Northern Ireland falls from first to fourth in the UK for female gender equality at work

Northern Ireland has fallen from first to fourth among the UK’s nations and regions for women’s employment outcomes, according to PwC’s annual Women in Work Index.

First launched in 2011, the Index is a weighted average of five indicators that reflect women’s labour market outcomes and assess progress made towards achieving gender equality at work.

The OECD Index assesses the performance of 33 OECD countries including the UK as a whole, while the UK regional Index assesses the performance of the UK’s nations and regions.

The gender pay gap in Northern Ireland increased by 2.8% pts from 4.7% in 2021 to 7.5% in 2022, versus 14.5% UK wide, but the region continues to have the lowest gender pay gap across all regions. The region also has a higher female full-time employment rate than most - the third best across the UK at 61%.

However, its change in ranking this year was largely driven by a widening of 2.4% pts in participation rate gap from 5.5% in 2021 to 7.9% in 2022, as Northern Ireland continues to have the lowest female labour force participation rate (69.7%) of all nations and regions in the UK (75% UK wide).

Cat McCusker, regional market leader at PwC Northern Ireland, said: “The regional Index shows the gap between men and women in the workplace is widening in NI, so it is important that policy makers and businesses work together to address this. This will not only help to address equity, but also help to alleviate labour and skill shortages in the region.

“There are numerous obstacles that women face - one significant factor is the absence of a comprehensive childcare strategy in Northern Ireland, which lags behind the rest of the UK. Immediate attention should be given to the issues surrounding the cost of childcare so that women are not prevented from participating in the workforce due to financial constraints. More broadly, it’s crucial that working parents are properly supported - championing flexible and hybrid working, alongside progressive parental leave policies, is key.

“These findings come at a time when policymakers and businesses are planning ways to accelerate economic growth here through continued focus on longer-term levers that will increase productivity and stimulate investment. Our priorities must be getting more people into work, and supporting skills and education in areas which will have the greatest, lasting impact.”

The report also found on average there was a 0.6 point increase in the regional Index score across the UK regions compared to 2021. Nine of the UK’s 12 nations and regions improved their Index scores on the UK regional Index compared with last year.

Scotland jumped from third place up to first as the top performing UK region, driven by greater female participation in the workforce. Conversely, the West Midlands was the worst performing region, falling two places from 10th. The East Midlands was also a poor performer and experienced the largest annual fall in the rankings, falling six places to 11th place. Yorkshire and the Humber and the north east recorded the largest improvement in the rankings in addition to Scotland, each rising by two places.