New Times,
New Thinking.

  1. Business
  2. Economics
1 April 2011

Why Willetts is wrong on feminism and social mobility

The countries with the highest levels of social mobility are those with the highest levels of gender

By George Eaton

David Willetts’s claim that feminism is to blame for the decline in social mobility has caused no shortage of outrage this morning. His thesis is that middle-class women, who otherwise would have been housewives, have snapped up university places and well-paid jobs that could have gone to working-class men.

Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month
Content from our partners
Antimicrobial Resistance: Why urgent action is needed
The role and purpose of social housing continues to evolve
More than a landlord: A future of opportunity