Closing gender pay gap could add £85 billion to UK economy
Closing the gender pay gap could help to boost the UK economy by £85 billion, according to a report from Big Four accounting firm PwC.
The company’s annual Women in Work index identified the reasons behind the gender pay gap, with women spending more time away from work to care for their family than their male counterparts being found to be the main factor.
Boost
The index showed how the UK compares with other countries in terms of equal pay, with Iceland, Sweden and Norway taking the top three positions and the UK rising from 14th to 13th place.
Increasing the employment rates of females in the UK to those in Sweden could bring a significant boost to the country, with the report estimating a 9.1 per cent increase in GDP, which equates to £170 billion.
PwC is now urging businesses to address the issue of the pay gap, suggesting that they offer support to women returning to work after having children, support women who are looking to advance in their career, and provide more opportunities for flexible and part-time work to enable women with families to choose their hours.
Opportunity
Love Home Swap Chief Executive Officer and AllBright Co-Founder, Debbie Wosskow, OBE commented: “Now is a great time to be a woman in business in the UK. Whether that is a woman working in a corporate company or a woman running her own business, it is clear that there is opportunity all around us.”
She said that there is still a long way to go to level the playing field and close the gender pay gap for women or close the funding gap that exists for female founders.
She added that one way to bridge the gap quickly is to make sure that supporting services are more accessible than ever to females.
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