Cumberland Equality Objective: Evidence Base - Sex

In the Equality Act, Sex refers to a binary concept of male and female gender as ascribed at birth. 

The Census figures for Cumberland tend to reflect national trends with a near 50/50 split with older age-related differences widening linked to health inequalities and deprivation (such as areas with higher deprivation seeing the gap between male and female longevity being wider than in affluent areas). 

More work is required on the economic activity questions in the Census mapped to research on sex, occupation and pay to establish disparities. 

Overall women are overrepresented in low pay work, single mothers the most likely group to rely on emergency welfare support, and women make up approximately 90% of Domestic Abuse victims.  

The Equality and Human Rights Commission Monitoring Report 2023

The EHRC has identified the following headline disparities for women and men:

Girls continue to outperform boys in early years, primary and secondary education across Britain. 

The employment gap between men and women has narrowed due to improvements in educational attainment. 

The pay gap between men and women, known as the gender pay gap, has narrowed slightly, but with little change for more educated women. Child rearing is a key cause of the gender pay gap. 

Women in Britain now have higher rates of poverty than men and the proportion of households headed by women that are overcrowded has grown. 

Socio-economic inequalities in life expectancy in the UK continue to be wider for men than women with decreases since 2010 and following the COVID Pandemic nationally, and especially in the North West. Read the Trend in life expectancy between 2011 to 2013 and 2020 to 2022 (ons.gov.uk)

Men are far more likely than women to be in prison or to die by suicide. The male suicide rate has increased in England and Scotland. 

There has been a sharp drop in charges for rape offences, with more women withdrawing their case. 

More men than women voted in the 2019 general election, a trend not seen in the previous three elections. At the same time, women in England have become more engaged in political activities than men.

Gender equality at every stage: a roadmap for change (GOV.UK)

Drivers of inequality in the economy

This report identified a number of drivers of inequality in the economy.

Limiting attitudes to gender:

• 67% girls aged 11 to 16 think women do not have the same life-chances as men
• 22% A-level physics students are women
• Social norms and stereotyping in advertising and social media.

Women tending to be in lower paid sectors:

• Women 50% more likely to work in lower paying jobs
• Women 20% more likely to be stuck in a lower paying job for 10 years
• Gender segregation accounts for 35% of the gender pay gap
• 38% Head Teachers are women while 63% teaching staff are women

Women take more time out of work for caring responsibilities.

ONS on the Lasting Impact of Violence against Women and Girls 2021

As part of its Census review the ONS identified a number of trends in relation to women’s and girls’ experience of violence. Overall the prevalence of violence against women and girls remains consistent over the decade 2010 to 2020. 

Other findings include:

• 46% of female homicides in 2020 were victims of domestic violence
• 25% of women who experienced violence were abused as children (emotional abuse and witnessing domestic violence as the largest types of abuse)
• Outside the domestic environment, in 2021 32% of women aged 16+ experienced harassment in a public setting;
• 78% of women reported feeling unsafe walking in an open space or park after dark (rising to 89% for women who experienced harassment)
• Ofsted reported in 2021 that 90% of girls, and nearly 50% of boys, said being sent explicit pictures or videos of things they did not want to see happens “a lot or sometimes” to them or their peers

The lasting impact of violence against women and girls (ons.gov.uk)

Implications for Public Services

Developing an all age/phase educational curriculum that addresses gender disparities in attainment between boys and girls, with particular focus on girls succeeding in STEM subjects and boys from lower income households closing the gap on reading and writing. 

Developing public health interventions that address gender related health disparities, especially in terms of the intersection between health and socio-economic inequality.

Impact of an aging population and the cost of childcare will disproportionately impact on women in the public sector workforce who are statistically more likely to have caring responsibilities, potentially exacerbating the gender pay gap and limiting access to senior positions.

A growing pressure to address gender segregation in employment, by attracting more males into front line health and care roles and more women into historically male-dominated occupations.