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 Education Policy Institute (EPI) 2024 Annual Report, girls outperform boys across all education phases but the gender gap is unique in narrowing during the primary school phase before widening again during secondary school. They found that, while gender gaps are closing in more recent years, this appears to be partly driven by declines in girls’ attainment as well as increases for boys.
Work
In Plymouth, resident male take home pay still exceeds resident female take home pay with weekly gross pay for men averaging £688 compared to £594 for women (ONS, 2024)
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 5 months for 2021-23, slightly less than the England average of 79 years 1 month. Life expectancy for females at birth was 82 years 4 months for 2021-23, slightly less than the England average of 83 years 1 month.
Healthy life expectancy[1] for males at birth in Plymouth was 57 years 0 months for 2021-23. This is less than the England average of 61 years and 5 months.
Healthy life expectancy for females at birth in Plymouth was 55 years 7 months in 2021-23. This is less than the England average of 61.9. It is also less than for Plymouth men.
In August 2022, the previous government produced the first ever Women’s Health Strategy for England. It highlighted 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. The current government have confirmed they are committed to the strategy and to prioritising women’s health in the reform of the NHS.
Justice and Personal Security
Violence Against Women and Girls[2]
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.View the final report and recommendations. 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).
The next Plymouth City Survey will take place in 2025.
References
[1] Healthy life expectancy is an estimate of the average number of years a person would expect to live in good/fairly good health based on contemporary mortality rates and prevalence of self-reported good health.
[2] Violence against women and girls is defined as any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women and girls, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.