Rethinking young women’s working lives

New research will examine how women's early experiences of employment shape long-term career paths and reinforce inequalities in the labour market. The project, led by University of Leeds academics and funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will explore early indications of work inequalities based on gender, and how disadvantages in employment develop over time. At present, little is known about young women's very first experiences of work, particularly when undertaken alongside studying at school, college or university, and how this may impact on future employment choices and outcomes. Young women are often at the sharp end of wider economic downturns - whether that be austerity, the COVID-19 pandemic, or the current cost of living crisis. Dr Kim Allen, School of Sociology and Social Policy The research aims to highlight how inequality is apparent in young women's earliest experiences of paid work through analysis of national labour market datasets, combined with focus groups and interviews with young women who have not yet had children. Previous studies have often focused on the 'motherhood penalty' - the notion that women with children encounter work-related disadvantages more so than those without children - when discussing gendered inequalities. Yet data shows that women experience gender inequalities irrespective of being a parent and this project will examine the factors that contribute to this.