Component 2: gender inequality, including the gender pay gap, the glass ceiling, vertical and horizontal segregation, the dual labour market, and the feminist explanations (liberal, radical, Marxist and difference) of women's life chances.

What this dot point is asking

OCR Component 2 examines gender as a source of inequality: the patterns in work, pay and power (the pay gap, the glass ceiling, segregation), the explanations (the feminisms), and the debate about whether gender inequality is declining. It is one of the two Section B essay topics, so you need the feminist perspectives and evidence on both sides.

The answer

Patterns of gender inequality

Key patterns include:

• The gender pay gap: women earn less than men on average.
• The glass ceiling: an invisible barrier blocking women from reaching the top of organisations (vertical segregation).
• Horizontal segregation: women and men are concentrated in different sectors and occupations, with "women's work" often lower paid.
• The dual labour market: Barron and Norris argue women are concentrated in the secondary labour market of insecure, low-paid jobs, while men dominate the primary market.

Feminist explanations

The feminisms explain these patterns differently:

• Liberal feminism (Oakley, Sharpe) stresses gradual progress through equal-rights law and changing attitudes, pointing to women's rising educational success and entry into the professions.
• Radical feminism (Walby) stresses entrenched patriarchy, identifying six structures: paid work, housework, the state, male violence, sexuality and culture.
• Marxist feminism links women's exploitation to capitalism: women's unpaid domestic labour reproduces the workforce, and women form a reserve army of labour.
• Difference and intersectional feminism (Crenshaw, hooks) argues women's experiences vary by class, ethnicity and sexuality, so there is no single "women's experience".

Is gender inequality declining?

The central debate is whether gender inequality is declining. Liberal feminists point to equality laws and women's educational success (Sharpe found girls' aspirations shifted from marriage to careers). Critics argue the pay gap, the glass ceiling, segregation and the dual burden persist, and that Hakim's preference theory (which attributes patterns to women's choices) wrongly blames women. The balanced verdict is that inequality has narrowed but not disappeared.

Examples in context

A top essay weighs liberal optimism against radical and Marxist accounts of persisting patriarchy, applies evidence, and reaches a judgement on how far inequality has declined.

Try this

Q1. Outline two patterns of gender inequality in employment. [4 marks]

• What the marker wants. Two patterns (AO1, two marks each): the gender pay gap, and the glass ceiling or horizontal segregation, each briefly developed.

Q2. Outline and explain two ways in which radical feminists explain gender inequality. [10 marks]

• Cue. Two developed points from Walby's six structures, for example male violence and the control of women's sexuality, and patriarchy in paid work and the state, each applied to an example.