Don’t let women pay price just for having children
THE UK’s persistent gender pay gap is a source of shame for us all.
While some progress is being made, this month’s report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies makes it clear that we have not yet tackled the root causes of the problem.
Many businesspeople care passionately about this issue, and are doing their part by rethinking the way they recruit, retain and promote women in the workplace.
Finding new ways to tackle the gender pay gap at work is the right thing to do. It is also the right business decision, because far too many companies are losing talented women who are forced to choose between caring for their families and progressing at work. As firms lose great employees, individuals miss out on career opportunities – and the UK economy pays a steep price.
Merely having children should not be a significant contributor to women falling behind men in pay or promotion.
To date, the Government has focused on compulsory gender pay reporting, which takes a complex set of issues and reduces them to a few headline statistics. It is an exercise that gives a sense of the scale of the problem, but it does not deal with its causes.
By contrast, sustained investment in high-quality, affordable childcare provision would be transformational – for the gender pay gap, for parents’ career prospects, for the success of their company, and for the UK’s overall productivity. Better childcare could stop many people from leaving the workforce in the first place, or from returning at a much-diminished level years later.
Childcare, like healthcare, needs to be viewed not as an expensive luxury, but as a crucial part of Britain’s business and social infrastructure. Better childcare is the key to creating a competitive, dynamic and successful workforce that includes all of the talent in this country.
Comprehensive childcare reform would be a real catalyst for change, both in the short and longer term.
It would offer an immediate boost to the current generation of families with young children. Over time, it would help to raise aspirations, as individuals with caring responsibilities would see even more career options as real possibilities for them.
The Prime Minister is right to focus on ending the gender pay gap – as one of the steps in creating a fairer and more productive society. Transforming childcare should be at the heart of the Government’s efforts.