LONDON, UK, 19 May 2021 – Nearly half of UK workers still see certain jobs as being exclusively ‘male’ or ‘female’ new research reveals. The study by Samsung Pioneers – Samsung UK’s gender equality platform – shines a spotlight on workplace gender stereotypes, with 44% of people still believing certain roles are suited to either men or women.
Less than one in five (19%) believe there is gender equality in their workplace. Not being put forward for opportunities, such as a project, was the biggest driver behind this, with women feeling this more acutely (42%) than men (35%) as did Millennials (52%) compared to those aged 45-54-year (26%).
Findings also revealed almost one in five (17%) of women have not applied for a job for fear of being discriminated against because of their gender.
Despite this, the research shows that progress is being made – with over half (62%) of respondents believing the Chief Executive Officer role to be gender neutral, and 68% finding those who break gender barriers in the workplace ‘inspiring’.
The Breaking Bias Research – commissioned by Samsung UK, surveyed 2,000 UK respondents on their opinions towards gender equality at work, including views on if certain jobs, industries, departments and workplace skills are ‘for men’, ‘for women’, or ‘gender neutral’. While a significant number of respondents believe the majority of roles and industries as ‘gender neutral’, the research highlights unconscious bias still exists in the workplace.
Charlotte Grant, Head of Inclusion & Engagement at Samsung UK and Ireland said: “We are moving in the right direction as shown by this research, which is certainly encouraging. But there is still a long way to go to achieve total gender parity in the workplace. Companies have an active role to play in tackling this, creating a culture where conscious inclusion is a part of everyone’s every day and where actively challenging bias becomes the norm.”
“At Samsung, we believe equality and inclusion is fundamental in shaping a better future and our workforce should mirror our diverse customer base. Whilst we know there is always more to do, we are committed to putting this into practice, most recently launching our Women@Samsung Employee Resource Group and rolling out conscious inclusion awareness training throughout our entire UK & Ireland business to advocate positive change.”
Skills in the workplace
When it came to skills in the workplace, the survey found men are four times more likely than women to have perceived leadership skills (23% vs 5%). According to the findings, women are associated with qualities such as empathy (45% vs 4% men), listening (39% vs 6% men) and understanding (33% vs 6% men), suggested ingrained gender stereotypes around workplace attributes are still prevalent in 2021.
Skills/qualities associated with men
Skills/qualities associated with women
Gender in job roles
While the majority of respondents view UK industries as predominantly gender-neutral, highlighting a more progressive shift in attitudes, engineering, law enforcement and technology saw the greatest disparity in terms of gender bias. In comparison, the leisure and creative arts industries ranked highly as the most gender neutral industries.
Industries associated with men
Industries associated with women
Industries associated as gender neutral
Male and female perceptions
Across all fifty jobs included in the survey, women were more likely than men to categorise careers as ‘gender neutral’, than their male counterparts suggesting variations in bias.
When it came to skills in the workplace, the research showed men viewed leadership as a ‘male’ quality more strongly than women (28% vs 20%), which supports the findings that the role of CEO was more likely to be associated as ‘man’s job’. Interestingly, a third (31%) of women agreed with this, highlighting internal perception can also be a barrier to women reaching senior leadership positions.
Samsung Pioneers – a platform for change
Samsung Pioneers is Samsung UK’s platform created to champion gender equality in the technology industry and advocate change, open to both men and women in the company to create a culture of advocacy and allyship. Most recent commitments to gender equality at Samsung UK & Ireland include:
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