Latest news with #genderbalance
The Independent
6 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Fewer women should become doctors as they ‘have got to have babies', retired surgeon says
A prominent retired surgeon has claimed too many women are doing medical degrees, which is causing problems for the NHS as 'women have got to have babies" and many end up working part-time. Dr Meirion Thomas, a former professor of surgical oncology at Imperial College, said the gender balance has swung too far in favour of female medical students. Asked what was wrong with having more female doctors in training, Dr Thomas told Times Radio 'the fact of life is that women have got to have babies'. He said: 'You're putting me on the spot now, and I'll be hated for this, but the fact of life is, of course, women have got to have babies. Of course, they've got to have time to bring up their children.' Dr Thomas said women often end up working part-time or job-sharing, and that it takes two women to work the equivalent of one full-time man. 'I'm going to be hated for saying that, but I'm afraid it's true,' he added. His comments came as part of a discussion about NHS strikes, which are set to run for five days from 7am on Friday, with thousands of resident doctors expected to join the walkout in an ongoing dispute over pay. Dr Thomas said 'please don't take offence at this', before referencing a photograph from a previous doctors' strike, which he said showed that of the 30 to 40 people pictured, only two were men. 'All the rest were women. So that tells me something,' he said. Pressed on why that would be a problem, Dr Thomas said: 'The one problem is that medical schools now are taking 60 to 70 per cent women as medical students. It's a huge imbalance, huge imbalance and that should be reduced to 50-50 for sure.' Dr Thomas has previously complained about GPs working part-time, which the Royal College of General Practitioners has said 'misses the point'. He has also previously warned that the NHS is being flooded with doctors from poorer countries, claiming that the UK has 'no idea if they are competent'. The public is being urged to continue coming forward for NHS care during a five-day strike, which is likely to see tens of thousands of operations and appointments cancelled. NHS England said hospitals and local teams have been preparing before the strike, and have plans in place to 'minimise disruption to patient care and ensure life-saving care continues'. Thousands of resident doctors are expected to join the walkout, which is the 12th by resident doctors since March 2023. New NHS England boss, Sir Jim Mackey, has urged hospital leaders to keep routine operations and appointments going if possible and to only cancel if there is a risk to patient safety. During the strike, GP surgeries will open as usual and urgent care and A&E will continue to be available for those who need them, NHS England said. It urged the public to use 111 online as the first port of call for urgent but not life-threatening issues. Professor Meghana Pandit, NHS England national medical director, said: 'There is no doubt this industrial action will take a toll on patients and NHS staff, and it is disappointing it is going ahead. 'While it will mean some appointments won't be able to go ahead as planned, we are doing all we can to limit this, and patients should continue to use NHS services in the usual way. 'The public should dial 999 in an emergency, and otherwise use 111 online, your local pharmacist or GP, and patients should attend NHS appointments unless told otherwise.'
The Guardian
20-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
The quiet, matter of fact takeover of women holding senior economist roles
Rachel Reeves is rightly proud of being the first woman chancellor of the exchequer, but she is far from alone: the commanding heights of economic policymaking in the UK are becoming much less male. At a Westminster thinktank event last week about whether Labour is still a 'mission-led government', one of the most striking things was not the panel's answer, which you can probably guess, but the fact that it was made up of three women, and one token man. The Institute for Government's director, Hannah White, was joined by its chief economist, Gemma Tetlow, and the no-nonsense new director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Helen Miller – as well as the FT's Stephen Bush. Elsewhere, the Resolution Foundation is now run by Ruth Curtice, a former Treasury economist. Rain Newton-Smith, another economist, has the task of repairing the CBI's scandal-rocked reputation as its director general. Two of the four deputy governors of the Bank of England are women, too – as are the leaders of a string of powerful trades unions. This female takeover has been a quiet and matter of fact one – but it marks a significant change, very noticeable upon returning to covering the field, after a few years away. It has not yet been reflected in the gender balance of students picking economics at GCSE, A-level or as a degree, unfortunately. Research commissioned by the Bank of England showed earlier this year that economics classes at all levels remain about 70% male. But if anything, that makes it all the more striking that many of the most authoritative voices we will hear, in the run-up to Reeves's autumn budget, will be female. Aside from straightforward fairness, there are at least three potential benefits of this feminisation of the economic debate. The first, which Reeves herself has talked about directly, is the simple power of example: giving girls and young women the perception they could do jobs such as these. And while it must have been shattering, shedding a few tears at the dispatch box was a powerful part of that: many women of every age will have identified with her. Women just do cry more than men (a YouGov poll in 2015 found that 45% of women had cried at least once a month in the past year; for men, it was 11%). This has zero bearing on their ability to do their job – and if anything, may point to sincerity, rather than insouciance. Whatever you think of their policies, Theresa May's tears as she resigned, surely reflected better on her character than David Cameron's jaunty little hum. A second potential benefit of having women at the top of economic policymaking should be better decision-making. Jill Rutter, a former Treasury official and now senior research fellow at thinktank UK in a Changing Europe, recalls that back in the 1980s, 'there were virtually no women around the table making tax policy decisions, and it was very interesting, because almost all the senior people there had non-working wives'. She recalls being stared at if, as the junior official present, she piped up to ask how a particular policy might go down with women. Four decades later, Boris Johnson's bloke-heavy government was apparently capable of similar myopia. When senior Cabinet Office official Helen MacNamara testified at the Covid Inquiry, she argued that senior women's voices were all but absent from decision-making in the pandemic. 'Decisions were being taken where the impact on women was either lost or ignored,' she said in her written evidence. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion MacNamara pointed to a lack of consideration about the demands that school closures would place on families; the potential impact of lockdown on domestic violence victims; and the rules around pregnancy and birth. By contrast, she said, time was found to discuss the implications for, 'hunting, shooting and fishing'. Across today's economic landscape, there are plenty of pressing issues women may feel particularly moved to pursue – not least the gender pay gap (13%), which Reeves has pledged to narrow, and its less-noticed sister, the gender pensions gap (standing at a shocking 35% for private pension savings), which the work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, is expected to highlight in a speech on Monday. The third and more speculative potential upside of having more female economic policymakers, is a shift in the tone of debate. Not all women are moderate, or reasonable, or ground their arguments in the everyday – Liz Truss is certainly a counterexample – but I would gently suggest that on average, they tend to be a bit less prone to bluster, bravado, and what the kids call 'main character syndrome'. That was why it was depressing last week to see Reeves at the Mansion House, describing regulation as the 'boot on the neck' of British enterprise, in danger of 'choking off' innovation. No doubt the violent language was aimed at grabbing headlines (which it did) and communicating a clear message to her City audience. But it was jarring to read such a brute phrase in a public speech by the UK's most powerful woman. There is no shortage of tedious macho language around Keir Starmer – with anonymous briefers proudly telling columnists the prime minister's politics are 'hard Labour', and accusing MPs of 'knobheadery'. Perhaps as her crunch autumn budget approaches, Reeves can help the government to find a different, more relatable vocabulary. Judging by the comments of that mainly-female panel about Labour's first year in power last week, the debate in the coming months will be every bit as robust as ever. But it will be fascinating to see if it can be conducted in a different, calmer way: and perhaps more closely anchored to what MacNamara argued was missing from that shameful Johnson period: people, and families, and how people actually live their lives.
News.com.au
04-07-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Australian job where there are 100 men for every woman
ANALYSIS Are you reading this at work? If so, look around. See any women? No? You might be a plumber then. Plumber (general) is the most gender-unbalanced job category in Australia, with 150 dudes for every woman. The latest tax statistics are out and while everyone else is looking at how much people get paid (plumbers have average total income of $95,000, before deductions), I find one of the most surprising things is how gender-skewed our jobs are. It's like a party of 17-year-olds. Over here we have all the boys. In the opposite corner, all the girls. Plumbing is for blokes and, unsurprisingly, midwifery is the role most biased to people who identify as female. The ATO rocks an old-fashioned binary gender system, they put people as either male or female. But apparently, the society we live in is pretty old-fashioned and binary too. In Australia in 2025 truckies are gents ($86,000 in average total income) and childcare workers ($46,000) are ladies, as the next chart shows. This chart depicts the dozen biggest jobs in Australia, the most common jobs. Among them we see some are gender balanced, like being a high school teacher ($95,000) or a sales director ($138,000). But most are unbalanced one way or another. But those numbers, even the truckie numbers, look fair and balanced compared to some smaller job categories. Here's the extremes for the boys, jobs where there is no queue for the ladies loo, because there is no ladies loo. If you notice something about those jobs, they're mostly about building things. We have a shortage of tradies in this country. Maybe we could solve it by getting women involved a bit? Sure, there's a few tradie jobs where the higher average male upper body strength might be important (like bricklaying ($77,000), although even they sometimes use a little conveyor belt these days I think?). But there are no real reasons a woman can't be a plumber or an electrician ($116,000). I hired a sparkie to put in a new powerpoint for me the other day (and a few other little bits and pieces). They sent three blokes and charged me $600. The heaviest thing they had to lift was the dustpan and brush to clean up some sawdust at the end. The average 100kg senior electrician can't even fit in the crawl space and sends his apprentice up instead. We might get a better quality of work by having some female tradies! If we want to build a few more homes in the next 10 years than we did in the last 10 years, having all hands on deck might help. Changes So are these jobs getting more blokey or less? Turns out we can answer that by going back to data from four years prior. As the next chart shows, even though women in these jobs are rare as hen's teeth, they're actually increasing. We are making some progress. But geeze, it's a bit slow. At this rate we could have one female carpenter for every 100 male carpenters by 2030 (carpenters make $85,000). Remember that female workforce participation is rising and male participation is stable. But the person working the concrete pump ($95,000) is even more likely to be a dude than before! Forget farmers, they should have Concrete Pump Operator Wants A Wife. Overall the change in female workforce participation means you'd expect to see more and more jobs with a higher share of women in them. And we do. Although some jobs are changing faster than others. The person putting tiles on your roof these days is still probably a fella, but there's far more female roof tilers than there were! Can we get a glimpse of the future? What's the workforce going to look like in 10 years? One way to have a look is to check the gender balance of all the apprentices, which is what the next chart shows. Some of the most female apprentice roles are actually getting even more female, like apprentices in health and welfare support services ($46,000 a year for the apprentice). But the blokiest apprentice roles are getting more female very slowly. Plumbing has a few more women and girls in apprentice roles. And about 5.5 per cent of apprentice electricians are females now. But at this rate is going to be a long time before the plumbers get any female colleagues.
RNZ News
25-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Gender pay reversal identified by directors' fee survey
The survey also showed just 36 percent of private sector board directors were female. Photo: 123RF A survey on directors' fees has thrown up a surprise, showing female directors are earning more than their male counterparts in private sector boardrooms. The survey , by Strategic Pay, said female non-executive directors receive 17.2 percent more in fees on average. Managing director Cathy Hendry believes more women achieving higher positions in large listed companies is driving the change, but thinks there is more work to be done on gender balance on boards. "We have seen female directors increasing in terms of representation across the whole sample year-on-year, which is great to see. "The public sector is leading the way. You've almost got 50-50 percent representation male/females in the public sector [boards]. Its significantly lower in the private sector." The survey showed just 36 percent of private sector board directors were female, and just 21 percent were non-executive chairs. The survey highlighted a stark difference in the pay of directors on listed company boards compared to unlisted and private company boards. On average, directors on listed company boards earned 59 percent than their unlisted counterparts. Directors' fees were also increasing above the rate of inflation. Listed company directors' fees increased by just over 10 percent last year, while unlisted company directors say their fees increase by 8 percent on average. Hendry noted however that directors' fees had been static since Covid-19, and the rises were more of a catch-up. The pay gap between directors on private company boards and those on public sector boards was also pronounced, with those on listed company boards earning on average twice as much. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
BBC News
27-05-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Lotus gives girls look at motorsport industry opportunities
Getting a racing driver onto the Formula 1 grid takes an army of up to 2,000 people. However, only 10% of these are women. While young girls may perceive motorsport to be male dominated, is the industry on track to become more balanced and show young girls what is possible? With its headquarters in Hethel, near Wymondham in Norfolk, sports car manufacturer Lotus has opened its doors to let a new generation of aspiring motorsport speak with people inside the industry. The company was founded in the early 1950s by engineer Colin Chapman and moved to Norfolk in the 1960s. The two-day event, held by Girls on Track by Motorsport UK, aimed to help girls and women to see the variety of opportunities "regardless of interests, race and gender". Sheena Valentina has worked at Lotus for four years and hails it as an "amazing job". However, she knows the motorsport and automation industries are male-dominated. "We are trying to get to a point where females feel comfortable here. I think we are 100% getting there. "The gender pay gap for the Lotus group is 0.01% now, which is something we can be really proud of." She said the car manufacturer is trying to "push boundaries" and she hopes to see an industry that is equal for everyone. "I was aware that I was the only female in the room a lot of the time."She hopes to show other young girls, including her daughter what is possible. For 11-year-old Harriet, having a dad involved in the industry, meant she "really wanted" to come and tour Lotus. "I like seeing the cars go really fast across the race track," she said. And if she could have a career in motorsport, she said she would want to be behind the wheel, driving one of the race cars. Emily, 11, said she would rather be behind the scenes, working on building the cars. She said: "I think the building of the car is the most important. There wouldn't be racing without the builders."I think it's more likely for males to go into it [the industry] but I think women should be starting to go into it a lot more." Jenny Fletcher, from Motorsport UK, said giving young girls opportunities to open their eyes to how they could be a part of the industry was important. She said: "You have to see it to believe that you can be it. Getting those girls in from a young age to get in and experience the job roles is so crucial." Girls on Track has been running programmes and events for the past 10 years. "It's really about trying to showcase that it's a great industry to work in. There is a job for everybody. We obviously need a big number of STEM roles, engineers and mechanics... there's everything," Ms Fletcher added. "You think about one Formula 1 team and there's two drivers and 1,500 to 2,000 people working behind the scenes to build that car, to get the car and the drivers ready for racing." Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
