Women’s progress in labour market has stalled in the UK since the recession

Our new research reveals women in the UK are less likely to be in work, experience lower job security and greater pay inequality than their counterparts in other developed countries.

Our Women in Work Index, shows that the UK was ranked in 18th position out of a sample of 27 OECD countries in 2011 on key indicators of female economic empowerment:

  • the equality of earnings with men;
  • the proportion of women in work both in absolute terms and relative to men;
  • the female unemployment rate;
  • the proportion of women in full-time employment.

The research reveals that the UK has made improvements on the majority of the indicators since 2000, but this progress has been slower than other countries and has stalled since the beginning of the credit crunch in 2007. This has pushed the UK down to 18th position in the Women in Work Index in 2011, from 13th in 2000 and 14th in 2007.

The Nordic countries lead the Index, with Norway in pole position, followed by Sweden and Denmark. These three countries have consistently occupied the top 3 positions in 2000, 2007 and 2011. Finland was in fifth place in 2011, just behind New Zealand in fourth.

What our people think

Yong Jing Teow, author of the report and economist

“It is worrying that the UK’s progress in encouraging more women into work and closing the gender pay gap has all but ground to a halt since the recession hit. While most other OECD countries have continued to move ahead, our progress appears to have stalled."

Margaret Cole, general counsel and executive board member

“Encouraging greater economic empowerment for women has to be a priority to get the UK back on the road to recovery. It is worrying that increasing employment opportunities for women seems to have been pushed down organisations’ agendas since the recession.”

“Without strong and accountable action from British businesses, it is hard to see how we can achieve any real change and move past tokenism.”

Gaenor Bagley, head of people and executive board member

“The low number of UK women in full-time roles is a concern. It is hard to see how women can improve their economic position without greater access to full-time roles."

“The high cost of childcare cannot be ignored as a factor, but businesses could be doing more to improve flexibility, maximise the use of technology and embrace real cultural change."

“The current workplace model is broken and does not provide enough flexibility. Without fundamental changes it is hard to see how any real progress can be made.”

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