Women face many battles in day-to-day life which has been well documented throughout history. From suffering with health problems to fighting for equal pay, the battle for women’s rights has been ongoing since the 1800’s. In recent years, there has been an increase in work done for gender equality, but is it enough?
One of the things that almost every woman has had to deal with is health problems. Although women have a longer life expectancy than men, they tend to have higher mental and physical illness levels with their likelihood of suffering from anxiety or depression being three times more than a man. Historically, it has been said that the healthcare system has been designed for a man however recently, the NHS has been making moves to change this and make the healthcare system equally equipped to deal with problems that women are dealing with. With only about a third of woman and girls feeling like they have enough information on mental health conditions, the NHS have been launching initiatives to improve this. One of the things that they have done is investing an additional £2.3 billion to improve mental health helplines to help women and girls struggling with their mental health.
Equal pay for the same work is a legal right in the UK, first stated in the Equal Pay Act 1970 and more recently the Equality Act 2010. Although this is a legal right, it does not always come into force. Women earn 11.9% less than men on average. This is often explained by the fact that women are much more likely to be in part time employment. Although this is becoming less common, it often still tends to be the women who are left at home to deal with caring responsibilities for children or elderly family members. This is the leading cause for the gender pay gap. It has also been shown that women are less likely to seek promotions in their 30s and 40s. This has been explained for many reasons, including that they have caring responsibilities or even just that they don’t think they would be able to get it is they are up against a man. Some employers still have reservations of promoting or even hiring women because they are worried in case they will have to provide maternity leave and cover. This is why women often suffer from the ‘glass ceiling effect’ making them believe that they are unable to progress in their careers. Although society is evolving, women are still more likely to go into lower paying jobs for example in the public sector, clerical or hospitality. These are often less reliable however are more open to providing flexibility. Over recent years, many companies have decided to increase the number of women given promotions and there has also been legislations in government to force companies with over 250 to be transparent with the amount they pay to both male and female employees, meaning that the gender pay gap is reducing. There still is a gender pay gap and it will not disappear any time soon, however work is being done to improve and slowly but surely, the inequality is reducing.
Overall, women are still at a disadvantage in comparison to men, although this is now more of a priority to be resolved than it has ever been. With work being done in all areas, it is getting better, but there is still a long way to go to achieve full gender equality.
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