Women and work

In Building Britain’s Future (2009), Government set out its aim of building a fair and family-friendly labour market where everyone has the opportunity to develop their skills and experience.

This is an economic necessity. For our economy to grow, we need to draw on and develop all the available resources to increase productivity and to give our economy a competitive advantage. But this is also important for us as individuals, as we are all entitled to fairness and to have the opportunities to fulfil our potential and achieve our aspirations; and it is important to our society, because an equal society where there is genuine mobility is more cohesive and at ease with itself.

The action we have taken has provided sound foundations: there are now more women working in Britain than in almost any time in our history, and women increasingly hold influential positions. However, our labour market is still failing to make the best use of people’s talents. In particular, pay levels for women while improving still do not reflect their qualification levels.

It is difficult to quantify the resulting loss to the economy of this under-utilisation of women’s skills; however, in 2006 the Women and Work Commission estimated that removing barriers to women working in occupations traditionally undertaken by men and increasing women’s participation in the labour market, could be worth between 15 and 23 billion pounds or 1.3 to 2.0 per cent of GDP.

This section sets out how we will ensure our labour market offers women genuine choices, wider opportunities and better career structures which enable them to progress, to fulfil their potential and to make a full contribution to society and our economy.