How to get ahead in 21st century Britain: is the answer being straight, white and male?

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In recent years, revelations regarding pay disparities between certain groups within the UK have emerged, painting a picture of a system that favours the status quo, and affords greater opportunity to certain people. The release of pay figures for the BBC’s highest earning staff in particular struck a chord in the UK, with the corporation being criticised for the lack of diversity amongst its top talent.

But a social group seen to particularly benefit are “straight white men”. This attention has seen the term enter the vernacular, particularly amongst younger people and on social media. Essentially used as a byword to represent everything that is wrong with a system that only affords opportunities to certain people, a quick search on twitter will reveal countless threads discussing the “straight white male”.

Last year, the Labour Party’s youth wing made headlines when, in an attempt to increase inclusivity and diversity, they banned this entire social group from their Equalities Conference.

So, is being a straight, white male really the quickest way to get ahead in UK society in the 21st century?

1. Does being straight, white and male help?

   While many suggest we now inhabit a “post-racial society” here in the UK, issues with race clearly still exist.

   Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) people are eight times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people, and are more likely to face jail time if convicted of a crime. Shockingly, one in four Britons openly admit to holding racist views, while a report by the Resolution Foundation think tank found that BME workers lost out on a total of £3.2bn a year in wages compared to white colleagues doing the same work. All of this has fed the narrative of “white privilege” - the idea that all white people benefit from certain privileges that they derive solely from their ethnicity.

   Likewise, it seems being male also offers certain opportunities, with the glass ceiling very much still intact.

   The gender pay gap undoubtedly exists. No matter how hard Jordan Peterson denies its existence, or suggests it results from “other factors”, the cold hard figures don’t lie. Men earn an average of 18.4% more than women, or 9.7% in terms of average hourly rate. The release of the BBC’s pay reviews are simply the most high profile and public recent illustration of the point.

   And discrimination against LGBT people remains too. The Trade Union Coalition have reported that just half of LGBT people are “out” at work, and that a third of LGBT people have been harassed or bullied in the workplace.

   So...if you want to get ahead, the answer is to be a “straight, white male” then, right? Well, not so fast. The idea that the “straight, white man” inevitably derives a certain privilege based on these features overlooks the fact that they make up some of society’s most disadvantaged elements.

2. What about social class?

   White, working class boys in particular have some of the worst prospects of any demographic – with the worst educational attainment levels in the UK. Some have put this poor attainment specifically down to their ethnicity and social class. Angela Rayner, the Shadow Education Secretary, has suggested that an overt focus on improving achievement by women and ethnic minorities has had a negative impact on the attainment of white, working class boys. Just 24% of of youngsters so categorised get 5 A*-C grades at GCSE, a figure that is less than half of the national average.

   So, despite the initial figures suggesting otherwise, perhaps we need a more nuanced view…

3. A class pay gap?

   To the bemusement of the rest of the world, the British still seem to be obsessed with class. Yet, surprisingly, social class has not had the same attention when it comes to income discrepencies as gender or ethnicity.

   In fact, while the BBC’s pay review has drawn heavy media criticism for what it has exposed about gender and ethnicity bias, the corporation’s class pay gap seems to have passed many people by.

   A famously difficult concept to distil, one sensible way to measure class is education. And when you apply this filter to the BBC’s pay figures, the results are stark. Forty-five per cent of BBC staff earning more than £150,000, along with 20% of the BBC’s overall workforce are privately educated. This compares to just seven percent of the population overall.

   And this “class pay gap” isn’t just confined to the BBC.

   A Sutton Trust report investigating the education of top professionals by sector found Britain’s elite to be overwhelmingly privately-educated, including 74% of the senior judiciary, 71% of senior armed forces and over half of journalists.

   Social class as a concept is as fluid as it is difficult to define. Perhaps that’s why the class pay gap doesn’t attract the same attention as other, more visible indicators. But, as the reports show, it has a massive bearing on people’s careers.

4. Are there any other factors?

   Geography can also play a big part in determining success. A number of indicators show that being born in the North can put a person at a massive disadvantage compared to those born in the South. Health inequality is one example - being born in some parts of the North can knock up to ten years off your life expectancy. And then there’s also the pay gap that is talked about even less than the one relating to class. While the average weekly wage in London is £727, in Huddersfield this drops to £424.

   If you’re hoping to get ahead in 21^st century Britain, then being white, straight and male (if you’re middle class) helps. But then, so do a host of other factors. Perhaps even more important is being privately educated and growing up in the South East. If you’re attempting to get ahead in your career, and have already missed the boat on being a white, straight, (middle class) male, then try paying for your education - and making sure you are raised in the Home Counties.