University's Ramphal building.

This event will identify key changes in work and employment that have taken place over the years since the University of Warwick was established in 1965. In the morning session senior scholars will review some of the continuities and changes (and how we think about them) in their fields of study. After a complimentary lunch, there will be presentations by newer members of the faculty looking ahead to future trends and practices.

Colleagues from trades unions, enterprise or training councils and other academic organisations are welcome to attend and further details of the event can be found here: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/festival2015/eventprogramme/friday8thmay/looking_back_v3.pdf

Men on lower incomes are more likely to help their partners with housework than higher-earners, although women are still by far doing the most around the home, no matter how many hours they work or how much they are paid.While the burden of keeping the home clean is starting to be shared more equally between couples, signs of a class divide are beginning to emerge, a researcher from the University of Warwick has found.

“There’s a stark difference in couples’ attitudes towards gender equality depending on how much they are earning,” explained Dr Clare Lyonette, from the Institute for Employment Research, who led the study.

“It seems men on lower incomes are happily picking up the dusters, filling the dishwasher and generally starting to do their bit. Times are changing and they acknowledge there’s now a need for more equality in the home.

“But there’s a different attitude when it comes to higher earners. We found that while men in these households do also recognise the need to help their partners, they remain reluctant to lift a finger and appear to simply throw money at the issue by hiring a cleaner instead.

“And although men in general are starting to make themselves more useful around the house, regardless of income, the age old theory remains the same – women, on the whole, are doing the most.”

Dr Lyonette’s findings in Sharing the load? Partners’ relative earnings and the division of domestic labour have just been published in the February 2015 edition of the British Sociological Association’s Work, employment and society journal. It is available to download for free here.

She interviewed a number of partnered men and women for the project, all of whom had at least one child under the age of 14.

“There’s certainly a fairer division of household labour between couples than in the past but inequality still exists and that’s perpetuated, in part, by the so-called ‘myth of male incompetence’,” added Dr Lyonette.

“This is a belief by some women – and our study shows it’s still rife – that men are unable to complete housework to an acceptable standard.

“Women know their contribution to the household should be fairly reflected in the sharing of housework and are often frustrated by their lack of success in changing the situation – but their frustrations are to some extent mollified by the idea that men are inept at domestic chores.”

One participant in the survey told the researcher: “I think they do it on purpose, men, don’t they? Using the cleaner, he’ll just clean around things, then all of a sudden you’ll move the sofa and you’re like, ‘What is that under there?’ … or he says, ‘Don’t clean upstairs now because no one goes up there bar us, you don’t need to hoover’ is his argument’.”

Dr Lyonette concluded: “Men from lower-income families certainly seem to be starting to do their bit around the home. But at the same time, until all men are willing to take on more domestic tasks, so allowing women to take on greater responsibility within the workplace, any hoped-for progress in gender equality is likely to stall.”