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- Women and Work - The Facts
- The Business Case for Diversity
- Business Case for Diversity Case Studies
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Section head
Women and Work - The Facts - Diversity
Women are diverse. Understanding the multiple layers of identity will enable employers to reach under-utilised pools of talent
Age
The labour force is aging. One in five people in the world will be over 60 by 2050, compared to one in 12 in 1950. But employers are still under-utilising older workers particularly women. The employment rate of men in the UK aged 50 and over was 44% in 2004; for women it was 31%. The European objective is to raise this to 50% (17)
Disability
Just 50% of the 3.5 million disabled women of working age in the UK are in employment (18)Ethnicity
At 7.9% from a non-white ethnic group the UK population is becoming more diverse. (19) Yet many ethnic minority women remain outside the labour market. The employment rate is highest for white British women at 73%, it is lowest for Pakistani women at just 28% (20)
Mothers
At 71% the employment rate for mothers who are married or co-habiting is just slightly less than that of women without dependent children (73%).
The employment rate for lone mothers is considerably lower at 56% (21)
Mothers (who are married or cohabiting) are twice as likely to work part-time (41%) compared with women without dependent children, (22% work part- time)
Religion
Over 1.5 million women in the UK hold a religion other than Christianity, around half of these are Muslim (22)
Economic inactivity is greatest amongst Muslim women at 69% (23)
Sexual Orientation
6% of the population is gay (24)Transgender
It is estimated that rates of transexuality are 1 in 10,000 men and 1 in 40,000 women (25)
