5 JUNE 2018

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Over the course of 2016-2017, the APPG on Sex Equality focussed its work on understanding what can be done by government to take a more effective approach to understanding the discrimination, inequality and exclusion that too many women in the UK continue to face – especially when it comes to accessing work.

Factors such as race, faith, ethnicity, age, disability, sexuality, location and employment status can combine with gender to create distinct and particularly troubling experiences of discrimination and inequality - but this intersectionality is still largely being overlooked.

In this report you will find:

• A summary of how the lack of evidence on the inequality specific groups face frequently limits the public debate on women’s inequality, and recommendations for additional data that allows for comparisons between different groups of women.
• Our findings on why the Government must review policy and better consider the combined effects of multiple disadvantage, particularly related to gender pay gap reporting, apprenticeships, childcare, and the industrial strategy.
• Evidence about a lack of tailored support that is made available to people accessing public services, and recommendations, including greater efforts to involve beneficiaries in service design in order to make them more responsive to the needs and experiences of diverse groups

The APPG, supported by the Fawcett Society and Young Women’s Trust, organised four evidence sessions in Parliament from 2016-17, which form the basis of this report. These covered women who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), mental health and wellbeing, the experience of work and the collection and availability of intersectional data.

This short report presents the key findings from those sessions. We have also proposed a way forward to address gender inequality in a more sophisticated way, which requires policymakers to have access to better data, review policies to ensure they meet the needs of all women and work with a diverse range of women when developing policies and designing services.

Download the full report here