The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) campaign is Accelerate Action for gender equality.
Data from the World Economic Forum predicts that at the current rate of progress it will take five generations to reach full gender parity. 133 years is too long a wait and the need to “accelerate action” emphasizes the importance of taking swift and decisive steps. It calls for increased momentum and urgency in addressing the systemic barriers and biases that women face, both in personal and professional spheres.
The majority of social work professionals in the UK are women, with women representing 83% of the social work workforce in England in 2024. However, we know there are barriers within the profession as senior management positions are disproportionately held by men.
Data obtained from a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by the Adult Principal Social Work Network in 2017 shows that at 39% men are overrepresented among senior local authority adult social care managers and board members in social care organisations. This FOI also revealed that 90.4% of senior managers and board members identified as White British, which is shocking in the context that social workers from black and minority ethnic groups make up between 17% and 59% of workforces. The report identified similar issues among principal social workers (PSWs) as well.
This International Women’s Day we would like to highlight that employers offering and supporting flexible working is a strategy that positively impacts women’s advancement in the workplace.
With a women majority profession – and one that is experiencing an ongoing staffing crisis – it is vital that we look for was to recruit, retain, and develop women’s talents in social work.
A new report “Flexible working in Scottish Social Work” by the Scottish Association of Social Work (SASW) and the Social Workers Union (SWU) points out that flexible working can help reduce the gender pay gap by enabling women – who still tend to be the main carers in our families and communities – to remain in, re-enter, and thrive in the workforce. The report outlines some statistics on this topic such as:
- 59% of unpaid carers are women according to the 2021 census.
- Women are more likely to become carers and to provide more hours of unpaid care than men.
- More women than men provide high-intensity care at ages when they would expect to be in paid work.
- Women are twice as likely to give up paid work to care.
Flexibility, and especially part-time work, is particularly valued by older workers, bearing in mind that 19% of the social work workforce is approaching retirement age. The report offers six recommendations to support both employers and employees at a time when there is an increasing demand for flexible working from employees.
SWU has also published a leaflet “Let’s start a conversation about menopause at work” with the aim of raising awareness of menopause and supporting options to improve health and wellbeing. SWU Vice Chair Chrissie Beatty has written about her experience of menopause and the importance of workplace support and inclusion.
Almost a quarter of social work job ads in 2024 offered part-time and flexible hours, and there are some excellent examples of authorities proactively advertising flexible working opportunities in social work. It just makes sense for employers to use flexible working as a tool to support employee wellbeing and aid staff retention and recruitment – because everyone is different and there is no “one size fits all” working pattern.