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.