International Women's Day 2023: Creating choice for equity

International Women's Day is an annual celebration of the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women, held on 8 March. The theme of the UN’s International Women’s Day for 2023 is “Embrace Equity” and represents the need to forge equality, celebrating and valuing difference.

Women at CPC and Connecting Generations are recognised for excellence in their field. From our female-led senior management team to lobbying policymakers about issues that disproportionately affect women, our work contributes to evidence on gender inequality. Issues affecting women do not exist in a vacuum but impact all aspects of our society. By highlighting gender imbalances, we can ensure policymakers are equipped with the knowledge to improve society for everyone.

Although great strides have been made for equity, women still face many issues and choices throughout the life course which affect their equal standing in society. With falling birth rates and an ageing population in the UK, it is vital for policymakers to recognise these issues. Policies which support women to feel secure in their life choices can foster equity. These choices include whether or not to start a family, as well as whether to enter and/or remain in the workforce.

Director of CPC and PI of Connecting Generations, Professor Jane Falkingham CBE said: “We need to recognise the often ‘hidden’ lives of women, where choices around health, fertility, family and work are taken out of their hands due to unequal health, economic and societal pressures. Many women juggle multiple responsibilities, particularly around caring, throughout their lives. Policymakers need to act now to create strategies which support individuals’ choices, creating equity and, ultimately, supporting our ageing society.”

Dr Bernice Kuang and colleagues found that women are delaying or foregoing having children for reasons such as labour market engagement, increases in women’s education, lack of stable work, lack of appropriate housing, and difficulty accessing affordable childcare services. Grandparents (frequently grandmothers) have become vital for childcare; the cost of childcare means that many parents (frequently mothers) are unable to work full-time without family support.

Professor Athina Vlachantoni and collaborators have highlighted that the role of grandparents has significantly increased over the last decade. As well as those that care for grandchildren, there are those that care for older relatives with implications on their working lives. People in mid-life who have caring responsibilities are more likely to reduce the amount of paid work they do so that they can provide care, particularly if they are female, single, are in lower paid employment, have poor health themselves and have frequent contact with their parents.

Professor Maria Evandrou and colleagues have been investigating the impact of the menopause on changes in women’s employment. The work showed that menopausal women who have experienced at least one problematic menopausal symptom are 43% more likely to have left their jobs by the age of 55. Many women are forced to reduce their working hours. The research was used to inform the recommendations on menopause in the workplace by the European Menopause and Andropause Society. Organisations can sign up to their Menopause and Work Charter. The recommendations have wide-reaching implications for improvements in well-being of women and improved performance for business.

Dr Heini Väisänen researches sexual and reproductive health in low- and middle-income countries, which has significant implications for women’s health and the health of their families. Her work has highlighted the importance of health literacy for women’s access to safe abortion. According to some estimates, unsafe abortion causes around 10% of maternal deaths. This work is raising the importance of better information, family planning and safe abortion services in saving lives.

Professor Jane Falkingham CBE and colleagues carried out a study during the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic which found evidence that women were more vulnerable to sleep deprivation during the first lockdown. These findings were in-line with much of the research that suggested experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK were very different for men and women. For example, women’s position in the labour market may have increased their exposure to Covid-19, as women represent a significant majority of frontline workers in social care, education and health care. Many parents were affected by school closures, and the need to balance paid work with more childcare and home-learning. Those in mid-life may have found themselves juggling work with caring responsibilities for aged parents and grandchildren. These extra responsibilities didn’t fall equally; the gendered allocation of childcare meant that, in many households, mums continued to be the primary carers for children.

Professor Falkingham continued: "These studies highlight the need to give women more choices to create a more equal society. Women should be supported in their educational opportunities, their employment prospects, their earning parity with men, their access to secure housing, and support with healthcare, plus caring responsibilities for older and younger generations. Attention should be given to who will provide care in later life to those women who don’t have family or adequate pensions. One in five women born in the 1960s in the UK, for example, were childless at age 50, meaning that the number of women childless at age 80 will triple from around 20,000 today to over 60,000 in 2045."

Further reading:

Half of women in England and Wales do not have children by age 30 (Financial Times)

Why the 'sandwich generation' is so stressed out (BBC Worklife)

Social participation and health outcomes among carers in Great Britain (CPC Policy Briefing 47)

Informal caring in mid-life and its economic consequences (CPC Policy Briefing 46)

Support through the generations (Population Europe Policy Insight)

World Menopause Day Podcast with Professor Jane Falkingham

Menopausal transition and change in employment: Evidence from the National Child Development Study (Maturitas)

Sexual and Reproductive Health Literacy, Misoprostol Knowledge and Use of Medication Abortion in Lagos State, Nigeria: A Mixed Methods Study (Studies in Family Planning)

How partnerships have changed in the UK over the last 30 years (CPC Policy Briefing 50)

Who’s been losing sleep during lockdown? (CPC Policy Briefing 55)

Twenty years of having babies across different countries of the UK: How has parents’ partnership status changed (CPC Policy Briefing 56)

Gender attitudes and practices among married and cohabiting parents (CPC Policy Briefing 57)

Being a grandparent and depression: how does it differ across England, Europe and China? (CPC Policy Briefing 62)

Homeownership and the transition to parenthood (CPC Policy Briefing 63)

Education and fertility in Europe in the last decade: A review of the literature (CPC Working Paper 103)

Posted 08/03/2023 13:48