The way we live has changed dramatically over the last 30 years. The roles of men and women have transformed in a fast-paced social revolution but life around us has not really caught up. This revolution is unfinished and we are all paying the price.
Individually we face the challenge of fitting together work, children, family and relationships. Collectively, we face the challenges of an ageing population, a 24/7 global economy and concerns about our fragmented communities.
Increasingly, ‘breadwinner dads’ and 'stay at home mums' are a thing of the past. Fathers today want to spend more time with their children but long working hours make this hard. Most mothers want or need to go to work, but despite their qualifications, many have to trade down pay if they want to work part-time. Also many adults, women and men, need and want to provide more support to their older relatives. But our workplaces, services and institutions are designed for an age when 'women stayed at home', which makes it a struggle for those trying to combine work and care
And there is inequality in other areas of our modern life. Men are still paid more than women; thousands of pregnant workers are treated unfairly and thousands of women are sexually harassed at work every year; although most of us want to work in flexible ways, many of us don't; public policies, which could do so much to make life fairer often fail to do so; and economic and political power is still mostly held by men. And we should never forget that gender inequality still underpins life and death isues - every month seven women at killed by their partner,ex-partner or lover.
There are some key issues we believe need tackling if we are to achieve sex equality in Britain and complete the unfinished revolution – we are calling this the Gender Agenda. You can find out more about these issues on this site.
Go for a sex equality MOT to find out if your own circumstances echo our findings.
