Targeting gender equality

As the public looks towards a recovery from the pandemic, fears remain around womens' job security and progression. While most people (57%) feel that employers give equal chances for men and women to progress at work, over a third (35%) are concerned that a large opportunity gap remains. This rises to 47% for parents of preschool age children.

Furthermore, while 49% of men are satisfied with their career achievements, only 42% of women are satisfied. This falls to 38% for women with children, 35% for women aged 35-44 years old, and to 34% for women classed as C2DE - the three lower social and economic groups.

Looking ahead, most people feel ‘quite well prepared’ for different life events, but our research shows men feel they are consistently better financially prepared for life events than women.

Men feel 'very well prepared' to support children through education (37%), to access affordable housing (32%), to be financially comfortable in the year ahead (32%) and to save for a house deposit (31%). Meanwhile, fewer women feel 'very well prepared' for any of these life events: their top three are supporting children through education (31%), caring for elderly dependents (27%) and accessing affordable housing (25%).

While both central government and employers are seen by almost two thirds of the UK public to have responsibility for improving gender equality, when asked to make a choice central government comes clearly in first place.

Men and women have similar priorities for government interventions to improve gender equality. According to the UK public, the government interventions that would most effectively level up gender opportunities include: targeted careers support for women to access traditionally male dominated industries (47%), more affordable childcare and improved shared parental leave (both 39%).

Government has a role to play in supporting women in work through legislation, for example on parental leave, and through the greater regulation of fragmented, often male dominated labour markets, such as construction. It also has an important role as an employer itself to promote gender-balanced workforce policies and best practice.

Outside work, women identify better access to healthcare, alongside improved financial stability, as the standout factors that would have the most positive impact on their lives (both 40%).  More than a third (36%) of 45-64 year old women feel their physical wellbeing has worsened during the pandemic (25% for men) as do 35% of women with children under 18 (20% of men). Among parents, the mental health of women with pre-school age children appears most impacted (42% say that their mental health has worsened compared to 25% of men).

According to PwC’s latest Women in Work Index, reducing gender inequality and increasing the proportion of women in work offers a potential annual boost of £48bn to the UK economy. As the economy shifts, there is an opportunity to ensure that gender equality is embedded in new growth industries from the outset.

A prime example of this is the green jobs agenda. In preparing the UK workforce for recovery, the government maintains that "green and growth go hand-in-hand". The public agrees that the government is right to invest in green jobs (63%), but our research suggests that women are at risk of being left behind in this green revolution.

Women have a lower level of awareness around the opportunities in green jobs, at 21% compared to  32% awareness in men. Meanwhile, only 20% of women say they have the skills they need to work in a green job, compared with 31% of men.

It is vital for business and government to work together to deliver an economic recovery plan that builds gender equality into the industries of the future.

Investing in careers advice services to help young people make informed choices can have a pivotal impact on their futures. This is particularly the case where new industries are emerging - from green jobs to advanced technology - where there are already signs of gender disadvantages being reinforced, rather than reduced.

While almost half (47%) of the UK public favours targeted careers support for women entering the workforce, there is a long way to go before equal access is seen across all sectors. In our polling, only around a quarter (27%) of women surveyed (compared to 30% of men) feel that the career advice they received at school helped them make informed decisions.

Interventions by employers favoured by the public include targeted programmes to raise awareness of career opportunities for women (59%) and the upskilling of women through outreach programmes (58%), as well as individual coaching and mentoring for women (54%).

Careers support isn’t only for the young. Almost half (48%) of those polled say they would choose a different career path if they had another chance. With labour markets changing and a job for life a thing of the past, making sure that people can access careers support across their working lives is also important.

For many people, their working life is not continuous: at some points people may be unemployed and seeking work, on parental leave, doing unpaid work such as caring for relatives, or they could be economically inactive.

Those we surveyed who are currently unemployed report different challenges in their search for a job. For men, the top three barriers are a lack of skills and problems with physical or mental health (both 27%) and the lack of a well-paid job ‘for people like me’ (25%).

For women, the primary barrier (32%) is lacking the confidence to return to work. A similar proportion feel they lack the skills to get a job (31%). In addition, 38% of unemployed women feel the pandemic has worsened their access to employment opportunities (compared to 23% of unemployed men).

This points to the important role of taking a broad approach to shaping women’s return-to-work programmes that addresses both their need for technical reskilling or training, alongside building confidence and addressing barriers to wellbeing.