International women’s day: cause for celebration?

This week we celebrated annual International Women’s Day, although some of the statistics coming through on the wires suggested that it was perhaps a little early for us to be popping the champagne on gender equality.

Among the headline figures reported this week we had:

• A survey from the Fawcett society revealing that 46% of people feel women become less committed to work after becoming mothers, compared to 29% of fathers who became more committed to work.
• Hays reporting that only one in ten UK women aspire to CEO or managing director positions, lagging behind many other developed countries
• A technology industry membership body reporting that one in five of its members still have a 100% male workforce
• A Watchstop survey that found that working mums spend an additional 54 hours a week on parenting and household chores, the monetary equivalent of £361 weekly if they were paid on the national minimum wage.

Some progress is being made – the number of female non-executive directors has met the target set in the Davies Report, for example – but these headlines suggest that beneath the surface, there are still preconceptions about female ambition and ability in the workplace.

The introduction of mandatory gender pay gap reporting for larger companies in 2018 will improve transparency when it comes to pay equality, but a wider societal and cultural shift still needs to take place. As Maria Miller, chair of a parliamentary select committee that scrutinises gender equality, said this week: “The gender pay gap is particularly acute for women over 40 – and that is because of the lack of quality part-time working and lack of effective shared parental-leave policies. The evidence is clear. The government needs to take a long, hard look at their policies.”

Making broad statements and promises once a year on International Women’s Day minimises something that is a year-round issue, and one that barely improves as this day rolls around each March. Let’s look forward to seeing some more positive figures on female achievement in years to come.