Thread by @BDavisBriz

Looking forward to what should be an interesting discussion about how we can make our economy & workplaces more inclusive for women with caring obligations #WhatWomenWant

https://twitter.com/CentreProPolicy/status/1498293443591872512

CPP Co-Director @bjafranklin describes the "Care Penalty" - barriers that women face in entering the labour market due to juggling demands of caring responsibilities #WhatWomenWant

Next speaker @Dhochlaf elaborates on these challenges. Says that gender inequalities in the workplace are seen both in the gender pay gap, as well as the gathering of women in lower-paid jobs #WhatWomenWant

Hochlaf outlines three ways in which these can be addressed:

1. Improving access to care services
2. Flexible working patterns
3. Fairer sharing of unpaid care

Says that addressing inequalities could add up to £11m per annum to the UK economy #WhatWomenWant

One major area of reform is #Childcare. Hochlaf says that the lack of affordable & flexible childcare limits 🚺 from entering the workplace #WhatWomenWant

Hochlaf also argues that the wider #SocialCare sector is not currently meeting the needs of people supported by it. This leads to higher % of 🚺 taking on unpaid caring responsibilities #WhatWomenWant

Hochlaf calls for employers to offer the right to flexible working from Day 1 of employment. Says flexible working needs to be seen as something that is mutually beneficial for both employers and employees, rather than exploitative practises such as 0hrs contracts #WhatWomenWant

Finally, Hochlaf says that fairer distribution of unpaid care will require "significant cultural & economic shifts". With 🚹 more likely to be "breadwinners" in a family, 🚺 are more likely to take on caring responsibilities, which hinders career progression #WhatWomenWant

Next speaker @stellacreasy says the "care penalty" is largely framed as a "women's problem". Says this results in 🚺 being "pressured" to find ways of making work more "women-friendly" (rather than "family friendly") & also results in solutions being "middle class" #WhatWomenWant

Creasy also notes that the #Coronavirus pandemic has only exacerbated the problems of access to childcare. Argues sector was reliant on middle-class incomes but middle-class 🚺 more likely to work from home, so didnt use services, which has led to sector's collapse #WhatWomenWant

Creasy notes that the #GenderPayGap has also widened during the pandemic. Argues that if reducing the pay gap & more women on Boards was "given as much focus as austerity", our economy would be more competitive & productive now #WhatWomenWant

Creasy argues that workplaces should embrace flexible working in job adverts. Not only would this benefit women, Creasy says it would also benefit many men who "want to be better dads" but cant due to financial restrictions #WhatWomenWant

Finally, Creasy argues that considering childcare as part of "infrastructure" would help create a more sustainable childcare sector, help women enter the workplace & help make our economy more productive #WhatWomenWant

Next speaker @WomensBudgetGrp's Mary-Ann Stephenson says that it is "wrong" that the work economy is seen as "something separate" from the caring economy - argues many working families know paid work is impossible without childcare #WhatWomenWant

Stephenson says that the #Coronavirus pandemic demonstrated this - with Govt keeping schools & nurseries open for children of key workers a "tacit admission" that childcare is vital to working families #WhatWomenWant

On the impact of caring responsibilities on 🚺, Stephenson argues that it is a "vicious circle" - women need to take on more unpaid care work, so have less time to take on paid work - this leads to them to earn less over their careers #WhatWomenWant

Stephenson highlights how caring limits women's work aspirations - they may need to work part-time or work closer to home due to caring responsibilities, which leads them in to lower paid work & open to fewer promotional opportunities #WhatWomenWant

Turning to solutions, Stephenson makes the case for Universal Childcare, which would help ease the pressure on 🚺 and "pay for itself" in terms of people in higher paid work #WhatWomenWant

Stephenson also calls for greater rates of paternity leave. Says 2 weeks paternity leave (compared to 1 year maternity leave) automatically excludes 🚹 from getting more involved in care #WhatWomenWant

Stephenson argues the adoption of a Scandinavian Model, with equal amounts of shared leave for both parents, allocated on a "use it or lose it" basis, which would encourage both parents to engage in childcare & make it more likely for 🚺 to return to work #WhatWomenWant

Next speaker @EmmaStewartTW discusses what can be done to create a more flexible labour market in the UK. Stewart says that, while the #Coronavirus has not impacted everyone equally, it has demonstrated that flexible working models can work #WhatWomenWant

Stewart backs calls for "Flexible Working from Day 1". Says that only ⅓ businesses currently offer flexible working. Says this would help employees (esp 🚺) make work work for them, but also help employers with talent retention #WhatWomenWant

Stewart also argues that flexible working needs to work for everyone - it should not be up to employer's to dictate the terms of flexiworking. Says "flex" should also be discussed in terms of "time" as well as "place" #WhatWomenWant

Stewart also calls for fairer Ts&Cs when it comes to flexible contracts - argues that people who are in flexible jobs should not need to have to trade off flexible working with pay or job security #WhatWomenWant

Turning to how Govt can achieve this, Stewart proposes Govt giving funding to @innovateuk or similar body to help fund pilot models to help employers try new models for flexible working, especially in health & care sectors #WhatWomenWant

Stewart says that we also need a conversation around flexi-working that is "reason neutral", challenging the mistrust that employers currently have around the reasons why someone might want to work flexibly #WhatWomenWant

Stewart also argues that the debate needs to be gender-neutral. Argues that many 🚹 are leaving jobs due to ill health. Stewart argues that if flexible working can be seen as benefitting 🚹 as well as 🚺, it will make better business sense #WhatWomenWant

The webinar now moves on to a Q&A session #WhatWomenWant

First Q is on how to frame care as #SocialInfrastructure. Stephenson argues we need to be better at demonstrating ROI in childcare, the same way one would with transport or infrastructure #WhatWomenWant

Stephen also says we need to challenge ideas of what "counts as real jobs" - says you're more likely to see "Ministers in hard hats on building sites" rather than in a nursery. Says employers & other organisations need to be better at proving the value of care work #WhatWomenWant

Creasy also argues that we "need to move the conversation out of DfE and in to HMT" - says that the value of investment in Early Years is well known, but civil servants in HMT are only looking at Departmental Funding #WhatWomenWant

Creasy also agrees that it needs to become an infrastructure issue. Says provision for under-2s currently isn't funded as it is widely seen that "women may want to return to work after 2 years" - which ignores plight of working class mothers #WhatWomenWant

Creasy also argues that #Childcare & #SocialCare jobs are also inherently green jobs. Says it is important that we champion this when discussing investment in childcare. Finally, Creasy also calls for reinstatement of Gender Pay Gap reporting #WhatWomenWant

Creasy also says that we need to stop viewing women & mother's as a homogenous group who all need the same services - mothers of children with #SEN needs will need more support & different services #WhatWomenWant

Creasy also argues that we need to remind Ministers of the talent being lost from the workforce by not supporting women to return to the workplace #WhatWomenWant

Stewart argues that 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿's #MetroMayors could be better at leveraging support - either through the skills & investment powers they have, or to mimic 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Govts "Fair Work Charter" which uses #Procurement contracts to encourage employers to offer flexiwork from Day 1 #WhatWomenWant

Next Q is on investment. Hochlaf says that the pandemic has highlighted the need for proper investment in the #SocialCare sector. Hochlaf argues that the model of "low-skilled, low-paid workforce" also speaks to the way we view "care" #WhatWomenWant

Hochlaf says that this needs reframing. Most people will need care at some point in their life. This means that we should view care as social infrastructure, and ensure that it is adequately resourced #WhatWomenWant

Next Q is on the role of fathers. Stephenson says the first step is to ensure parental leave is paid at a rate that anyone can afford, and offered at a time scale that makes sense for both parents #WhatWomenWant

Stephenson also says we need greater support for self-employed second parents. Also argues that shared parental leave should be offered "as a right in & of itself", rather than the current model where shared leave for the father is dependent on mother having it #WhatWomenWant

Finally, Stephenson calls for a reframing of parental leave - with a period allowing mothers to physically recover from birth, then a period of parental leave which both parents can take, understood to be caring for the newborn #WhatWomenWant

Creasy says that 🚹need to have their voices heard more in the debate - as there are dads who feel they are "missing out" due to poor paternity leave. Also says we need to get better at celebrating companies that are doing good things #WhatWomenWant

Stephenson agrees about the need for more 🚹 needing to speak out, so it is seen less as a "gendered issue" #WhatWomenWant

Stephenson also argues that the debate needs to be seen wider than just parental leave. Supporting a newborn is "a set period of time", but we also need to consider how flexiworking can be used for raising children & supporting the elderly #WhatWomenWant

Finally, Stephenson says that we need to explore how flexiworking can be incorporated into career progression debates - notes that the gender pay gap is, in large part, a "progression gap", with women not progressing up to higher paid roles #WhatWomenWant

Really interesting debate on how investment in care & flexiworking can support more 🚺 into the labour market. Thanks to @stellacreasy @EmmaStewartTW , Mary-Ann Stephenson & @Dhochlaf for your insights, to @bjafranklin for chairing & @CentreProPolicy for hosting! #WhatWomenWant