Women’s equality in the UK – A health check

11.5
11.6
11.7
crucial for many women to maintain their financial independence but only 27% of businesses in
the UK are majority owned by women. 11 (See Appendix: 13 for further information)
Recommendation:
Further support women in business by promoting alternative sources of finance and
provide access to training and support as well as introducing more networking and
mentoring opportunities
Women’s employment in the public sector
Women’s work is concentrated in jobs providing public services. 12 Therefore, public service
cuts have a gendered impact. Women form the majority of public sector employees, and are
particularly concentrated where the cuts are deepest, with women constituting 68% of those
employed by Local Authorities. 13 It is estimated that of the 500,000 public sector workers that
are expected to be made unemployed due to the spending cuts, 325,000 will be women. 14 In
19 councils in England and Wales women account for 100% of those losing their jobs. 15 73% of
remaining positions in the public sector that are subject to a pay freeze are held by women. 16
Those women who keep their public sector jobs are being expected to pay for them in lower
wages. 17 This will inevitably increase the gender pay gap.
There is a growing gap between the public and private sector in terms of opportunities
for women. The private sector workforce is male dominated. Any growth in private sector
employment may not therefore benefit women, either in terms of the number of jobs provided,
nor their quality, and will not replace what they will lose from the public sector. Women in the
public sector are more likely than those in the private sector to consider having or enlarging their
family because of relative job security, more flexible working hours and more generous familyfriendly
policies that tend to be available there. 18
Women remain far more likely than men to be in low-paid jobs. Around 17.2% of men in work
are low-paid, compared with 28% of women workers, with those women who work part-time
the most likely to be in low-paid employment. 19 Those in lower skilled, lower paid jobs are more
reliant on State benefits 20 and women are in the most precarious and vulnerable work. 21 There
11. McRobie, H. (2012) ‘Don’t bank on gender equality from the UK high street’ Open Democracy, 22nd June 2012 http://www.opendemocracy.
net/5050/heather-mcrobie/don%E2%80%99t-bank-on-gender-equality-from-uk-high-street
12. In some regions this is particularly high, for example in the North East nearly half of women who are working are employed in the
public sector (46%) and two in three of public sector jobs are done by women – in North East Women’s Network (2012) Findings and
recommendations from interim case study: The impact of austerity measures upon women in the North East of England, October 2012.
NEWomen’s Network and Women’s Resource Centre http://www.newwomens.net/index.php/latest-news-leftmenu-50
13. Oxfam (2012) The Perfect Storm: Economic stagnation, the rising cost of living, public spending cuts, and the impact on UK poverty.
Oxfam: Oxford http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/the-perfect-storm-economic-stagnation-the-rising-cost-of-livingpublic-spending-228591
14. Trades Union Congress (2010) The gender impact of the cuts. TUC: London http://tinyurl.com/6j7ry7b
15. Women’s Resource Centre (2012) Factsheet: Women and the cuts 2012 WRC: London http://thewomensresourcecentre.org.uk/wpcontent/uploads/women-and-the-cuts.pdf
16. Women’s Budget Group (2011) The Impact on Women of the Budget 2011. WBG: London http://wbg.org.uk/RRB_Reports_7_282363355.pdf
17. Women’s Budget Group (2010) The Impact on Women of the Coalition Spending Review 2010. WBG: London http://wbg.org.uk/RRB_
Reports_4_1653541019.pdfTable1, p. 13.
18. Equality and Human Rights Commission (2011) Sex and Power 2011. EHRC: London http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/key-projects/
sexandpower/
19. Cooke and Lawton define low pay as 60% of full-time median hourly pay, excluding overtime in Cooke, G. and Lawton, K. (2008) Working
Out Of Poverty. IPPR: London http://www.ippr.org/publication/55/1616/working-out-of-poverty-a-study-of-the-low-paid-and-the-workingpoor.
The TUC has updated their calculation using figures from ASHE 2011 Office of National Statistics (2011) Annual Survey of Hours and
Earnings 2011 (ASHE). ONS: London http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/ashe/annual-survey-of-hours-and-earnings/ashe-results-2011/ashestatistical-bulletin-2011.html
.
20. Ward, R. (2011) Health and equality impacts of well paid parental leave. Women’s Health and Equality Consortium
and Maternity Action: London http://www.whec.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2011/10/
HealthandEqualityImpactsofWellPaidParentalLeave20111.pdf
21. Oxfam (2012) The Perfect Storm: Economic stagnation, the rising cost of living, public spending cuts, and the impact on UK poverty. Oxfam: Oxford
http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/the-perfect-storm-economic-stagnation-the-rising-cost-of-living-public-spending-228591
98 Women’s equality in the UK: CEDAW shadow report 2013