Women in Greater Manchester face a range of barriers relating to their employment. As of December 2022, 72% of women in Greater Manchester aged 16-64 were in employment, compared to 80% of men. Women’s economic activity in Greater Manchester is also lower than the national level, where 75% of women aged 16-64 are in employment. Increasing women’s access to the labour market – and thereby utilising their potential – is key to raising productivity and economic outputs. Here, Dr Rosalind Shorrocks and Dr Anna Sanders draw on their collaboration with GM4Women2028 to explore how unequal pay and undertaking unpaid care affects women’s ability to participate in the labour market, as well as their career progression. 

• Greater efforts should be made to support women’s progression and promotion in the workplace. Particular target areas are pay equality and consideration of childcare and unpaid care. 
• Women with children under 5 expressed the most dissatisfaction with childcare arrangements, where unaffordable and inflexible childcare can pose challenges for women balancing employment alongside unpaid care. 
• Employers should offer flexible working arrangements to women of all ages. 

GM4Women2028 – background 

To date, we have known little about women’s preferences and experiences of employment at the regional level. This is because most available data tends to focus on the national level. 

In September 2022, a representative survey of women in Greater Manchester was conducted as part of a collaboration between academics at the Universities of Manchester and York, and a GM-based women and girls’ charity, GM4Women2028. Working with GM4Women2028 and other stakeholders, the What Women Want report identifies key areas of policy priority for women in the region. One of the areas identified was employment (and relatedly care). 

Overall, we found that a considerable proportion of women in Greater Manchester are dissatisfied with their pay, with some demographic groups of women especially likely to be dissatisfied. Additionally, we found that unpaid care affects women across the life course. This has appeared to hinder women’s ability to participate in the labour market, as well as their career progression. 

Perceptions of pay 

Women in Greater Manchester generally felt they were not paid enough relative to their experience and skills. Almost half (46%) of the women we surveyed disagreed with the statement, “Considering my qualifications, experience and skill level, I feel I get paid appropriately”, compared to just 34% of women who agreed with the statement. Notably, there were also differences between different demographic groups of women. Disagreement with the statement was highest among women with children under 12 (51%); women aged 25-44 (49%) and 45-64 (47%), and non-white women (56%). 

Figure 1. Agreement and disagreement with “Considering my qualifications, experience and skill level, I feel I get paid appropriately”. 

Care and employment 

Another area that women responded to was unpaid care. Overall, 27% of women in Greater Manchester said that they provide unpaid care for children that they live with, and 17% of women provide unpaid care for children that they do not live with. Crucially, the impact of unpaid care on employment affects women across the life course. This includes older women who may fill the gaps in caring as grandmothers. One-quarter of women aged 65 and over said that they spend 0-19 hours per week caring for children they do not currently live with. This corresponds to another finding in our survey that grandparents are the most common form of childcare for women with children, used by 72% of women with children under 12. 

Undertaking unpaid care also impacts women’s employment and career progression. 17% of women said that they had reduced their hours or gone part-time due to caring for children that they live with. This increases to 36% for women with children under 12. Additionally, 9% of women said that they had avoided taking a job with more responsibility due to caring for children that they currently live with. This increases to one-fifth of women with children under 12. 

Childcare 

Evidence shows that flexible and affordable childcare can increase women’s participation in the labour market. Figure 2 shows what women with children would most improve about their existing childcare arrangements. There are clear differences between women with children aged under 5, and those with children aged 5-12. Half of women with children aged 5-12 were completely satisfied with their childcare arrangements, but this drops to just one-fifth of women with children under 5 (21%). Reduced cost was the most common improvement to childcare that women wanted to see, cited by 45% of women. This increases to 59% for women with children under 5. Also of note is flexibility to vary hours and days of childcare, cited by 20% of women (and increasing to 28% of women with children under 5). 

Figure 2. Childcare arrangements used most by women in Greater Manchester. 

Given there are greater concerns about childcare among women with children under 5, this suggests that there are issues with early years specifically. Currently, the UK has some of the highest childcare costs in the world. Unaffordable and inflexible childcare may pose challenges for women when it comes to balancing employment alongside unpaid care. Providing affordable childcare is especially important given the current cost-of-living crisis, which will likely mean that women will have less disposable income each month for childcare. Providing sufficient childcare may also help to relieve the burden on those filling the gaps in caring provision, such as older women. 

Recommendations: 

• Greater efforts should be made to support women’s progression and promotion in the workplace, with targeted measures for women with children and women from non-white ethnic backgrounds. The Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter could include additional commitments on progression and pay to address issues around women’s low pay and under-employment. The recommendations below which relate to reconciling unpaid care and work should also help address these issues.   
• Flexible working arrangements should be available to women of all ages to enable the combination of work and unpaid care. We show women are undertaking unpaid care across the life-course – impacting total hours worked and career progression. Initiatives such as the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter could help to ensure employers have a coordinated approach to flexible working. 
• While local authorities have a statutory duty to ensure that there is sufficient childcare, responsibility for childcare policy currently rests with central government. The decision by central government in March 2023 to extend the early entitlement offer to children of younger ages is a welcome move. However, as early years provision is rolled out, central government must ensure that there is sufficient funding in the early years sector to match demand. 
• Childcare policies should offer more choice to parents over how they can use their funded hours. 

This article was originally published as part of our collection on the future of work in the UK, Working Futures. Read more evidence-led policy insight on this topic in the full online collection.