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That is not just in the developed world, either. Though the impact of the number of women taking up paid employment in the USA or here in the UK, or in other similar countries, has been large in scale, the phenomenon has reached virtually every corner of the world. Even in countries where women have traditionally held a very different place in their own cultures, we have seen real change. To see Saudi Arabia, for instance, recently appoint its first female Minister was a significant moment.
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However, we know too that we still have a long way to go—in education, for example. Around 41 million girls across the globe are currently missing out on primary education. We can and must do something about this, and we are. In Nigeria, for example, the UK Government’s support for a UNICEF girls’ education project helped to see girls’ enrolment rates in education rise by up to 15 per cent in a single year—not enough, not nearly enough. However, this sort of specific, practical intervention can and does make such a difference to women’s lives, women’s prospects, and women’s achievements.
The noble Baroness, Lady Flather, reminded us about the need for women to have control over their own fertility. Of course, this is closely linked to the economic status of women, which gives them confidence. The noble Lord, Lord Smith, and the noble Baroness, Lady Miller of Hendon, both drew our attention to what is happening with the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. The loans it provides have profoundly changed the lives of thousands, maybe millions, of women, enabling them to earn their way out of poverty so that they can take more control over every aspect of their lives, including their fertility. However, as the noble Baroness, Lady Verma, told us, there is still much more to be done for the status of south Asian women.
The noble Baroness, Lady Rawlings, rightly reminded us of the need for us to reach the targets set in the UN—
Noble Lords: Millennium development goals.
Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: The millennium development goals; forgive me, my Lords. There are two targets that we must specifically reach in the context of today’s debate; one for universal primary education, and the other for the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment. I am proud of what DfID is doing to reach those goals.
The noble Lord, Lord McColl of Dulwich, spoke of the excellent Mildmay centre and Mercy Ships charities, which understand, as do many other charities, the importance of handing money over to women because they know that women will deliver a safer future for their families. The noble Baroness, Lady Gardner of Parkes, gave wonderful and vivid examples of women’s empowerment in developing countries, and the effect that this has had on their communities. The noble Baroness, Lady Scott of Needham Market, spoke of women and transport in developing countries. She is right to point out that we all too often forget the specific needs of women in relation to transport.
We cannot yet tell whether the advance in development that we have talked about is under significant threat from the world economic crisis, but it is a cruel and clear fact of life that recessions cause hardship, see jobs and businesses lost, and impact on the cause of progressive reform. However, the Government are completely committed to their development work. I say to the noble Baroness, Lady Fookes, that this will be on the agenda of the G20 when it meets next month.
In the UK after the war, we saw many women enter the workforce. By the end of the 1960s, more than half of the women in Britain were in work. Now it is up to
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While it is too early to draw any firm conclusions, some straws in the wind may prove to be significant. Women have certainly not so far been disproportionately affected by the downturn. However, as my noble friend Lady Gould said, traditionally, female employment is in sectors such as health, education and social services. As the noble Baroness, Lady Thomas, pointed out, these are public sector jobs. Over the past year, the proportion of women in work has fallen, but by less than that for men: 0.3 per cent for women compared to 1 per cent for men. Full-time female employment appears to be holding up, but there has been a reduction in the number of female part-time workers. However, I recognise that there are regional disparities, as illustrated by my noble friend Lady Crawley. As regards redundancies, women look as though they may be faring better than men. Redundancies among women are up by 86 per cent, but by as much as 163 per cent for men. As a result, the number of people claiming benefits to help tackle unemployment is up too: by 46 per cent for women, compared with 58 per cent for men. While these are UK figures, the story they may be starting to tell is probably likely to be repeated elsewhere. This is a global recession, with global impact, and its effects too will be global. We need to be careful about drawing conclusions from such figures, early as they are in the recessionary cycle. While the number of women in work may be holding up better, we should not fail to remember that many jobs held by women are jobs in the bottom pay bands of the economy, as many noble Lords pointed out. Women’s work is very often still hard, still tough, still poorly paid.
My noble friend Lady McIntosh reminded us that many areas of employment perceived to be women’s work, such as primary school teaching, are undervalued. We are doing what we can to assist here and the Training and Development Agency for Schools has a range of actions, including marketing exercises, specifically to encourage men to train to be primary school teachers. However, like many noble Lords, including the noble Lord, Lord Giddens, I am sure that, at the end of the economic downturn, this society, its values and its standards will be rather different from the ones we have now. For example, I welcome the fact that many people who used to work in the City are now going into teaching. I think that will have a profound effect on the individuals concerned, on teaching and on pupils. Like my noble friend Lord Giddens, I believe that there will be a better gender balance not just in our economic institutions and on boards but throughout society. Given what I have heard today, I do not think that the City is a very female-friendly place, but I am sure that culture will change. Indeed, it must change if we are to have a City that delivers for all individuals in
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The example of Norway is exciting, but strict quotas in employment matters are a form of positive discrimination and, as such, would be inconsistent with EU legislation and case law. Countries not bound by EU legislation, such as Norway, are not of course required to work within the same legal framework. However, any use of aspirational targets is permissible under domestic and European law, and we have already announced that we intend to set targets on gender, race and disability for public appointments. We will do much more in the equality Bill.
The EHRC is conducting an inquiry into sex discrimination in the finance sector. The financial services sector has far fewer women in senior roles than in other sectors and a gender pay gap of 41.5 per cent. The gender pay gap is better than it was, mainly because of the minimum wage introduced by the Government. For full-time workers, the gap is currently a touch under 13 per cent, but for part-time jobs, which are still predominantly held by women, the gap is much worse at 40 per cent.
The noble Baroness, Lady Fookes, reminded us that during the downturn it is important not to forget the long-term unemployed. That is so right, and it is why we are investing an additional £0.5 billion to guarantee more support to people unemployed for six months or more. There are incentives for firms to take on unemployed people and so on, and many of them will be women. I was keen to have learnt of the example the noble Baroness cited of Tomorrow’s People. I shall certainly follow up on that.
The noble Baroness, Lady Perry, spoke of the need for training. Of course in the downturn we have to improve the skills of women; therefore we are investing in extra apprenticeships for adults, providing help for 5,000 women in training, career progression and recruitment projects, and supporting those returning to the labour market in a plethora of ways. I shall write to the noble Baroness with further information.
As noble Lords know, we will shortly bring forward an equality Bill which, among many other things, will take further steps to bridge the pay gap by means of significant new measures to improve transparency, which is crucial in tackling unequal pay. I pay tribute to the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, for her excellent Bill, but I look forward to working with her on the equality Bill when it comes forward. Some will charge the measures in the equality Bill with being insufficient. We on these Benches do not agree. Critics said the same about our introduction of the right to request flexible working; they said that it was weak, that it had no teeth and that it would never work. They were wrong. It has, in fact, been a huge success, and next month we will extend the right from employees with children under six to employees with children aged 16 and under. This will extend the right to request flexible working from the current 6 million employees by adding in a further 4.5 million parents. Almost half of all new mothers now work flexitime, compared to just 17 per cent in 2002. The proportion of mothers who change their employer on returning to work has halved.
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However, this is important for men as well as women. I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Seccombe, that child rearing today is much more of a challenge than ever it was. The role of fathers is extremely important, but that is not to say that in relationships where there is no father children cannot have good chances in life. This Government have been doing an enormous amount to support parents, and I will gladly provide more information in due course.
Flexible working is not just of value to employees, but is rightly seen by many employers to be of value. For example at BT, company policies based on investing in its workforce mean that a massive 99 per cent of new mothers return to work after maternity leave, compared with a national average of 47 per cent. That is quite extraordinary. We have similarly seen real improvement on equal pay for equal value, on maternity pay, on childcare provision, and on support for skills and enterprise, including money via the Women and Work Sector Pathways Initiative, match-funded by employers, which will benefit up to 5,000 women.
Many noble Lords spoke about carers. I refer to that in the context of the need for flexible working. Carers bear the brunt of care responsibilities and assist the Government and all of us as individuals in this country. Under this Government, things have improved enormously. By March 2011, we will have invested more than £1.7 billion in assisting carers. We are doing so much more—that is important to the noble Baroness, Lady Greengross.
My noble friends Lady McIntosh, Lady Massey and Lord Haskel discussed grandmothers and grandfathers, who play a key role in informal childcare. They are especially highly valued and trusted carers. Their role is challenging and almost half of them say that it makes their life more stressful. Research shows that the majority of grandparents prefer not to be paid for their care. We are therefore committed to doing more to value and support family childcare providers, including grandparents. We want services to do more to value and support care that is provided by family and friends who care. I note my noble friend’s specific concerns in relation to the understandable problems about bereavement. I will come back to her in writing.
However difficult the economic climate, women are responding. Just this week, I was speaking to a woman at a reception in No. 10. She described to me her realisation that some community services were not being provided in her area, so she decided that she would address that and provide the services and therefore set up a small social enterprise that now employs 16 women. That is quite extraordinary; that is enterprise at its most basic but most important. We need entrepreneurs in all parts of our economy and society. We must ensure that we have women world-beaters of the future.
I rather liked the idea of a convention, which was proposed by my noble friend Lady Gale. That is up to the people of Wales, the Government of Wales and the National Assembly, but I shall certainly follow that up with her.
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Even in a recession, women are striving to get into areas of activity and employment that have previously been barred to them. I urge noble Lords to look at the corporate sector, and the issue of women on company boards. We have in this House a number of distinguished members of prominent company boards, including the noble Baroness, Lady Hogg. I pay tribute to the positive, successful and relevant image of the House of Lords that they represent in their work.
While only 11.7 per cent of FTSE board directors are women, one in four FTSE boards still has no women on it. As many noble Lords have said, companies that have greater female representation do better than companies that do not. Among Fortune 500 companies in the USA, for example, companies with the highest percentages of female directors on the board achieved a 53 per cent higher return on equity than those with lower representation. I am glad that there is a wealth of female talent at the mezzanine, as was pointed out by the noble Baroness, Lady Hogg, but we must nurture them. We need more diversity.
The number of women working in engineering, for example, is still low, although the proportion of women newly registering as engineers is currently better, at about 17 per cent. You can see why. Last week, I was speaking to a young woman at a brilliant event for young scientists and engineers who, at the age of 28, was just starting to train as an engineer. That is very impressive but when I asked why she had waited until now, she said, “When I was at school, my teachers said, ‘Well, engineering—probably not for you, dear’”. We have much to do to change the culture. We recognise, as does the noble Lord, Lord McNally, that many of the jobs of the future will require knowledge of science and technology; those jobs are green jobs and science and technology digital jobs. We must enthuse young women and girls and retain that enthusiasm as they go from primary and secondary school and on to university. We are talking not just about university jobs but about technical jobs and all levels of jobs.
Many noble Lords mentioned domestic violence. I, too, fear that it may rise in the recession. We have an action plan on tackling violence, and I shall write to noble Lords about that. We also have many wonderful things such as IDVAs, independent domestic violence advisers. I visited some in Gloucestershire the other day. They are superb women who do a most fantastic job. I fear that the noble Lord, Lord McColl, is probably right that the level of prostitution and trafficking will rise in a recession. This evil trade has to be stopped.
One of the principal elements of a recession is increased insecurity: increased financial insecurity, increased employment insecurity, increased housing insecurity and just plain old-fashioned insecurity about what is going to happen. I believe that that is where we are with regard to women in the downturn. However, as I mentioned, there are some early indications that women might at least not be disproportionately affected. That has been the pattern with previous recent recessions, in which, for example, unemployment rates for men have tended to be worse than those for women. So far in this recession, areas of employment where men traditionally dominate have been harder hit—for example,
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However, we are offering real help now: help for small businesses; help for enterprise; help for those losing their jobs; help with mortgages; help with houses; help, in particular, for women; and help for family finances, with looking after children, with skills and training, with caring responsibilities and with fuel bills. I shall certainly ensure, as my noble friend suggested, that our new document about these issues is distributed widely. We know that there is much more to do but I believe that, as a Government, our track record over this extraordinary period shows our readiness and our ability to do it.
As my noble friend Lady Gould and many others have said, women are worried about the downturn but worried in different ways from men. Research for the Government Equalities Office shows that women, more than men, are worried about the impact of the recession on family life; that women, more than men, feel that the recession has already worsened the quality of family life; and that women, more than men, are worried about paying the bills and about the job prospects for their children. These are real worries and real concerns, and they are central to the issues behind both this debate and International Women’s Day.
There are two or three issues that I have not addressed yet. One relates to conflict situations, raised by the noble Baronesses, Lady Afshar and Lady Howe. The UK has been one of the principal supporters of UN Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, which calls on the UN and member states to ensure equal participation in peacebuilding and reconstruction efforts, women’s empowerment, and the protection of women and girls in conflict. More recently, we were active in lobbying for agreement to UN Security Council resolution 1820 on sexual violence in conflict, which established a link between sexual violence in conflict and international peace and security. However, I agree that the more women we have in trying to resolve conflict situations, the better.
I am very grateful for the support of the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, for the elements in the Health Bill relating to smoking. Like him, I believe that health is paramount in all children, including looked-after children. Young girls are our future and we have to ensure that they are not harmed by smoking.
I thank the noble Lord, Lord Addington, very much for reminding us about the need for sport. When women have worries, I think that they probably neglect sport even more than they do in the good times. I confess that I am one of the bad women in that I do not do as much sport as I might. I do not even watch Bolton on the television, but there we are. The Olympics should be a fantastic catalyst which we should not
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Let us celebrate International Women’s Day. Let us remember the women who paved the way for us. Their determination and courage have enabled us and our daughters to get as far as we have got today. The debate has given us an opportunity to reflect on the issues facing women and how they impact on us all, at home and abroad. It has illustrated that powerfully and clearly. We believe that, especially through the tough times, the Government have a responsibility to protect women and families as well as men and to help them to emerge stronger from the downturn. We are determined to do all that we can to achieve that goal.
I apologise to the noble Lord, Lord Henley, for not responding to his points. We must ensure that more young women not only train as barristers, but become barristers and follow through to become judges.
In celebration of International Women’s Day, I shall sit down.
4.11 pm
Baroness Gould of Potternewton: My Lords, I have been more than a little overwhelmed by this debate. It has been truly magnificent and probably one of the best, if not the best, that we have had to celebrate International Women’s Day. I thank every speaker most sincerely. I also thank the Lord President for her reply. She had to reply to a very long debate but she managed it so successfully.
I have tried to listen to all the contributions, although I apologise to the noble Lord, Lord Addington, as I had to leave the Chamber, so I missed a little of his speech on the importance of women’s participation in sport, with which I fully agree, although I do not participate as I am far too old.
This has been a very wide-ranging and diverse debate, which makes it impossible to refer to many of the topics raised but they were covered by the noble Baronesses, Lady Thomas, Lady Morris and the Leader of the House. In what other debate would you get such diversity, from women’s loos in your Lordships’ House to the importance of women involved in the aftermath of war and post-war construction? On the way, we heard about women in the workplace, women entrepreneurs, women in financial institutions, women writers, violence against women at home and abroad, human trafficking, children, grandmothers and grandfathers and, I say to the noble Lord, Lord McNally, the influence of daughters.
This debate should not end just with the written report in Hansard. We have to pursue many of the useful suggestions and proposals made today. It has rightly been said that we must not lose the pool of talented women; rather we must maintain the durability of the progress that women have made, and we must build on the abilities, skills and talents of women and on the contribution that they make to the economy of the country.
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I will not get into the debate on male testosterone, except to say that it proves the absolute need for diversity. I firmly believe that the economic downturn is an opportunity to review the position of women and men in employment and in society generally.
The noble Baroness, Lady Fookes, said that we cannot compare our situation with many of the women in developing countries who live grim and distressing lives. We heard some very moving experiences. We must press our Government to encourage other countries not only to maintain but wherever possible to increase the level of aid given at this time. Last week, at the United Nations, there was evidence of a reduction of that level of aid from some countries. I say to the noble Baroness, Lady Howe, that within the next few weeks the UN will be announcing an agency specifically geared to women.
I close by referring to an article in today’s Independent, which refers to a young man in Afghanistan who has received a 20-year prison sentence for writing an article on the rights of women. Although we, in this country, will continue to campaign and argue for further advancement and equal rights for women, such an incident highlights the lack of freedom and choice of too many of our sisters in other parts of the world. We have to continue to campaign and work on their behalf.
I thank all noble Lords who have taken part for their informed and often moving contributions. As has been said, this shows the House of Lords at its very best. I beg to withdraw the Motion.
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