Addressing the unequal participation of women in work

The Scottish Parliament’s Equal Opportunities Committee has issued a call for evidence to look at solutions to tackle the issues causing inequality of women in the workplace.

The inquiry would like views on potential solutions to a number of issues that have already been raised with the Committee. They include:

• Workforce issues – such as shift working and its impacts; lack of part-time working in some sectors and, more generally, the increase in the number of men taking on part-time work; employers’ reactions to flexible-working requests; impact of public and voluntary sector cuts; the double disadvantage facing disabled women in the labour market.
• Occupational segregation – such as women being clustered in certain types of work – like caring, cleaning and clerical work; women taking on part-time, low-status or low-paid work because of caring responsibilities or underemployment; the impact of the glass ceiling and whether it is about more women in the boardroom or career progression.
• Childcare – such as the need for widely available, flexible childcare to meet workers with shift patterns’ needs; the need for childcare to be free at the point of delivery; the need for sufficient capacity in the workforce.
• Women in business – the need for support for women in business to help them start, maintain and grow their own enterprises.
• Managing unequal pay in local authorities – how to ensure local authority equal pay obligations are met.