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Women and Work - The Facts - Work Life Balance and Future Challenges

In the past work-life balance was considered a women's issue.  It is now recognised as a buisiness imperative for attracting and retaining highly productive employers of both sexes.

Work Life Balance 

  • Four out of five employees state that work-life balance considerations play a crucial role in deciding whether to stay with or leave their current employer (42)
  • 87% is the proportion of executive candidates rejecting a job due to work-life balance considerations (43)
  • 49% of employers have seen an increase in productivity following the implementation of work-life balance options (44)
  • One quarter of female employees and one tenth of male employees have some form of flexible working arrangement (45)

 

Future Challenges

  • 50% of women working in low- paid part - time jobs are working beneath their potential,  ie they are not using their skills, experience or qualtifications for their current job ( 30)
  • Two thirds of the half a million women in the UK qualified in science, engineering or technology ( SET ) do not work in these sectors (31)
  • In 2005 women represented 50% or rural employers.  There is no single initiative to help rural women enter the labour market although 40% of rural women of working age not in paid employment have said they would like to do so (32)
     

Pay

  • 44,013 is the number of equal pay claims brought between April 2006 and April 2007(34)
  • £60 million is the estimated cost of the UK’s largest equal pay award. North Cumbria NHS Trust paid an average of £40,000 to 1500 women who had been underpaid (35)
  • Out of the 27 European Union countries, the UK has the largest pay gap
    82.8p is the amount a woman earns for every pound that a man earns, the equivalent to working in November and December every year for free! (37)
  • 64.4p is the amount a woman working part-time earns for every pound paid to the average man(38)

Sex Discrimination


  • £6,724 is the average award for sex discrimination (40)
  • 28.153 sex discrimination claims brought between April 2006 and April 2007 ( 39)
  • 30.000 women leave their jobs in the UK due to preganancy discrimination (41)




    Bibliography and PDF of full report available here

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