London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 11, 2025

Women in the UK already earn less than men. The coronavirus is making that worse

Women in the UK already earn less than men. The coronavirus is making that worse

Friday, November 20 marks the day women in the United Kingdom effectively stop being paid.

That's because of the UK's 11.5% gender pay gap for full-time employees -- meaning that women in those positions earn 11.5% less than men. That translates to roughly 30 days work with no pay.

Equal Pay Day always serves as a stark reminder of enduring inequality in the workplace. But a new report demonstrates how the coronavirus pandemic could further exacerbate that gap.

According to a report released Friday by the gender equality organization the Fawcett Society, 50% of employed women from the UK's Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities and 43% of employed white women -- compared to 35% of employed white men -- say that the pandemic has made them worried about their job or promotion prospects.

Women were twice as likely to work in sectors that were shuttered during the first lockdown in the spring, the report found, and there are concerns that jobs in female-dominated sectors including retail and hospitality could be lost long-term.

Women under the age of 25 have been especially affected by job losses, with 36% of them losing their jobs compared to 25% of young men, according to analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies cited in the report.

Working mothers have also disproportionally borne the brunt of job losses, the report said, with over a third (35%) of working mothers saying that they had lost work or hours due to a lack of childcare during the pandemic.

And while fathers were able to double the time they normally spend caring for their children during the lockdown, mothers working in lockdown were far less likely to have been able to work in an uninterrupted way, according to the report.

Women have been shortchanged in the workplace for many different reasons.

Under-representation in high-wage jobs, the burden of home and caregiving responsibilities and the long-lasting effects of even a temporary withdrawal from the workforce to have a baby are just a few of the factors contributing to the systemic cycle of workplace inequality.

'Turning back the clock'


In its report, the Fawcett Society said that society was at a "coronavirus crossroad," noting that the evidence emerging from the pandemic has suggested that gender equality was going backwards and that without government action "we may be turning the clock back decades."

Official statistics from the UK's Office for National Statistics released in April showed that the gender pay gap among employees was down to 15.5% in 2020 from 17.4% in 2019 and that "progress had been made to reduce that gap across all companies in the last years."

But those figures might be skewed by the pandemic, gender equality groups warn.

That's because pay gap reporting transparency -- a law introduced in 2018 by the UK government requiring all companies larger than 250 employees to publish detailed information about gaps in salaries and bonuses -- has been suspended due to the pandemic.

As a result, up to a quarter of the normal reporting data could be missing from those official statistics.

This year, only half of employers and 70% of high-profile FTSE 100-listed companies disclosed their gender pay gap data, according to a report by the UK's Equality Trust.

The suspension of that mandatory reporting, coupled with the fact that only 24% of the workplace openly discuss their salaries, could potentially reverse any progress made in the last three years.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Equality Trust called that process "paltry," noting that since the introduction of mandatory pay gap reporting, the gap between bonuses given to men and women on average had increased by 179%.

Calling on the government to reinstate gender pay reporting and transparency, the trust's Executive Director Wanda Wyporska said that 50 years after the
UK Equal Pay Act was passed, "women are still being undervalued, underpaid and to add insult to injury, there is little if any progress on the gender pay and bonus gaps. And it's disappointing to see how many of those companies selling predominantly to women, are keen to take women's money, but not so eager to pay it to their women staff."

But while the outlook for workplace inequality appears grim, the Fawcett Society says that it's possible that as society rebuilds, a more equal future could be possible.

"For a time, our public discourse shifted to truly recognize the value that our carers and key workers, mostly female, have always had in our economy," it said.

"These changes could be temporary, with the world of work reverting to the old normal if and when a vaccine arises. Or, as seems more likely, elements of them will persist -- because people want them to, because they make business sense, or because we continue down newly-familiar paths."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
ChatGPT CEO signals policy to alert authorities over suicidal youth after teen’s death
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
Starmer Establishes Economic ‘Budget Board’ to Centralise Policy and Rebuild Business Trust
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Brazilian police say ex-President Bolsonaro had planned to flee to Argentina seeking asylum
Trinidad Leader Applauds U.S. Naval Strike and Advocates Forceful Action Against Traffickers
Kim Jong Un Oversees Final Test of New High-Thrust Solid-Fuel Rocket Engine
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Supreme Court temporarily allows Trump to pause billions in foreign aid
Charlie Sheen says his father, Martin Sheen, turned him in to the police: 'The greatest betrayal possible'
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
Pig Heads Left Outside Multiple Paris Mosques in Outrage-Inducing Acts
Nvidia’s ‘Wow’ Factor Is Fading. The AI chip giant used to beat Wall Street expectations for earnings by a substantial margin. That trajectory is coming down to earth.
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
On the Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s Death: Prince Harry Returns to Britain
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Murdoch Family Finalises $3.3 Billion Succession Pact, Ensuring Eldest Son’s Leadership
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Court Staff Cover Up Banksy Image of Judge Beating a Protester
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
Elon Musk Poised to Become First Trillionaire Under Ambitious Tesla Pay Plan
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
Burning the Minister’s House Helped Protesters to Win Justice: Prabowo Fires Finance Minister in Wake of Indonesia Protests
Brazil Braces for Fallout from Bolsonaro Trial by corrupted judge
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
Nearly 40 Years Later: Nike Changes the Legendary Slogan Just Do It
Generations Born After 1939 Unlikely to Reach Age One Hundred, New Study Finds
End to a four-year manhunt in New Zealand: the father who abducted his children to the forests was killed, the three siblings were found
Germany Suspends Debt Rules, Funnels €500 Billion Toward Military and Proxy War Strategy
EU Prepares for War
BMW Eyes Growth in China with New All‑Electric Neue Klasse Lineup
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
US Justice Department Launches Criminal Mortgage-Fraud Probe into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Escalating Drug Trafficking and Violence in Latin America: A Growing Crisis
US and Taiwanese Defence Officials Held Secret Talks in Alaska
Report: Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission in North Korea Ordered by Trump in 2019 Ended in Failure
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Florida Murder Case: The Adelson Family, the Killing of Dan Markel, and the Trial of Donna Adelson
×