ECDI

The Questionnaire.

In North Northumberland - in Rothbury and Berwick - a total of 68 learners completed a questionnaire, but, due to some confusion, different versions of the questions were distributed and, as a result, the answers cannot be collated.

Since the respondents from Berwick constituted the majority (48), and had completed the same version as used elsewhere (e.g.Portugal), it is those results which are the focus of this report.

The quantitative responses are attached in Excel format.

Regarding the first section on Economic Life, two questions stood out:

The vast majority (29 out of 47 i.e. 62%) totally disagreed with the statement (8 (b)) that gender should be relevant when making the decision whether to stay at home to take care of the children.

Similarly, 27 out of 46 ( 59%), totally disagreed with 9(a), that gender should be considered in times of economic difficulty.

The open questions were designed to allow a variety of responses, which are therefore less amenable to quantification.

The first question was about internet use. Whilst some were 'unsure of the question', many wrote that 'it depends', or 'both'. 'Different tastes' and 'interests' would direct people of whatever gender to varied web-sites. One commented that men were more likely to use the internet whereas women tended to use magazines, whilst another argued that the research into whatever web-site might be equal because the purpose was to assist with homework.

Question 2 asked whether people had been denied a job because of their gender; 42/48 (88%) said 'No'. Two respondents related experiences in clothing retail and kitchen work as instances where jobs had been denied.

Question 3 was similar but asked about access to training. Again 42/48 (88%) responded 'No', one adding 'I'd take legal action!'

In the second section on Private Life, 30 out of 45 (67%), totally disagreed with the statement that many women do not contribute to family income.

Total disagreement was also the majority view in Questions 5(a), (b) and 10 (b), recording 28/45 (62%), 29/45 (64%), and 28/46 (61%) respectively. The statements were 'Gender is related to who decides how the family's money is spent', 'The one with the highest salary should decide expenditure' and 'Gender is related to who educates the children better'.

On the question about caring for chronically ill parents, most responses identified 'Both', 'Either', 'Shared', or 'Equally'. Answers which said 'it depends' identified age, skill, education, character, empathy, energy and earning capacity(son being likely to earn more) as possible factors. Some were concerned about the children's need to go to school, and some recommended outside professional help. One respondent wrote of the daughter having 'more sympathy', whilst another identified the son as being more able to 'control emotion' and 'stronger to lift'.

Section 3 on Public Life polarised opinion on 3 statements, namely 2(b), where nobody totally disagreed that men have more opportunities to participate in public life; 3(b) where 24/43 (56%) totally disagreed that women politicians have proved to be less competent; and 6(a) for which there was total disagreement with the statement that women were less willing to fight for public responsibility in 23 out of 43 responses (53%).

Questions 4(a) and (b), regarding emotions, elicited the most Don't Knows or Don't answers.

Although there were 3 open questions in this section the vast majority did not respond specifically to the role of the female P.M.'s husband.

Many people wrote of the need for the P.M.'s wife to be 'respectable', a 'role model' (or 'formal', well-dressed, wearing hats). 'Supportive'(including 'emotional') was the second most common response (adding 'enthusiastic' and 'reliable'). Many wrote that she should 'continue to be their own person/their own career' or 'whatever they wish/makes them happy'. Act as 'an equal partner' was also mentioned along with privacy, charity work and 'speaking their mind'.

Using their gender to gain advantage was declared by 6 respondents (12%), flirtation and favouritism being given as examples, and entry to education funded specifically for females.

'Taking advantage can hurt others' and 'Equal whatever the situation' were among comments added by the 20/48(42%) who replied No.