The Group: vertical social capital, and choice

I've just finished Mary McCarthy's remarkable  1960s novel.   The group is one of Vassar graduates, so they are at the elite end of educated women, and they are closely bonded;  they celebrate each other's weddings, and offer support of a kind to each other on relationship and marriage issues. I picked it up thinking it might illustrate Paula Principle Factor 4 - that women lack the vertical networks to enable them to progress in their careers as fast as they might. McCarthy offers us a colourful palette of characters, from independent (Polly)  to submissive (Kay),  baby-focussed (Priss) to lesbian (Lakey), and so on.   They are introduced to us at Kay's marriage to Harald, the…
Read More

great expectations, and household divisions

The recent excellent report from IPPR on gender issues has immediate attractions for me. It's great to see a thinktank using longitudinal data, as Tess Lanning and her colleagues do. They compare the experiences of women born in 1958 with those of the 1970 generation, and this gives us a powerful take on trends. They rightly warn against seeing any tidy linear progression towards greater equality. In particular, we can see major divisions opening up between top and bottom, amongst women as more generally. One illustration of this is the changes in the amount of domestic work done by men; this has increased over time - but mainly amongst men with more education.…
Read More

Japan’s glass ceiling

Today's Financial Times reports that Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, moved yesterday to compel corporate Japan to promote more women. He asked them to set themselves a target - of at least one woman executive per company. As the Ft wrily remarks: "The request was polite and the scale was hardly European in ambition." In Japan women fill just 1.6% of executive roles (the European figure is 14%), so if even half of them they comply with their prime minister's wish it would mark a big jump forward. It's part of a wider tension within Japan about the role of women in the economy. This is powered in part by…
Read More

Murdering a darling: class trumps gender

I've been murdering a few darlings this weekend.  For anyone unfamiliar with this form of -cide,  it means discarding already written passages in the interests of logic/wordcount/taste etc.    I've been cutting down on the PP bookscript, trying to get through the earlier chapters (on educational crossovers, and on pay differentials) more quickly so the overall argument stands out.    This means junking some things that I think are interesting/important. Here's an example, with some appended reflections it led me to: "We know that family background counts for a lot in a child’s chances of doing well at school and going on to university.   Now let’s look at the other side of our…
Read More

Amazons!

Today's  post is a little different.  First, Amazons, the topic of today's  In Our Time on R4 (Melvyn Bragg's job is the most enviable I can imagine....).    The  link to the PP is obvious - the Amazons are after all an exceptionally  powerful example of convention-defying occupational choice .   I wouldn't want to push it too far, but it will be interesting to see when a woman reaches the top echelons of the military.    And whether there is any discussion in that sphere over whether/how a female presence would make a difference to leadership styles, as there is over boardrooms and financial trading (and even politics....). I went over to the British Museum ( I'm lucky enough to live…
Read More

women, science – and music

Yesterday, during the interval of an inspirational concert commemorating the 45th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, I had a chance conversation with Frances Lynch of the Electric Voice Theatre.  She told me about her project linking young women to science through musical stories.  It sounds a wonderful initiative, and very PP-relevant, so I'm passing on the link.
Read More

Matching educational parity and development : a set of stages

There is an extraordinarily strong link between women succeeding in education and where countries are on global measures of development.  This is pretty well recognised by those who work in or with poorer countries (of which I'm not one).   Whether you choose primary or secondary enrolments, tertiary graduation or adult literacy rates, there is a very close correlation between how well women do and the country’s economic and social trajectory. Within the world of development education the priority is well recognised in the way aid money is allocated: in 2009-10, on average 60% of all the OECD countries’ aid to education in poorer countries (excluding US) was directed specifically to achieving greater gender equality…
Read More

An avalanche in education?

ippr with Pearson recently published a stimulating discussion of  future challenges to  universities, by Michael Barber and colleagues. I found it both elegantly and accessibly written, and radical without being shrill as too many futurist accounts are. It contains a wealth of examples of interesting innovations (though I have the sneaking feeling that all the authorshave a primary emotional bond to their backgrounds in highly elite institutions). More importantly, it identifies a range of developments which are already discernible and which might well combine in the near future to trigger a highly destructive landslide in our current university set-up (hence the title, An Avalanche is Coming). These include changes in the price-quality relationship…
Read More

The Group: vertical social capital, and choice

I've just finished Mary McCarthy's remarkable  1960s novel.   The group is one of Vassar graduates, so they are at the elite end of educated women, and they are closely bonded;  they celebrate each other's weddings, and offer support of a kind to each other on relationship and marriage issues. I picked it up thinking it might illustrate Paula Principle Factor 4 - that women lack the vertical networks to enable them to progress in their careers as fast as they might. McCarthy offers us a colourful palette of characters, from independent (Polly)  to submissive (Kay),  baby-focussed (Priss) to lesbian (Lakey), and so on.   They are introduced to us at Kay's marriage to Harald, the…
Read More

great expectations, and household divisions

The recent excellent report from IPPR on gender issues has immediate attractions for me. It's great to see a thinktank using longitudinal data, as Tess Lanning and her colleagues do. They compare the experiences of women born in 1958 with those of the 1970 generation, and this gives us a powerful take on trends. They rightly warn against seeing any tidy linear progression towards greater equality. In particular, we can see major divisions opening up between top and bottom, amongst women as more generally. One illustration of this is the changes in the amount of domestic work done by men; this has increased over time - but mainly amongst men with more education.…
Read More

Japan’s glass ceiling

Today's Financial Times reports that Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, moved yesterday to compel corporate Japan to promote more women. He asked them to set themselves a target - of at least one woman executive per company. As the Ft wrily remarks: "The request was polite and the scale was hardly European in ambition." In Japan women fill just 1.6% of executive roles (the European figure is 14%), so if even half of them they comply with their prime minister's wish it would mark a big jump forward. It's part of a wider tension within Japan about the role of women in the economy. This is powered in part by…
Read More

Murdering a darling: class trumps gender

I've been murdering a few darlings this weekend.  For anyone unfamiliar with this form of -cide,  it means discarding already written passages in the interests of logic/wordcount/taste etc.    I've been cutting down on the PP bookscript, trying to get through the earlier chapters (on educational crossovers, and on pay differentials) more quickly so the overall argument stands out.    This means junking some things that I think are interesting/important. Here's an example, with some appended reflections it led me to: "We know that family background counts for a lot in a child’s chances of doing well at school and going on to university.   Now let’s look at the other side of our…
Read More

Amazons!

Today's  post is a little different.  First, Amazons, the topic of today's  In Our Time on R4 (Melvyn Bragg's job is the most enviable I can imagine....).    The  link to the PP is obvious - the Amazons are after all an exceptionally  powerful example of convention-defying occupational choice .   I wouldn't want to push it too far, but it will be interesting to see when a woman reaches the top echelons of the military.    And whether there is any discussion in that sphere over whether/how a female presence would make a difference to leadership styles, as there is over boardrooms and financial trading (and even politics....). I went over to the British Museum ( I'm lucky enough to live…
Read More

women, science – and music

Yesterday, during the interval of an inspirational concert commemorating the 45th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, I had a chance conversation with Frances Lynch of the Electric Voice Theatre.  She told me about her project linking young women to science through musical stories.  It sounds a wonderful initiative, and very PP-relevant, so I'm passing on the link.
Read More

Matching educational parity and development : a set of stages

There is an extraordinarily strong link between women succeeding in education and where countries are on global measures of development.  This is pretty well recognised by those who work in or with poorer countries (of which I'm not one).   Whether you choose primary or secondary enrolments, tertiary graduation or adult literacy rates, there is a very close correlation between how well women do and the country’s economic and social trajectory. Within the world of development education the priority is well recognised in the way aid money is allocated: in 2009-10, on average 60% of all the OECD countries’ aid to education in poorer countries (excluding US) was directed specifically to achieving greater gender equality…
Read More

An avalanche in education?

ippr with Pearson recently published a stimulating discussion of  future challenges to  universities, by Michael Barber and colleagues. I found it both elegantly and accessibly written, and radical without being shrill as too many futurist accounts are. It contains a wealth of examples of interesting innovations (though I have the sneaking feeling that all the authorshave a primary emotional bond to their backgrounds in highly elite institutions). More importantly, it identifies a range of developments which are already discernible and which might well combine in the near future to trigger a highly destructive landslide in our current university set-up (hence the title, An Avalanche is Coming). These include changes in the price-quality relationship…
Read More

The Group: vertical social capital, and choice

I've just finished Mary McCarthy's remarkable  1960s novel.   The group is one of Vassar graduates, so they are at the elite end of educated women, and they are closely bonded;  they celebrate each other's weddings, and offer support of a kind to each other on relationship and marriage issues. I picked it up thinking it might illustrate Paula Principle Factor 4 - that women lack the vertical networks to enable them to progress in their careers as fast as they might. McCarthy offers us a colourful palette of characters, from independent (Polly)  to submissive (Kay),  baby-focussed (Priss) to lesbian (Lakey), and so on.   They are introduced to us at Kay's marriage to Harald, the…
Read More

great expectations, and household divisions

The recent excellent report from IPPR on gender issues has immediate attractions for me. It's great to see a thinktank using longitudinal data, as Tess Lanning and her colleagues do. They compare the experiences of women born in 1958 with those of the 1970 generation, and this gives us a powerful take on trends. They rightly warn against seeing any tidy linear progression towards greater equality. In particular, we can see major divisions opening up between top and bottom, amongst women as more generally. One illustration of this is the changes in the amount of domestic work done by men; this has increased over time - but mainly amongst men with more education.…
Read More

Japan’s glass ceiling

Today's Financial Times reports that Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, moved yesterday to compel corporate Japan to promote more women. He asked them to set themselves a target - of at least one woman executive per company. As the Ft wrily remarks: "The request was polite and the scale was hardly European in ambition." In Japan women fill just 1.6% of executive roles (the European figure is 14%), so if even half of them they comply with their prime minister's wish it would mark a big jump forward. It's part of a wider tension within Japan about the role of women in the economy. This is powered in part by…
Read More

Murdering a darling: class trumps gender

I've been murdering a few darlings this weekend.  For anyone unfamiliar with this form of -cide,  it means discarding already written passages in the interests of logic/wordcount/taste etc.    I've been cutting down on the PP bookscript, trying to get through the earlier chapters (on educational crossovers, and on pay differentials) more quickly so the overall argument stands out.    This means junking some things that I think are interesting/important. Here's an example, with some appended reflections it led me to: "We know that family background counts for a lot in a child’s chances of doing well at school and going on to university.   Now let’s look at the other side of our…
Read More

Amazons!

Today's  post is a little different.  First, Amazons, the topic of today's  In Our Time on R4 (Melvyn Bragg's job is the most enviable I can imagine....).    The  link to the PP is obvious - the Amazons are after all an exceptionally  powerful example of convention-defying occupational choice .   I wouldn't want to push it too far, but it will be interesting to see when a woman reaches the top echelons of the military.    And whether there is any discussion in that sphere over whether/how a female presence would make a difference to leadership styles, as there is over boardrooms and financial trading (and even politics....). I went over to the British Museum ( I'm lucky enough to live…
Read More

women, science – and music

Yesterday, during the interval of an inspirational concert commemorating the 45th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, I had a chance conversation with Frances Lynch of the Electric Voice Theatre.  She told me about her project linking young women to science through musical stories.  It sounds a wonderful initiative, and very PP-relevant, so I'm passing on the link.
Read More

Matching educational parity and development : a set of stages

There is an extraordinarily strong link between women succeeding in education and where countries are on global measures of development.  This is pretty well recognised by those who work in or with poorer countries (of which I'm not one).   Whether you choose primary or secondary enrolments, tertiary graduation or adult literacy rates, there is a very close correlation between how well women do and the country’s economic and social trajectory. Within the world of development education the priority is well recognised in the way aid money is allocated: in 2009-10, on average 60% of all the OECD countries’ aid to education in poorer countries (excluding US) was directed specifically to achieving greater gender equality…
Read More

An avalanche in education?

ippr with Pearson recently published a stimulating discussion of  future challenges to  universities, by Michael Barber and colleagues. I found it both elegantly and accessibly written, and radical without being shrill as too many futurist accounts are. It contains a wealth of examples of interesting innovations (though I have the sneaking feeling that all the authorshave a primary emotional bond to their backgrounds in highly elite institutions). More importantly, it identifies a range of developments which are already discernible and which might well combine in the near future to trigger a highly destructive landslide in our current university set-up (hence the title, An Avalanche is Coming). These include changes in the price-quality relationship…
Read More

The Group: vertical social capital, and choice

I've just finished Mary McCarthy's remarkable  1960s novel.   The group is one of Vassar graduates, so they are at the elite end of educated women, and they are closely bonded;  they celebrate each other's weddings, and offer support of a kind to each other on relationship and marriage issues. I picked it up thinking it might illustrate Paula Principle Factor 4 - that women lack the vertical networks to enable them to progress in their careers as fast as they might. McCarthy offers us a colourful palette of characters, from independent (Polly)  to submissive (Kay),  baby-focussed (Priss) to lesbian (Lakey), and so on.   They are introduced to us at Kay's marriage to Harald, the…
Read More

great expectations, and household divisions

The recent excellent report from IPPR on gender issues has immediate attractions for me. It's great to see a thinktank using longitudinal data, as Tess Lanning and her colleagues do. They compare the experiences of women born in 1958 with those of the 1970 generation, and this gives us a powerful take on trends. They rightly warn against seeing any tidy linear progression towards greater equality. In particular, we can see major divisions opening up between top and bottom, amongst women as more generally. One illustration of this is the changes in the amount of domestic work done by men; this has increased over time - but mainly amongst men with more education.…
Read More

Japan’s glass ceiling

Today's Financial Times reports that Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, moved yesterday to compel corporate Japan to promote more women. He asked them to set themselves a target - of at least one woman executive per company. As the Ft wrily remarks: "The request was polite and the scale was hardly European in ambition." In Japan women fill just 1.6% of executive roles (the European figure is 14%), so if even half of them they comply with their prime minister's wish it would mark a big jump forward. It's part of a wider tension within Japan about the role of women in the economy. This is powered in part by…
Read More

Murdering a darling: class trumps gender

I've been murdering a few darlings this weekend.  For anyone unfamiliar with this form of -cide,  it means discarding already written passages in the interests of logic/wordcount/taste etc.    I've been cutting down on the PP bookscript, trying to get through the earlier chapters (on educational crossovers, and on pay differentials) more quickly so the overall argument stands out.    This means junking some things that I think are interesting/important. Here's an example, with some appended reflections it led me to: "We know that family background counts for a lot in a child’s chances of doing well at school and going on to university.   Now let’s look at the other side of our…
Read More

Amazons!

Today's  post is a little different.  First, Amazons, the topic of today's  In Our Time on R4 (Melvyn Bragg's job is the most enviable I can imagine....).    The  link to the PP is obvious - the Amazons are after all an exceptionally  powerful example of convention-defying occupational choice .   I wouldn't want to push it too far, but it will be interesting to see when a woman reaches the top echelons of the military.    And whether there is any discussion in that sphere over whether/how a female presence would make a difference to leadership styles, as there is over boardrooms and financial trading (and even politics....). I went over to the British Museum ( I'm lucky enough to live…
Read More

women, science – and music

Yesterday, during the interval of an inspirational concert commemorating the 45th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, I had a chance conversation with Frances Lynch of the Electric Voice Theatre.  She told me about her project linking young women to science through musical stories.  It sounds a wonderful initiative, and very PP-relevant, so I'm passing on the link.
Read More

Matching educational parity and development : a set of stages

There is an extraordinarily strong link between women succeeding in education and where countries are on global measures of development.  This is pretty well recognised by those who work in or with poorer countries (of which I'm not one).   Whether you choose primary or secondary enrolments, tertiary graduation or adult literacy rates, there is a very close correlation between how well women do and the country’s economic and social trajectory. Within the world of development education the priority is well recognised in the way aid money is allocated: in 2009-10, on average 60% of all the OECD countries’ aid to education in poorer countries (excluding US) was directed specifically to achieving greater gender equality…
Read More

An avalanche in education?

ippr with Pearson recently published a stimulating discussion of  future challenges to  universities, by Michael Barber and colleagues. I found it both elegantly and accessibly written, and radical without being shrill as too many futurist accounts are. It contains a wealth of examples of interesting innovations (though I have the sneaking feeling that all the authorshave a primary emotional bond to their backgrounds in highly elite institutions). More importantly, it identifies a range of developments which are already discernible and which might well combine in the near future to trigger a highly destructive landslide in our current university set-up (hence the title, An Avalanche is Coming). These include changes in the price-quality relationship…
Read More

The Group: vertical social capital, and choice

I've just finished Mary McCarthy's remarkable  1960s novel.   The group is one of Vassar graduates, so they are at the elite end of educated women, and they are closely bonded;  they celebrate each other's weddings, and offer support of a kind to each other on relationship and marriage issues. I picked it up thinking it might illustrate Paula Principle Factor 4 - that women lack the vertical networks to enable them to progress in their careers as fast as they might. McCarthy offers us a colourful palette of characters, from independent (Polly)  to submissive (Kay),  baby-focussed (Priss) to lesbian (Lakey), and so on.   They are introduced to us at Kay's marriage to Harald, the…
Read More

great expectations, and household divisions

The recent excellent report from IPPR on gender issues has immediate attractions for me. It's great to see a thinktank using longitudinal data, as Tess Lanning and her colleagues do. They compare the experiences of women born in 1958 with those of the 1970 generation, and this gives us a powerful take on trends. They rightly warn against seeing any tidy linear progression towards greater equality. In particular, we can see major divisions opening up between top and bottom, amongst women as more generally. One illustration of this is the changes in the amount of domestic work done by men; this has increased over time - but mainly amongst men with more education.…
Read More

Japan’s glass ceiling

Today's Financial Times reports that Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, moved yesterday to compel corporate Japan to promote more women. He asked them to set themselves a target - of at least one woman executive per company. As the Ft wrily remarks: "The request was polite and the scale was hardly European in ambition." In Japan women fill just 1.6% of executive roles (the European figure is 14%), so if even half of them they comply with their prime minister's wish it would mark a big jump forward. It's part of a wider tension within Japan about the role of women in the economy. This is powered in part by…
Read More

Murdering a darling: class trumps gender

I've been murdering a few darlings this weekend.  For anyone unfamiliar with this form of -cide,  it means discarding already written passages in the interests of logic/wordcount/taste etc.    I've been cutting down on the PP bookscript, trying to get through the earlier chapters (on educational crossovers, and on pay differentials) more quickly so the overall argument stands out.    This means junking some things that I think are interesting/important. Here's an example, with some appended reflections it led me to: "We know that family background counts for a lot in a child’s chances of doing well at school and going on to university.   Now let’s look at the other side of our…
Read More

Amazons!

Today's  post is a little different.  First, Amazons, the topic of today's  In Our Time on R4 (Melvyn Bragg's job is the most enviable I can imagine....).    The  link to the PP is obvious - the Amazons are after all an exceptionally  powerful example of convention-defying occupational choice .   I wouldn't want to push it too far, but it will be interesting to see when a woman reaches the top echelons of the military.    And whether there is any discussion in that sphere over whether/how a female presence would make a difference to leadership styles, as there is over boardrooms and financial trading (and even politics....). I went over to the British Museum ( I'm lucky enough to live…
Read More

women, science – and music

Yesterday, during the interval of an inspirational concert commemorating the 45th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, I had a chance conversation with Frances Lynch of the Electric Voice Theatre.  She told me about her project linking young women to science through musical stories.  It sounds a wonderful initiative, and very PP-relevant, so I'm passing on the link.
Read More

Matching educational parity and development : a set of stages

There is an extraordinarily strong link between women succeeding in education and where countries are on global measures of development.  This is pretty well recognised by those who work in or with poorer countries (of which I'm not one).   Whether you choose primary or secondary enrolments, tertiary graduation or adult literacy rates, there is a very close correlation between how well women do and the country’s economic and social trajectory. Within the world of development education the priority is well recognised in the way aid money is allocated: in 2009-10, on average 60% of all the OECD countries’ aid to education in poorer countries (excluding US) was directed specifically to achieving greater gender equality…
Read More

An avalanche in education?

ippr with Pearson recently published a stimulating discussion of  future challenges to  universities, by Michael Barber and colleagues. I found it both elegantly and accessibly written, and radical without being shrill as too many futurist accounts are. It contains a wealth of examples of interesting innovations (though I have the sneaking feeling that all the authorshave a primary emotional bond to their backgrounds in highly elite institutions). More importantly, it identifies a range of developments which are already discernible and which might well combine in the near future to trigger a highly destructive landslide in our current university set-up (hence the title, An Avalanche is Coming). These include changes in the price-quality relationship…
Read More

The Group: vertical social capital, and choice

I've just finished Mary McCarthy's remarkable  1960s novel.   The group is one of Vassar graduates, so they are at the elite end of educated women, and they are closely bonded;  they celebrate each other's weddings, and offer support of a kind to each other on relationship and marriage issues. I picked it up thinking it might illustrate Paula Principle Factor 4 - that women lack the vertical networks to enable them to progress in their careers as fast as they might. McCarthy offers us a colourful palette of characters, from independent (Polly)  to submissive (Kay),  baby-focussed (Priss) to lesbian (Lakey), and so on.   They are introduced to us at Kay's marriage to Harald, the…
Read More

great expectations, and household divisions

The recent excellent report from IPPR on gender issues has immediate attractions for me. It's great to see a thinktank using longitudinal data, as Tess Lanning and her colleagues do. They compare the experiences of women born in 1958 with those of the 1970 generation, and this gives us a powerful take on trends. They rightly warn against seeing any tidy linear progression towards greater equality. In particular, we can see major divisions opening up between top and bottom, amongst women as more generally. One illustration of this is the changes in the amount of domestic work done by men; this has increased over time - but mainly amongst men with more education.…
Read More

Japan’s glass ceiling

Today's Financial Times reports that Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, moved yesterday to compel corporate Japan to promote more women. He asked them to set themselves a target - of at least one woman executive per company. As the Ft wrily remarks: "The request was polite and the scale was hardly European in ambition." In Japan women fill just 1.6% of executive roles (the European figure is 14%), so if even half of them they comply with their prime minister's wish it would mark a big jump forward. It's part of a wider tension within Japan about the role of women in the economy. This is powered in part by…
Read More

Murdering a darling: class trumps gender

I've been murdering a few darlings this weekend.  For anyone unfamiliar with this form of -cide,  it means discarding already written passages in the interests of logic/wordcount/taste etc.    I've been cutting down on the PP bookscript, trying to get through the earlier chapters (on educational crossovers, and on pay differentials) more quickly so the overall argument stands out.    This means junking some things that I think are interesting/important. Here's an example, with some appended reflections it led me to: "We know that family background counts for a lot in a child’s chances of doing well at school and going on to university.   Now let’s look at the other side of our…
Read More

Amazons!

Today's  post is a little different.  First, Amazons, the topic of today's  In Our Time on R4 (Melvyn Bragg's job is the most enviable I can imagine....).    The  link to the PP is obvious - the Amazons are after all an exceptionally  powerful example of convention-defying occupational choice .   I wouldn't want to push it too far, but it will be interesting to see when a woman reaches the top echelons of the military.    And whether there is any discussion in that sphere over whether/how a female presence would make a difference to leadership styles, as there is over boardrooms and financial trading (and even politics....). I went over to the British Museum ( I'm lucky enough to live…
Read More

women, science – and music

Yesterday, during the interval of an inspirational concert commemorating the 45th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, I had a chance conversation with Frances Lynch of the Electric Voice Theatre.  She told me about her project linking young women to science through musical stories.  It sounds a wonderful initiative, and very PP-relevant, so I'm passing on the link.
Read More

Matching educational parity and development : a set of stages

There is an extraordinarily strong link between women succeeding in education and where countries are on global measures of development.  This is pretty well recognised by those who work in or with poorer countries (of which I'm not one).   Whether you choose primary or secondary enrolments, tertiary graduation or adult literacy rates, there is a very close correlation between how well women do and the country’s economic and social trajectory. Within the world of development education the priority is well recognised in the way aid money is allocated: in 2009-10, on average 60% of all the OECD countries’ aid to education in poorer countries (excluding US) was directed specifically to achieving greater gender equality…
Read More

An avalanche in education?

ippr with Pearson recently published a stimulating discussion of  future challenges to  universities, by Michael Barber and colleagues. I found it both elegantly and accessibly written, and radical without being shrill as too many futurist accounts are. It contains a wealth of examples of interesting innovations (though I have the sneaking feeling that all the authorshave a primary emotional bond to their backgrounds in highly elite institutions). More importantly, it identifies a range of developments which are already discernible and which might well combine in the near future to trigger a highly destructive landslide in our current university set-up (hence the title, An Avalanche is Coming). These include changes in the price-quality relationship…
Read More

The Group: vertical social capital, and choice

I've just finished Mary McCarthy's remarkable  1960s novel.   The group is one of Vassar graduates, so they are at the elite end of educated women, and they are closely bonded;  they celebrate each other's weddings, and offer support of a kind to each other on relationship and marriage issues. I picked it up thinking it might illustrate Paula Principle Factor 4 - that women lack the vertical networks to enable them to progress in their careers as fast as they might. McCarthy offers us a colourful palette of characters, from independent (Polly)  to submissive (Kay),  baby-focussed (Priss) to lesbian (Lakey), and so on.   They are introduced to us at Kay's marriage to Harald, the…
Read More

great expectations, and household divisions

The recent excellent report from IPPR on gender issues has immediate attractions for me. It's great to see a thinktank using longitudinal data, as Tess Lanning and her colleagues do. They compare the experiences of women born in 1958 with those of the 1970 generation, and this gives us a powerful take on trends. They rightly warn against seeing any tidy linear progression towards greater equality. In particular, we can see major divisions opening up between top and bottom, amongst women as more generally. One illustration of this is the changes in the amount of domestic work done by men; this has increased over time - but mainly amongst men with more education.…
Read More

Japan’s glass ceiling

Today's Financial Times reports that Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, moved yesterday to compel corporate Japan to promote more women. He asked them to set themselves a target - of at least one woman executive per company. As the Ft wrily remarks: "The request was polite and the scale was hardly European in ambition." In Japan women fill just 1.6% of executive roles (the European figure is 14%), so if even half of them they comply with their prime minister's wish it would mark a big jump forward. It's part of a wider tension within Japan about the role of women in the economy. This is powered in part by…
Read More

Murdering a darling: class trumps gender

I've been murdering a few darlings this weekend.  For anyone unfamiliar with this form of -cide,  it means discarding already written passages in the interests of logic/wordcount/taste etc.    I've been cutting down on the PP bookscript, trying to get through the earlier chapters (on educational crossovers, and on pay differentials) more quickly so the overall argument stands out.    This means junking some things that I think are interesting/important. Here's an example, with some appended reflections it led me to: "We know that family background counts for a lot in a child’s chances of doing well at school and going on to university.   Now let’s look at the other side of our…
Read More

Amazons!

Today's  post is a little different.  First, Amazons, the topic of today's  In Our Time on R4 (Melvyn Bragg's job is the most enviable I can imagine....).    The  link to the PP is obvious - the Amazons are after all an exceptionally  powerful example of convention-defying occupational choice .   I wouldn't want to push it too far, but it will be interesting to see when a woman reaches the top echelons of the military.    And whether there is any discussion in that sphere over whether/how a female presence would make a difference to leadership styles, as there is over boardrooms and financial trading (and even politics....). I went over to the British Museum ( I'm lucky enough to live…
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women, science – and music

Yesterday, during the interval of an inspirational concert commemorating the 45th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, I had a chance conversation with Frances Lynch of the Electric Voice Theatre.  She told me about her project linking young women to science through musical stories.  It sounds a wonderful initiative, and very PP-relevant, so I'm passing on the link.
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Matching educational parity and development : a set of stages

There is an extraordinarily strong link between women succeeding in education and where countries are on global measures of development.  This is pretty well recognised by those who work in or with poorer countries (of which I'm not one).   Whether you choose primary or secondary enrolments, tertiary graduation or adult literacy rates, there is a very close correlation between how well women do and the country’s economic and social trajectory. Within the world of development education the priority is well recognised in the way aid money is allocated: in 2009-10, on average 60% of all the OECD countries’ aid to education in poorer countries (excluding US) was directed specifically to achieving greater gender equality…
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An avalanche in education?

ippr with Pearson recently published a stimulating discussion of  future challenges to  universities, by Michael Barber and colleagues. I found it both elegantly and accessibly written, and radical without being shrill as too many futurist accounts are. It contains a wealth of examples of interesting innovations (though I have the sneaking feeling that all the authorshave a primary emotional bond to their backgrounds in highly elite institutions). More importantly, it identifies a range of developments which are already discernible and which might well combine in the near future to trigger a highly destructive landslide in our current university set-up (hence the title, An Avalanche is Coming). These include changes in the price-quality relationship…
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The Group: vertical social capital, and choice

I've just finished Mary McCarthy's remarkable  1960s novel.   The group is one of Vassar graduates, so they are at the elite end of educated women, and they are closely bonded;  they celebrate each other's weddings, and offer support of a kind to each other on relationship and marriage issues. I picked it up thinking it might illustrate Paula Principle Factor 4 - that women lack the vertical networks to enable them to progress in their careers as fast as they might. McCarthy offers us a colourful palette of characters, from independent (Polly)  to submissive (Kay),  baby-focussed (Priss) to lesbian (Lakey), and so on.   They are introduced to us at Kay's marriage to Harald, the…
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great expectations, and household divisions

The recent excellent report from IPPR on gender issues has immediate attractions for me. It's great to see a thinktank using longitudinal data, as Tess Lanning and her colleagues do. They compare the experiences of women born in 1958 with those of the 1970 generation, and this gives us a powerful take on trends. They rightly warn against seeing any tidy linear progression towards greater equality. In particular, we can see major divisions opening up between top and bottom, amongst women as more generally. One illustration of this is the changes in the amount of domestic work done by men; this has increased over time - but mainly amongst men with more education.…
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Japan’s glass ceiling

Today's Financial Times reports that Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, moved yesterday to compel corporate Japan to promote more women. He asked them to set themselves a target - of at least one woman executive per company. As the Ft wrily remarks: "The request was polite and the scale was hardly European in ambition." In Japan women fill just 1.6% of executive roles (the European figure is 14%), so if even half of them they comply with their prime minister's wish it would mark a big jump forward. It's part of a wider tension within Japan about the role of women in the economy. This is powered in part by…
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Murdering a darling: class trumps gender

I've been murdering a few darlings this weekend.  For anyone unfamiliar with this form of -cide,  it means discarding already written passages in the interests of logic/wordcount/taste etc.    I've been cutting down on the PP bookscript, trying to get through the earlier chapters (on educational crossovers, and on pay differentials) more quickly so the overall argument stands out.    This means junking some things that I think are interesting/important. Here's an example, with some appended reflections it led me to: "We know that family background counts for a lot in a child’s chances of doing well at school and going on to university.   Now let’s look at the other side of our…
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Amazons!

Today's  post is a little different.  First, Amazons, the topic of today's  In Our Time on R4 (Melvyn Bragg's job is the most enviable I can imagine....).    The  link to the PP is obvious - the Amazons are after all an exceptionally  powerful example of convention-defying occupational choice .   I wouldn't want to push it too far, but it will be interesting to see when a woman reaches the top echelons of the military.    And whether there is any discussion in that sphere over whether/how a female presence would make a difference to leadership styles, as there is over boardrooms and financial trading (and even politics....). I went over to the British Museum ( I'm lucky enough to live…
Read More

women, science – and music

Yesterday, during the interval of an inspirational concert commemorating the 45th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, I had a chance conversation with Frances Lynch of the Electric Voice Theatre.  She told me about her project linking young women to science through musical stories.  It sounds a wonderful initiative, and very PP-relevant, so I'm passing on the link.
Read More

Matching educational parity and development : a set of stages

There is an extraordinarily strong link between women succeeding in education and where countries are on global measures of development.  This is pretty well recognised by those who work in or with poorer countries (of which I'm not one).   Whether you choose primary or secondary enrolments, tertiary graduation or adult literacy rates, there is a very close correlation between how well women do and the country’s economic and social trajectory. Within the world of development education the priority is well recognised in the way aid money is allocated: in 2009-10, on average 60% of all the OECD countries’ aid to education in poorer countries (excluding US) was directed specifically to achieving greater gender equality…
Read More

An avalanche in education?

ippr with Pearson recently published a stimulating discussion of  future challenges to  universities, by Michael Barber and colleagues. I found it both elegantly and accessibly written, and radical without being shrill as too many futurist accounts are. It contains a wealth of examples of interesting innovations (though I have the sneaking feeling that all the authorshave a primary emotional bond to their backgrounds in highly elite institutions). More importantly, it identifies a range of developments which are already discernible and which might well combine in the near future to trigger a highly destructive landslide in our current university set-up (hence the title, An Avalanche is Coming). These include changes in the price-quality relationship…
Read More