Women, employment, and household labour

Despite much progress, the division of household labour continues to reflect historic gender roles. In most wealthy countries, even when women engage in paid employment, they often still perform much of the household labour [1].

Torbay Family Hubs Reach

Figure 1: Torbay Family Hubs Reach over the fiscal year 2023/2024. Reach reports count an individual member once, no matter how many times they are recorded. Data source: Torbay Family Hubs.  

The impact of an ageing society means that in addition to bringing up their own family, many women will also care for older relatives, often after their children have become independent adults. In 2019, there were 1.25 million ‘sandwich carers’ in the UK, of whom, 68% were women [2]. Carers UK use census data from 2021 [3] asserts that 59% of unpaid carers are women, and that women are more likely to become carers and to provide more hours of unpaid care than men. In addition, more women than men provide high intensity care at ages when they would expect to be in paid work [4].  These carer responsibilities impact upon the employment opportunities and options for many women.
 
In Torbay, women are more likely than men to provide unpaid care to others in relation to long-term physical or mental health conditions or aging. 13% of females (aged over 5) compared to 9.5% of males provide unpaid care to other Torbay residents. This is across all age ranges and the proportion of women in Torbay providing unpaid care is significantly higher than England at 10.3%. This is highlighted in the latest local Joint Strategic Health Assessment (JSNA) [5].

Torbay has consistently lower average salaries than the national and regional average with women often doing lower paid or part-time work, alongside unpaid caring duties. Organisational policies and culture often play their part in decisions within the home about who should work and who should stay at work which can be the difference between continuing traditional gender roles or a more equal household. The impact of caring responsibilities as is not only in felt workplaces and education settings, but also across can create expectations and norms about the role of women in families, communities, and all of Torbay. The impact being felt beyond the workplace, shaping societal norms and individual perceptions of gender roles within the context of family life.

Torbay has an ambitious economic growth strategy which calls for investment in our tech sector, our visitor economy as well as the strong potential for smaller tech companies and creative digital. By supporting women to develop skills, knowledge, qualifications, and confidence to establish, develop and grow employment opportunities, Torbay has the potential to unlock its entire workforce and support women and families to thrive.