Government’s Covid response continues to overlook ‘specific and well-understood labour market and caring inequalities faced by women’, MPs warn

Women and Equalities Committee urges government to ‘seize opportunity’ to stop repeated ‘skewing’ of its policies towards men as it implements recovery strategies

The government’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak continues to overlook ‘specific and well-understood labour market and caring inequalities' faced by women, the Women and Equalities Committee has said.

In a new report, Unequal impact? Coronavirus and the gendered economic impact, the Committee examines the government’s Covid response across a range of policy areas including the labour market and employment, pregnancy and maternity discrimination, and childcare. Key findings include that the government’s efforts to protect jobs and living standards during the Covid-19 pandemic has overlooked, and in some cases exacerbated, pre-existing labour market and caring inequalities faced by women.

For example, the Committee highlights that the gendered impacts of the government’s job protection schemes - the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) - on women in employment were predictable, given that -

• women, particularly BAME women, are disproportionately employed in less secure, low quality work arrangements and have been less likely to have their wages topped up by their employer beyond the 80 per cent CJRS subsidy;
• the CJRS was not clearly articulated as a right for those with caring responsibilities;
• while the move to more home working is described by some as a ‘silver lining’ from the pandemic for women with children, the Committee highlights that this does not cause care responsibilities to vanish, and there remains a definite risk of permanent home workers being left off the career ladder; and
• some employers have forced pregnant women or those on maternity leave to take unpaid leave, start their maternity leave early, or placed them on sick leave rather than furlough.

In addition, the Committee identifies problems with the government’s priorities for recovery post-pandemic, which it says are heavily gendered in nature, using language such as ‘build, build, build’ and ‘shovel- ready projects’. It also highlights that -

‘Investment plans that skewed towards male-dominated sectors [including science, engineering and maths and construction] have the potential to create unequal outcomes for men and women, exacerbating existing inequalities.’

The Committee also highlights that these findings, along with those in relation to social security, childcare, and young people, show how damaging a lack of equality analysis of new policies is to efforts to address inequalities facing women.

As a result, the Committee makes 20 recommendations including, in relation to the labour market and employment, for the government to -

• carry out an Equality Impact Assessment of the CJRS and SEISS to draw on existing inequalities and to ensure the schemes better protect women and other groups already at a disadvantage in the labour market;
• provide Equality Impact Assessments for the Industrial Strategy and ‘New Deal’ to consider gender-based assessment of beneficiaries;
• review the adequacy of the level of, and eligibility for, statutory sick pay, paying particular regard to the fact that women are over-represented among those who are not eligible;
• amend the Flexible Working Regulations 2014, to remove the 26-weeks’ service threshold for employees to request flexible working arrangements;
• legislate to extend redundancy protection to pregnant women and new mothers;
• review childcare provision to provide support for working parents and those who are job seeking or retraining; and
• reinstate gender pay gap reporting.

Committee Chair Caroline Nokes said today -

‘As the pandemic struck, the government had to act quickly to protect jobs and adapt welfare benefits. These have provided a vital safety net for millions of people.

But it overlooked the labour market and caring inequalities faced by women. These are not a mystery, they are specific and well understood. And yet the government has repeatedly failed to consider them.

This passive approach to gender equality is not enough. And for many women it has made existing equality problems worse: in the support to self-employed people, to pregnant women and new mothers, to the professional childcare sector, and for women claiming benefits. And it risks doing the same in its plans for economic recovery.

We heard evidence from a wide range of organisations, including Maternity Action, the National Hair and Beauty Federation, the TUC, the Professional Association of Childcare and Early Years, the single parents campaign group Gingerbread, the Young Women’s Trust and the Women’s Budget Group. And written evidence from many more.

The message from our evidence is clear: Government policies have repeatedly skewed towards men - and it keeps happening.

We need to see more than good intentions and hoping for the best. The government must start actively analysing and assessing the equality impact of every policy, or it risks turning the clock back.

Our report sets out a package of twenty recommendations for change and a timescale. Taken together, these will go a long way towards tackling the problems and creating the more equal future that so many women - and men - want to see.

The government should seize this opportunity.’

For more information, see Government must assess equality impact of every policy from parliament.uk