PwC launches its Women in Work Index 2020

The PwC ‘Women in Work Index 2020’, released in time to celebrate International Women’s Day, shows that although steps have been made towards advancing gender equality, progress is slow.
Iceland and Sweden retain their place as the top two performing OECD countries, with Slovenia occupying third place. The UK’s position on the Index remained unchanged at 16th, but it continues to perform above the OECD average. Since 2000, Luxembourg and Poland have made the largest improvements on the Index while France and Austria have experienced the greatest fall in the rankings over this period.

Improving female participation could boost OECD GDP by US$6 trillion

The Women in Work Index shows that improving female participation in work across the OECD could boost OECD GDP by US$6 trillion, while closing the gender pay gap could boost female earnings across the OECD by US$2 trillion.

The theme of this year’s report focuses on the opportunities and challenges that technology presents to women in the workplace. It explores how women have been able to take advantage of opportunities in the fast-growing tech sector. However, women are also becoming increasingly vulnerable to the disruptive impacts of technology and automation on their jobs.

Opening up opportunities for women across the UK

The South West, Northern Ireland and Wales are the top performing UK regions in the regional index.

London and the West Midlands are at the bottom of the index due to poor female labour force participation and a high female unemployment rate.

Northern Ireland has improved from 4th place to 2nd due to the largest improvement of all regions in its female labour force participation rate, while London has fallen three places to 12th as a result of a widening gender pay gap and gender labour force participation gap.

The impact of technology on female employment

For women in the OECD, fewer jobs are expected to be lost due to technology than for men, but the gains from job creation are likely to be bigger for men than women.

Across the OECD, PwC expects there to be winners and losers from technology with the net impact on female employment varying for each country.

The health and social care and education sectors are expected to experience a net gain in female jobs owing to the effects of technology, around 3% and 6% respectively.

However, the number of jobs for female workers in the wholesale and retail trade, manufacturing, and other services sectors, could decline as a result of technology and automation. These sectors collectively account for 30% of female employment currently, and there could be a net loss of around 10-20% of these jobs.

Opportunities and challenges for women in tech

More women than ever before are choosing the fast-growing technology industry as a pathway to career success. However, women remain significantly under represented in the tech industry and face a number of challenges when entering, as well as staying in the tech sector.

According to the PwC Women in Technology Index, which assesses the representation of women in the tech sector across the G7, the average female share of ICT graduates, technology industry employment and board positions in technology, media and telecommunications is below 30%, and the average technology gender pay gap is above the G7 average for all industries.

Governments, educators and employers all have a role to play in improving the position of women in work. In particular, technology organisations can take action to promote opportunities for women and improve female representation in tech. We explore some of the steps that organisations can take to unlock female potential in the technology industry below.

The report identified four key focus areas where organisations can promote opportunities for women in the technology industry throughout the career life cycle?:

Develop the pipeline of female tech talent by encouraging girls and young women to study STEM subjects at school.

One of the key drivers of female under-representation in the tech industry is the lack of young women pursuing STEM subjects at school. Organisations can help by collaborating with educational institutions to educate and inspire pupils about technology careers.

Foster an inclusive workplace culture by promoting networking groups and mentoring schemes.

Workplace inclusivity is essential to empower women in the existing workforce and also attract new female talent. Organisations can implement initiatives such as mentorship schemes and networking groups to support career planning and provide a forum for discussion.

Attract women into the industry by ensuring that job descriptions are gender-neutral and recruitment teams are gender-balanced. Where applicable, set targets for the number of women on vacancy shortlists.

Recruiting more women into the technology industry is vital to improving female representation and challenging gender stereotypes. Organisations can help to achieve this by ensuring that branding and job descriptions are gender-neutral and that recruitment teams are gender-balanced.

Provide opportunities for development, for example by implementing retraining and returner programmes and creating alternative hiring pathways to allow employees to move into different roles.

One of the reasons for the lack of senior women in tech is the lack of leadership and development opportunities. One way organisations can address both the pipeline and progression of women is by focusing on training and education.

Click to download a copy of the PwC Women in Work Index 2020.