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Challenge Poverty Week: Inadequate income traps women in poverty.
It’s Challenge Poverty Week, and today’s theme is adequate income. The focus calls for a Scotland where everyone has access to an adequate income for a decent and dignified life. Inadequate income is a fundamental driver of people’s experiences of poverty, and is caused in part due to low wages, decreasing job security and increasing precarity.
Poverty in Scotland is gendered, meaning women are more likely to experience poverty than men, including being more likely to be in persistent poverty and in-work poverty. This means actions to address inadequate incomes must include a specific focus on women’s experiences of poverty.
What causes women’s inadequate incomes?
Women comprise the majority of low-paid workers in Scotland, representing around 60% of those earning below the Real Living Wage, and 75% of the part-time work force. Women’s experience of poverty is driven by their concentration in low-paid, undervalued work. Their low pay is driven by the systemic undervaluation of ‘women’s work’, such as cleaning, care, and retail, which is undervalued because it’s done by women. Although the extension of the Real Living Wage in undervalued female-dominated jobs is a welcome start to addressing women’s low pay it doesn’t equate to revaluing the skills and status of these jobs. There is also currently no policy focus to address the systemic undervaluation of women’s work. There are no actions to address undervaluation within the Fair Work Action Plan, despite this being a critical step for realising fair work for women, and the National Strategy for Economic Transformation is gender-blind and does not recognise the economic value of the care.
Women are more likely to have caring responsibilities, which impacts their ability to take up paid work, as they often struggle to jobs that allow them to balance caring and earning. As a result, women become concentrated into low-paid, part-time roles, usually below their skill level. This is driven by a significant lack of quality, flexible and well-paid working opportunities, that would help women to balance paid work with unpaid care. Currently, women earning under £30,000 are the least likely to have access to flexible work, but more than half of them want flexible working to support their caring responsibilities. Without access to flexible working opportunities, women will continue to be concentrated into low-paid and poorer-quality work.
Close the Gap have previously highlighted how childcare provision significantly impacts women’s ability to engage in paid work. In our joint paper with One Parent Families Scotland, we highlight how childcare provision can determine whether women have a job, the type of job they have, the hours they work, and the amount of pay they receive. Current childcare provision does not meet many women’s needs, and this particularly acute for single parents (over 90% of whom are women). Although the expansion of childcare to 1140 hours is positive, we urgently need action to create a childcare system that is accessible, flexibly delivered and affordable.
This lack of recognition of women’s labour market inequality has worsened since the gender pay gap action plan has been subsumed into the Fair Work Action Plan. This subsummation has resulted in a significantly diminished focus on women’s labour market inequalities, and the adoption of a narrow, gender-blind approach to ‘fair work’ that significantly constrains progress to tackle women’s poverty. By adopting this broad, generic approach, it’s unlikely the causes of women’s inadequate incomes will be properly addressed, thus sustaining women’s labour market inequality and their experiences of poverty.
What is the impact of women’s low incomes?
One of the main impacts of women’s low incomes is their disproportionate experience of poverty, which reduces their financial security, and traps them and their families in poverty.
In recent years, women have been disproportionately impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and cost-of-living crisis, as women have faced greater financial pressure as costs continue to rise. This has pushed more women and their families into poverty, and for those already living in poverty, intensified their experiences.
Women’s poverty is also inextricably linked with children’s poverty. Past research has found where women’s disposable incomes decrease, so does spending on children. This means women’s lack of adequate incomes sustains the unacceptably high levels of child poverty in Scotland. So, if the Scottish Government want to meet their child poverty reduction targets, they have to ensure adequate incomes for mothers. Despite this, the most recent child poverty delivery plan does not include a gendered analysis, nor seem to recognise the gendered nature of poverty.
Women’s inadequate incomes have long-term implications on their financial security, particularly in their retirement. Because of their disrupted working patterns, women have lower pension savings than men – both in their private and state pensions. As a result, this puts retired women at higher risk of pensioner poverty, with older women more likely to experience longer and deeper spells of poverty than older men.
It’s is important to note women are not a homogeneous group, and their experiences of poverty differ. Disabled women, racially-minoritised women, migrant and asylum-seeking women, young and older women, all face intersecting and compounding inequalities that worsen their experiences of poverty. For example, disabled women are significantly under-pensioned, and face challenges in securing adequate income for their retirement, and racially-minoritised women have a particularly high rate of poverty.
How do we make sure women have adequate incomes?
Scottish Government must take substantive to address the underlying causes of women’s inadequate incomes, including their labour market and economic inequalities. These actions include:
- Implementing action to address the undervaluation of ‘women’s work’, which goes beyond delivering the Real Living Wage in female-dominated occupations, and actually revalues the skills and status of these jobs.
- Improving the accessibility, affordability and flexibility of childcare, including developing a roadmap to delivering 50 hours of high-quality, flexible funded childcare to all children 6 months and older.
- Improving access to flexible working options to ensure women can access good quality jobs that allow them to balance caring and earning.
Poverty is not inevitable, and with targeted gender-sensitive policy responses poverty in Scotland can be tackled.
Emerging findings from Close the Gap research on disabled women and work
Close the Gap has been conducting a research project on disabled women’s experiences of employment in Scotland. This blog sets out the work that’s been done so far, the emerging findings to date, and the next steps.
Why this research is needed
Disabled women are among the most marginalised in the labour market, but their experiences are rarely considered in policymaking or by employers. There is currently a lack of Scottish-specific data on disabled women’s labour market experiences, which contributes to their invisibility in policymaking. This prevents an intersectional approach being adopted, and means disabled women’s specific needs are not recognised or addressed.
From the evidence that is available, we know that disabled women face a wider gender pay gap than non-disabled women and are more likely to be underemployed or economically inactive. When they are employed, they’re more likely to be in low-paid and precarious work. This contributes to the higher level of poverty they face. However, there are still significant gaps in the evidence base, particularly the jobs and sectors disabled women work in, their access to in-work training and development, and experiences of workplace culture more widely.
Close the Gap’s research aims to gather evidence and data to build a richer picture about disabled women’s working lives, so that the inequalities they face are better understood, and tackled, by policymakers and by employers.
What we’ve done so far
Close the Gap is not a disabled people’s organisation, or an organisation which works directly with disabled people. We recognise that this work is also about building our own understanding of disability, and the intersecting inequalities that disabled women experience in their daily lives. Work so far has included:
Engagement with disabled people’s organisations and disabled women
We did scoping and engagement work with disabled people’s organisations, disability equality experts, and disabled trade unionists so that we better understand the current context for disabled women, including existing priorities around employment. This also allowed us to share information about our work to build trust in the process.
Reviewing existing literature and evidence on disabled women and work
Close the Gap commissioned Branch Social Research to do a literature review on disabled women’s experiences of employment. This exposed the dearth of intersectional data on how disabled women engage with the labour market, especially Scottish-specific data such as pay gaps, part-time working, occupational segregation, educational attainment, access to flexible working, disabled mothers’ experiences, access to training and skills, and how violence against women affects disabled women’s employment.
Exploratory focus groups with disabled women
Close the Gap worked with Zara Todd, disability equality expert, to deliver two exploratory focus groups with disabled women. The design was informed by the literature review findings and aimed to help us refine our focus for the research. Some of the key themes included:
- Inflexible work, poor employer knowledge about disability, discriminatory recruitment practice, caring roles, and social security rules were all identified as barriers to disabled women getting a job.
- Whether or not reasonable adjustments are put in place by an employer is key to positive or negative workplace experiences.
- Being visible in the workplace as a disabled women led to additional work educating others around needs and disability.
- Financial dependency traps women in both unhealthy work environments and low-paid jobs, and in abusive relationships.
- Line managers are central to having a good or bad experience in the workplace.
- Difficulties accessing training makes it harder for disabled women to do their job and progress in the workplace.
- Disabled women felt judged at work, with the vast majority having had their performance questioned formally or informally.
- Experiencing mental and physical harm in the workplace was a common experience.
Building capacity in Close the Gap staff on disability and doing research with disabled people
Our staff team participated in training on disability, and good practice on conducting research with disabled people. The training was invaluable not only to improve our own understanding of disability, but also in informing how we can better integrate the needs of disabled women in our wider work. It also provided important knowledge about how we can ensure that Close the Gap is supportive and accessible as an employer of disabled women and women with long-term health conditions.
Next steps
During the next phase, we’ll be gathering more qualitative data by doing a series of semi-structured interviews, and a number of thematic mini focus groups. We’re really pleased to be working with Zara Todd again, and also doctoral researcher Tasnim Hassan to deliver the interviews and mini focus groups. The interviews aim to paint a picture of how disabled women’s impairments and health conditions have shaped their life, education and employment. We hope to build a richer understanding of women’s experiences and what the systemic barriers mean in reality for women.
One of the themes we’ll be looking at in the mini focus groups is performance management. This has emerged as a key concern with disabled women reporting that their skills and capability are routinely questioned in the workplace, with many having been unfairly performance managed.
We’ll also be exploring the intersection of disability, race and gender so we’ll be delivering a group for Black and brown disabled women to look in more detail at their experiences of the workplace.
Finally, we’re developing a survey which will be launched after the summer. This will allow us to gather quantitative data on a range of key areas including recruitment, access to training and development, how experiences of men’s violence shapes disabled women’s employment, and workplace culture. The survey will be primarily online, and we’ll be trying to reach as many disabled women in Scotland as possible so that we can capture a broad range of views.
We’ll be sharing more information about the research in due course, including our learning from this doing this work.
Meantime, you can read more on our blog about how the pension system compounds inequality for disabled women, and the need for disabled women to be visible in Scottish Government policymaking on employment.
Call for participants: focus groups for disabled women and women with long-term health conditions to share their experiences of employment in Scotland
There’s a significant lack of Scotland-specific data on disabled women’s experiences of engaging with the labour market. These gaps mean that employment policy development and decisions around the labour market frequently ignores the inequalities disabled women face.
Close the Gap has been delivering a research project on the labour market experiences of disabled women. A literature review has been produced, and exploratory focus groups with disabled women held. We’re now holding two further focus groups.
Focus group 1, with racially-minoritised disabled women and those with long-term health conditions
The workplace experiences of racially-minoritised disabled women and women with long-term health conditions is a significantly under-researched area. The discussion will focus on:
- The specific inequalities that racially-minoritised disabled women face due to intersecting inequalities based on race, disability and gender;
- The ways in which their engagement with the labour market, including workplace culture and practice, are shaped by racism, disability discrimination and sexism.
- The solutions to the workplace inequalities they face.
This focus group is for self-identifying racially-minoritised women who are disabled or who have a long-term health condition (including mental health).
This is an in-person focus group, taking place in Glasgow city centre on Saturday 15th June, 12:00-13:30.
Focus group 2, on the theme of performance management in the workplace
Performance management has emerged as a strong theme in our research thus far. Disabled women report that their skills and capabilities at work are routinely questioned, and performance management policies are often used to enable this. The discussion will look in more detail at the use of performance management and how this affects disabled women.
This focus group is for self-identifying women who are disabled or have a long-term health condition (including mental health). It will be held online on Monday 24th of June, 18:30-20:00.
Register for the focus groups
Register here for focus group 1 on racially-minoritised disabled women’s experiences, Saturday 15th June, 12:00-13:30, CitizenM Hotel, 60 Renfrew Street, Glasgow, G2 3BW
Register here for the focus group 2 on disabled women’s experiences of performance management, Monday 24th June, 18:30-20:00, online.
Participants will receive a £30 shopping voucher in return for their time. Childcare and transport costs will also be reimbursed, where applicable.
We endeavour to meet all access requirements for participants. Further information on this is available in the registration form.
Equally Safe at Work update: Now open to new employers
We are pleased to announce that Equally Safe at Work is now open to new employers across the public and third sector. Equally Safe at Work is an employer accreditation designed to support the local implementation of the Equally Safe strategy, Scotland’s national strategy to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls. Equally Safe at Work supports employers to advance gender inequality and prevent violence against women.
Over the past five years, we’ve worked with a variety of employers across sectors through Equally Safe at Work, and as a result, 18 employers have received accreditation. The programme has proven to be an effective vehicle for change, and this next phase of Equally Safe at Work presents exciting opportunities for both Close the Gap and new employers.
What’s involved in the next roll out
From this week, employers are invited to complete an expression of interest form to join the next roll out the programme.
New employers can either work towards the development tier or bronze tier, and will have 18 months to complete a variety of criteria across six standards related to women’s labour market equality: leadership, data, flexible working, occupational segregation, workplace culture and violence against women.
To meet the criteria, employers receive support to collect and analyse data, develop initiatives, and review and update policies, practices and resources. Employers also have access to peer learning opportunities through the programme, including the Community of Practice, which was introduced last year.
For more information on what’s involved in the programme, you can read our leaflet, Why be involved. As well, you can read good practice examples from accredited employers.
What’s new in Equally safe at Work
Learning from the evaluation has led to a number of changes to Equally Safe at Work to better reflect the current context in which employers are working in. The refreshed Equally Safe at Work programme includes:
- A single standards framework and criteria, and handbook for all employers. The harmonized criteria takes into account organisations that are different sizes and in different sectors.
- A calendar of events delivered through the Community of Practice, which includes expert speakers on topics such as developing an anti-racist approach to work on gender equality, leadership and gender equality, and sexual harassment and the law. The events also provide opportunities to network and share learning across sectors.
- Availability of the ‘Applying a Gender Lens’ workshop throughout the year for employers going through the programme.
- Flexible intake and completion timelines. Employers can register from the 22nd April and join when their organisation is ready to start the work.
- New guidance on rape and sexual assault for line managers, which will be launched later in the year.
- Tailored support sessions and guidance for employers on developing initiatives to address occupational segregation.
- A new website with helpful resources, case studies and an updated Members’ area.
How to apply
To apply for the programme or for details on how to join the Community of Practice, which is open to all employers including those who aren’t ready to go through accreditation, contact Equally Safe at Work Programme Officer Leonie McConnell at lmcconnell@closethegap.org.uk
Further information on Equally Safe at Work can be found at www.equallysafeatwork.scot
How has the gender pay gap changed: what the statistics tell us
Each year, Close the Gap produces a report on the gender pay gap in Scotland. The purpose of this report is to outline and analyse the key trends in the gender pay gap across various measures to show how it has changed over time. We’re now going to be producing this report on a biennial basis and in between we’ll be bringing you blogs on how pay gap data is changing. This blog will look at the most recent pay gap data from 2023 and sets out why it’s important to look beneath the headline figures.
Median and mean gender pay gaps have narrowed, but this hides the extent of gendered labour market inequalities
Recent data from the ONS’s Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) indicates that both the median and mean gender pay gaps have decreased between 2022 and 2023 across all measures. The mean pay gaps have had a slightly larger reduction compared to median pay gaps, where falls have been more varied. As shown in table 1 below, the mean pay gaps have all seen significant decreases by around 4 percentage points, with the combined pay gap now sitting at 6.3%, the full-time gap at 3.5%, and the part-time at 22.1%.
Median pay gap (%)
Mean pay gap (%)
2020
2021
2022
2023
2020
2021
2022
2023
Combined pay gap
10.9
11.5
12.0
8.7
10.4
10.1
10.9
6.3
% change from previous year
-
+0.6
+0.5
-3.3
-
-0.3
+0.8
-4.6
Full-time pay gap
3.0
3.6
3.7
1.7
7.5
6.6
7.9
3.5
% change from previous year
-
+0.6
+0.1
-2.0
-
-0.9
+1.3
-4.4
Part-time pay gap
24.4
32.4
29.2
28.1
29.7
26.9
26.3
22.1
% change from previous year
-
+8.0
-3.2
-1.1
-
-2.8
-0.6
-4.2
Table 1: Combined, full-time and part-time median and mean gender pay gaps, 2020-2023
Reductions in the mean and median part-time pay gaps follow established trends from previous years. However, median and mean combined and full-time pay gaps have broken with trends and have begun to narrow. Given how large the decreases in the mean and median combined and full-time, and mean part-time gender pay gaps, it is important to treat them with some caution.
Scottish Government has highlighted that the full-time median figure of 1.7% means that Scotland’s gender pay gap is its “lowest on record”. However, a focus on the full-time figure excludes the 487,600 women who work part-time, most of whom are in low-paid, undervalued jobs and represent 38.3% of the female workforce. All too often, discourses on the pay gap centre on the need to get more women into senior roles. Equally as important is action to tackle women’s low pay, and the economy-wide undervaluation of ‘women’s work’ such as care, admin, and cleaning. Relying on the headline full-time figure creates an inaccurate picture of the gender pay gap and hides the persistent and pervasive inequalities women face.
Pay gaps are narrowing in most occupational groups
The new data shows a continued trend in the narrowing of the pay gap across most occupational groups. For example, when considering the combined pay gap:
- There has been a significant reduction in the gender pay gap in professional occupations from 11.1% in 2022 to 2.3% in 2023;
- In caring, leisure and other service occupations the gap has decreased from 5% to -2.7%, indicating women have a pay advantage in this occupational grouping;
- In administrative and secretarial occupations the gap has narrowed from 10.1% to 7.5%; and
- There has been a less pronounced narrowing within managers, directors, and senior officials, from 14.5% in 2022 to 13.8% in 2023.
Pay gaps are affected by the composition of men and women within each of these occupational groups. Because more women work in caring, leisure, and other service occupations, pay gaps tend to be much narrower than in managers, directors, and senior officials’ occupations, where women are under-represented and there is a smaller decrease in pay gap figures.
Women’s pay is rising faster than men’s
The new data shows that the biggest influencer of changes in the pay gap is that women’s average (mean) hourly wages are increasing faster than men’s. Table 2 shows that women’s hourly combined, full-time, and part-time wages have increased almost twice as quickly as men’s between 2022 and 2023, although men continue to have higher average hourly earnings. It is likely that this is a result of recent public sector pay settlements, which were higher than usual following waves of industrial action by trade unions in response to the cost-of-living crisis. Since women make up the majority (66%) of public sector workers, and the majority of trade union members, they have disproportionately benefited from wage increases, and this has led to their pay rising faster than men’s. For example, high-profile strike action over the last year, including the EIS teachers’ strikes throughout 2023 which resulted in a cumulative 14.6% pay increase for teaching staff, have been instrumental in securing pay increases for public sector workers. Without the collective bargaining power and support from trade unions it is unlikely these wage increases would have been secured. This aligns with existing evidence on the pay gap which shows that union membership contributes to higher pay for women. This increase in public sector wages underpins much of the recent narrowing presented in this year’s pay gap data, particularly in the public sector.
Mean (£)
2022
2023
% change
Male (overall)
19.28
20.77
+7.7%
Female (overall)
17.16
19.46
+13.4%
Male full-time
19.70
21.20
+7.6%
Female full-time
18.10
20.45
+13%
Male part-time
14.09
15.02
+6.6%
Female part-time
14.52
16.51
+13.7%
Table 2: mean hourly pay by gender, 2022 and 2023
As shown in table 3, gender pay gaps have narrowed across the public, private, and third sector, with the public sector exhibiting the most substantial reduction between 2022 and 2023. The third sector has also seen a substantial narrowing in its combined and full-time pay gaps. This is also likely to be a driving force behind the overall narrowing of the gender pay gap, as women make up the majority of staff in this sector. Increases in third and private sector pay appears to be partially driven by employer responses to the cost-of-living crisis, such as increases to wages and the introduction of bonuses or allowances to help cover cost increases.
Combined gender pay gap
Full-time gender pay gap
Part-time gender pay gap
2022
2023
2022
2023
2022
2023
Public
12.5%
4.7%
9.5%
1.7%
27.3%
18.5%
Private
15.9%
15.4%
11.5%
12.5%
32.5%
31.7%
Third sector
17.7%
11.5%
17.2%
10.1%
26.1%
24.5%
Table 3: Gender pay gaps in the public, private and third sector
It’s important to note that although women’s pay is rising faster than men’s, on average men are still earning more than women. Women continue to make up the majority of low-paid staff, comprising 60% of workers earning below the real living wage and are more likely to be in insecure work. These issues are particularly acute for racially-minoritised women, disabled women, and single parents (more than 90% of whom are women). It is therefore important to recognise that although headline pay gap statistics may suggest progress, women continue to face stubborn labour market inequalities.
Women do not experience the gender pay gap in the same way
Women are not a homogenous group, and their experiences of the labour market are shaped by their multiple, intersecting identities, which often compound and contribute to the inequalities they face. For example, disabled women and some groups of racially-minoritised women are more likely to be underemployed in terms of skills, and face higher pay gaps. Disabled women, racially-minoritised women, and LBT women are also more likely to experience workplace discrimination, harassment, and bullying.
Headline pay gap figures do not fully capture these divergent experiences, and therefore may create a picture of the gender pay gap that does not reflect the lived reality of women who are most marginalised. There is currently a distinct lack of intersectional gender pay gap data available for Scotland. However, UK-level data from the TUC shows a 9.8% gender pay gap for disabled women compared to non-disabled women, a 23% pay gap when compared to non-disabled men, and a 9.9% pay gap when compare to disabled men. This highlights the continued disadvantage disabled women face in the labour market, and their lower earnings.
UK-level data also provides insight into pay gaps for ethnic-minority women. This shows that, when compared to White British women, median hourly pay gaps are widest for Bangladeshi-British women (14.7%), Pakistani-British women (11.7%), and Mixed White and Black Caribbean women (10.6%). It is important to note that some racially-minoritised women have a pay advantage in median hourly pay compared to White British women, including White Irish women (37.7% pay advantage), Chinese-British women (35.1% pay advantage) and Indian-British women (16% pay advantage).
However, disabled women and some racially-minoritised women are on the whole more likely to be in precarious, low-paid work. Considering both the legacy of Covid-19 job disruption and on-going cost-of-living crisis are disproportionately impacting racially-minoritised women and disabled women, the stubbornly wide pay gaps they face are likely to put them under increasing financial pressure, with many pushed into further and deeper poverty.
Looking at combined gender pay gaps by age groups shows a continued trend of this gap narrowing slightly, with the exception of the pay gap for 18–21-yearolds, which has increased by 8.3%. The data highlights that gender pay gaps are widest for women over the age of 40, and narrowest for those in the 22–29-year-old age group. The widening of the gender pay gap after the age of 30 is driven by a range of factors including gender segregation in subject choice and occupational segregation, women’s concentration in low-paid and part-time work, women’s under-representation in senior management, and inflexible working practices that particularly disadvantage women in caring roles. Additionally, the higher-than-average pay gap present for women aged over 40 is largely due to the motherhood penalty, whereby women returning to work after having children find it difficult to balance caring and earning, often resulting in them moving into part-time work that is below their skill level.
Why it’s important to remain cautious about headline figures
It is evident that the picture painted by the headline gender pay gap figures and the reality of women’s lives are quite different. Although the gender pay gap continues to narrow across multiple measures progress is slow and uneven, with different groups of women facing wider pay gaps and further labour market disadvantages due to intersecting and compounding inequalities. Despite the narrowing pay gap, women continue to make up the majority of low-paid and part-time workers, are in increasingly precarious work, and female-dominated sectors continue to be undervalued. Therefore, whilst headline figures can provide some high-level insight into changes in the gender pay gap over time, it’s important they are not taken as the only indicator of gender inequality in the labour market.
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