Sex discrimination is when you are treated differently because of your sex, in certain situations covered by the Equality Act 2010.
- The Equality Act 2010 says you must not be discriminated against because:
- you are (or are not) a particular sex
- someone thinks you are the opposite sex (this is known as discrimination by perception)
- you are connected to someone of a particular sex (this is known as discrimination by association)
In the Equality Act, sex can mean either male or female, or a group of people like men or boys, or women or girls.
Census 2021
In Plymouth, females account for 51 per cent and males 49 per cent of the population (reflecting the England split of 50.7 per cent and 49.3 per cent). The overall Female/Male percentage split has been very consistent over the last 40 years. Of significance, there are:
- More ‘working age’ females (87,200) in Plymouth compared to working age males (85,400)
- More females ‘65+’ (26,600) in Plymouth compared to males (22,300)
- Less ‘under 15’ females (21,200) in Plymouth compared to males (22,200)
Education
According to the IFS , while girls consistently and substantially outperform boys in the education system, their educational success has not translated into gains in the labour market. Girls are around 10 percentage points more likely than boys to reach attainment benchmarks at various stages of the education system. However, while women are more likely to progress to higher education, they are less likely to select subjects such as computer science, engineering or maths. Also, women’s outperformance in the education system has not led to outperformance in the labour market – rather, somewhat lower wages early in women’s careers are then held back further relative to men once they have children.
Work
The city’s gender pay gap, measured in terms of average hourly pay excluding overtime, has been all but eliminated. Measured in terms of earnings by place of residence full time female workers average hourly pay excluding overtime stands at £14.15 compared with £14.02 for full time male workers. This is reversed for workplace-based earnings with full time male workers average hourly pay excluding overtime standing at £15.37 compared with £15.28 for full time female workers, giving a gender pay gap of 0.6%. Using the same data for part time workers, average hourly wages for female part time workers were £12.02 compared with £11.56 for male part time workers giving a positive gap of +4.3 per cent . Nationally the gender pay gap in terms of average hourly pay excluding overtime remained at 9.5 per cent in 2022.
In Plymouth, resident male take home pay still exceeds resident female take home pay with weekly gross pay for men averaging £584.60 compared to £535.80 for women - a gap that increases when workplace wages are considered with figures of £613.50 for men and £552.60 for women (2022). The data suggests that this is the result of a difference in the number of hours worked rather than a pay rate differential. In terms of comparison with the national figures men earn 85 per cent of the national average for full time male workers whilst women earn 91 per cent the national average for female full-time workers.
This may be the result of labour market inflexibility and the greater proportion of childcare, and other domestic caring responsibilities done by women. Women whose youngest dependent child was aged between one and eight years were more likely to be in part-time employment than full-time employment. When asked about any special working arrangements, such as flexible or term-time hours, 33.3 per cent of mothers reported an agreed special working arrangement in their job, compared with 23.6 per cent of fathers.
Health
Although women in the UK on average live longer than men, women spend a significantly greater proportion of their lives in ill health and disability when compared with men.
In Plymouth, life expectancy for males at birth is 78 years 10 months for 2018-20, slightly less than the England average of 79 years 5 months. Life expectancy for females at birth was 82 years 6 months for 2018-20, slightly less than the England average of 83 years 1 month.
Healthy life expectancy in England for males at birth was 63 years 1 month for 2018-20. For males in Plymouth it was 64 years and 4 months.
Healthy life expectancy in England for females at birth was 63 years 11 months in 2018-20. In Plymouth it was 59 years and 4 months, significantly less than the England average. It is also 5 years less than for Plymouth men.
In August 2022, the government produced the first ever Women’s Health Strategy for England. It highlights that not enough focus is being placed on women-specific issues like miscarriage or menopause, and women are under-represented when it comes to important clinical trials. Within the next 10 years, the strategy aims to have:
- boosted health outcomes for all women and girls
- radically improved the way in which the health and care system engages and listens to all women and girls
Justice and Personal Security
Violence against women and girls (VAWG) covers a range of crimes that have been identified as being committed primarily but not exclusively by men against women. It is estimated that 1 in 3 women over the age of 16 in Great Britain were subjected to at least one form of harassment in the last year. This increases to 2 in 3 for women aged 16 to 34.
Women are significantly more likely to be victims of domestic assault and sexual assault. In Plymouth, recorded crime statistics show that between April 2021 and March 2022 there were 4,884 domestic abuse crimes (accounting for 21.7% of all recorded crimes for that year) with 73.6% of victims being women. There were also 1,318 sexual offences, a 25% increase on the previous year, with the data indicating that over 84% of victims were women.
The Plymouth City Survey 2022 found that just 50 per cent of respondents reported feeling safe in their local area after dark, compared to 62% in 2018 and 58% in 2020. Females (40 per cent) were significantly less likely to feel safe after dark than Males (60 per cent).
In November 2021, Plymouth City Council announced a new multi-agency commission to tackle violence against women and girls. The final report and recommendations can be found here. Following this, in December 2023, the Plymouth Violence Against Women and Girls, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Strategy 2023-2026 was launched.
Participation
The Plymouth City Survey 2022 found that two-fifths (40 per cent) of respondents agreed they are aware of community activities/groups in their local area. Females (45 per cent) were significantly more likely to agree with this statement than males (35 per cent).
Just over a quarter (27 per cent)of respondents agreed that they know how to get involved in decisions that affect their local area and females (30 per cent) were significantly more likely to have agreed with this statement than males (24 per cent).