Recent legislation changes around flexible working, sexual harassment and family friendly redundancy legislation, are all aimed at making the workplace more supportive and relevant for women.
Gender Pay Gap
The Fawcett Society – who are the UK’s leading charity that campaigns for gender equality -noted that the 20th November 2024 was Equal Pay Day, which was the day when women in the UK effectively stopped being paid in comparison to men. This is in part due to the gender pay gap and highlighted that women would continue to work without pay for the remainder of the year.
The Fawcett Society had calculated this date by using the UK’s mean full-time hourly gender pay gap. In 2024, the gender pay gap was 11.3%.
On average, women earn £631 less than men every month which on average is £7,572 less a year.
They have found that women are more likely to work part-time, low-paid or in insecure work to balance caregiving responsibilities.
A lack of affordable and accessible childcare can also mean that many women have to leave their careers or settle for jobs that don’t offer the flexibility needed. Mothers face a ‘Motherhood Penalty’ that fathers don’t generally experience.
When men and women work the same hours and in the same roles, nearly two-thirds of the gender pay gap remains unexplained. This points to pay discrimination as a major factor still holding women back in the workplace.
Black, minoritised, and disabled women face even greater pay disparities. Women of Bangladeshi (28.4%), Pakistani (25.9%), and Mixed White and Black Caribbean (25%) backgrounds experience significantly higher pay gaps, compounding the overall inequality.
As organisations, you need to ensure you are seeing the value of women in the workplace as they will bring with them a wealth of expertise and talent which could help your business grow and develop.
Flexible working requests need to be considered on balance with the needs of the business and should not be initially discarded if inconvenient. Women who do not work full time or require flexibility should be treated as valued and bringing an important contribution to the organisation.
Equal Representation in the Workplace
In 2022, the Fawcett Society produced the Sex and Power 2022 index which charted the progress towards equal representation for women in high level jobs in the UK. It found that the speed of change across all sectors was disappointingly slow and that women were outnumbered by men 2:1 in positions of power.
They highlighted the following statistics:
- Less than 1/3 of the UK’s top jobs were filled by women. Across 5,166 positions of power in society, women made up under a third (32%). This meant that 919 women were missing or being excluded from top career opportunities.
- Women remained at just 8% of FTSE 100 CEOs and there were no women of colour
- The sporting sector had very few women in senior roles, but there had been a progressive decline in the number of female sport governing body chairs (15%) and CEOs (19%).
- Women accounted for just 34% of those serving on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and related subgroups advising cabinet on the coronavirus response.
Companies who have an increased number of women in leadership roles can mean improved employee engagement and retention. It can also mean that higher proportions of women will report higher levels of job satisfaction and positive organisational culture.
Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
All employees, regardless of gender could experience sexual harassment in the workplace, however statistics have shown that women are more likely to experience sexual harassment at work. This can be for the following reasons:
- Gender inequality – Women are less likely to be in senior positions of power and this can make them vulnerable to harassment.
- Insecure work – Women who work in low-paid, temporary, or zero-hours contracts are more likely to experience sexual harassment. They may also feel less able to report it due to fear of retaliation.
- Workplace culture – Male-oriented workplace cultures can contribute to sexual harassment and women’s inequality in the workplace.
- Power roles – Perpetrators of sexual harassment often hold positions of dominance over their victims, making it difficult for victims to challenge them.
- Grievance systems – Grievance systems can put victims at a disadvantage, with unenforceable confidentiality rules, high evidentiary bars, and punishments that leave harassers in their positions.
Organisations need to ensure that they have clear and concise policies and processes in place for managing sexual harassment and supporting victims.
There needs to be a culture that ensures the victim is protected and they are not forced to work or communicate with the harasser whilst the grievance and investigation process takes place.
In order to comply with the Workers Protection Act 2023 and to safeguard women within the business, we recommend companies have training processes in place for all employees, so they are fully aware of how to behave and to support any colleagues who are affected.
Businesses need to positively look to change the world of work for women and empower them to aim towards senior positions to better develop the skill set and culture within their organisation.