Dr Sabine D’Costa, a Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Westminster, has written for City AM, the Women’s Budget Group and The Conversation about her research on the disappearance of the relative wage advantages of cities for women compared to men after the 2008 financial crisis.
In articles for City AM’s Notebook and the Women’s Budget Group (WBG) blog, D’Costa discusses the findings of her recent research paper, exploring the drop in women’s urban wage premium since the 2008 financial crisis. Writing for The Notebook, D’Costa explains that this is largely because “urban women’s wages are no longer disproportionately boosted by access to shared facilities in cities.” D’Costa adds that the reduced access to urban childcare facilities suggests that “the unaffordability or lower quality of childcare facilities and transport have meant that women in cities couldn’t benefit from these as much.”
The City AM column also discusses D’Costa’s findings that “women switching from an urban to a rural job incur a wage growth penalty”, whereas “post-2014, men experience a wage growth increase”. D’Costa’s WBG blog article Cities Failed to Boost Women’s Wages Relative to Men After the 2008 Financial Crisis – But There is Hope delves more deeply into the “number of factors” that could cause this inequality. These include the “types of jobs available”, the possible “gender pay discrimination from rural employers” and the fact that “many women who relocate to rural areas do so within a family decision”.
However, as suggested by its title, the blog article also offers hope that increased access to subsidised childcare will help to reduce the national gender pay gap. Dr D’Costa explains: “Expanding eligibility will translate into increases in wages for women working in cities as mothers will be able to make use of childcare facilities again”. The article further emphasises the importance of “ensuring the sector is adequately funded and staffed”, so that women in both urban and rural areas can benefit from the expansion of free childcare.
Dr D’Costa’s article for The Conversation on the same research paper is due to be published soon.
Dr Sabine D’Costa will be presenting her key results and the implications for policymaking, followed by a discussion with Professor Nitasha Kaul, Director of the University of Westminster’s Centre for the Study of Democracy, and Professor Val Gillies, Centre for Social Justice Research. This will be held at room M207 Marylebone Campus from 2–3:30pm on Wednesday 9 October. Please email Dr D’Costa at [email protected] to confirm your attendance.
Read the full articles in City AM and the Women’s Budget Group blog.
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