Report: UK women are priced out of work by the cost of childcare (plus the low take up of shared parental leave by fathers)
Welcome to the bi-weekly update (#162) where we dive deeper into key topics, themes or issues specific to women and their lived experience.
A recent report by consultancy firm, PwC has outlined that women continue to be priced out of work and suffer from a growing gender pay gap because families can not afford childcare in the UK.
Data for 2021 showed that the gender pay gap has widened four times faster in the UK than the average for the OECD.
This is in large part due to the ‘motherhood penalty’: in the UK a mothers's salary falls by approximately 40%,10 years after having a child. Conversely, men who are married with kids get a 'wage bonus' of 21%+ (according to TUC study).
It is virtually always the woman who quits or takes on part-time work when the children come. And the cost of childcare is prohibitive in countries like the UK.
What follows is often lower pay and less advancement in a woman’s career.
Based on the PwC report, net childcare costs represented almost a third of the income of a family on the average UK wage, compared with as little as 1% of income in Germany.
However, whilst childcare affordability is an issue, so is the low take up by fathers of shared parental leave. This was estimated at only 2-8% in 2019.
Societal and gender norms continue to influence who takes up the majority of childcare.
So what are the solutions?
Affordable childcare.
A redesign of parental leave policies to support a ‘dual earner-dual carer model’.
An effective Equal Paid Parental Leave system in the UK.
And fathers taking more parental leave.
The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2023 & All Rights Reserved.
The Purse provides content for informational purposes only, we do not recommend products or services or provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.