The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is #BreakTheBias, so here at the UK Data Service we have put together a list of useful datasets and key examples for researchers who want to explore gender biases and inequalities.
“Home-based working increases the proportion of time women (most often) spend on housework and childcare, reproducing and reinforcing gender roles within the new ‘work-space'” – Marks et al, Where does work belong anymore? Gender in Management.
Useful data
Where Does Work Belong Anymore? The Impact of the COVID19 Pandemic on Working in the UK, 2020-2021
The data from this study by Marks et al (available from the ReShare repository, is in the form of data from online questionnaires and semi-structured interviews) can be used to explore the inequalities and challenges that arose from new home-based working patterns at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This study collected information in the form of diaries on how respondents spent time prior to and during the Covid-19 pandemic. Overall, 6896 diaries were collected across the 6 waves, allowing an analysis of behavioural change between a baseline (in 2016), three national lockdowns, and two intervening periods of the relaxation of social restrictions.
National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles, 2010-2012
Natsal-3 contains a range of variables on sexual attitudes and lifestyles. Some notable variables are the opinions questions, which highlight varying attitudes to statements, such as ‘Men have a naturally higher sex drive than women’ and ‘It’s OK to have sex with someone without being in love with them’. Two new teaching datasets which contain these variables are also available.
British Social Attitudes Survey, 2019
The British Social Attitudes survey provides measure of public opinion on a range of core questions, as well as on specific modules on a range of social, economic, political and moral issues. The 2019 edition of the data had specific modules on equalities and gender identity, as well as unpaid care, income and pensions – all of which are potential places where biases can be highlighted.
Case Studies
Many researchers have used data from the UK Data Service to explore bias and equalities and we’ve summarised a few examples below:
The class ceiling – social mobility and why it pays to be privileged
The researchers, Daniel Laurison and Sam Friedman, analysed the Labour Force Survey (LFS) to provide the first large-scale and representative study of social mobility into and within the UK’s higher professional and managerial occupations. Their results showed how the ‘class ceiling’ intersects with the glass ceiling, indicating that women, many groups of ethnic minorities and people with disabilities are significantly under-represented in top jobs and experience relatively reduced incomes.
Upwardly mobile women face a significant “double disadvantage” based on both class origin and gender. The researchers proposed ten policy recommendations, including taking intersectionality seriously.
Equality and diversity provision within organisations is very often organised one-dimensionally along a single axis of social inequality, yet people’s work lives are better understood as being shaped by many axes of inequality that often work together and influence one another.
What do the data tell us about is Britain fairer
This case study discusses a report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). ‘Is Britain Fairer? 2018’ is a comprehensive review of how Britain is performing on measures of equality and human rights.
It provides a picture of people’s life chances in Britain today; looking across all areas of life, including education, work, living standards, health, justice and security, and participation in society.
To measure this, the EHRC constructed a framework made up of a series of indicators to systematically monitor the position of certain groups in relation to equality and human rights. Of the 48 measures, 33 of these use data in the UK Data Service collection, such as the Annual Population Survey, the Crime Survey for England and Wales and the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey.
The report concluded that there are more women, black people and Pakistanis in employment, more women in higher paid occupations and that the gender pay gap is decreasing.
However, the concerning levels of hate crime, sexual violence and domestic abuse experienced by disabled people, LGBTQ+ people and women, and a marked backwards move in justice and personal security, show that there is still a lot to do to ensure everyone is free from discrimination and can enjoy their basic human rights.
Explore more of our impact case studies.
Podcasts from the UK Data Service
Listen to Dr. Neli Demireva, Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Sociology at the University of Essex, who is a co-author of the book: Pioneering Social Research: Life Stories of a Generation, talks about the female pioneering social science who have fought for gender quality over the years.
They are also a huge source of inspiration for other women in the world of Social Science and the rest of society too.
This clip from the podcast focuses on the work of Ann Oakley.
The whole podcast focuses on the work of other female Social Science Pioneers.
Find out more about the female pioneers mentioned in the interview.
Additionally, listen to Dr. Julia Kasmire’s podcast, which includes her talking about her expertise and experiences in tackling gender bias in the workplace. Julia is one of our Computational Social Scientists.
Identity in Data
The UK Data Service last year organised #DataImpact2021 – #IdentityInData: Who counts? Visibility, voice and culture in data collection and use, which explored focused on how researchers are increasingly exploring how discourses of self and identity and data remain inclusive from the perspectives of those populations, communities and individuals.
Find out more about International Women’s Day.
#InternationalWomensDay
#BreakTheBias