Gender inequality in the UK - Statistics & Facts

In 2022, the United Kingdom ranked 22nd on the global gender gap index, placing it behind other European countries such as France, Germany, and Ireland. In 2022, the UK also had its third female Prime Minister in Liz Truss and prior to Boris Johnson (the Prime Minister before Truss), the UK's second female Prime Minister was Theresa May who was in the position between 2016 and 2019. The UK's first female Prime Minister was Margaret Thatcher who ruled the country throughout the 1980s, at a time when women were far less likely to hold the highest position of executive power. In the House of Commons, the heart of legislative power in the UK, there were 220 female Members of Parliament, elected in 2019, 104 of which belonged to the Labour Party. Indeed, the proportion of female MPs in the House of Commons has been increasing in almost every election since 1979, when it was just three percent, compared with 34 percent in 2019.

Gender pay gap

Only nine percent of FTSE 100 companies and 4.8 percent of FTSE 250 companies had female CEOs in 2022, while the share of executive directors who were women was 16.4 percent at FTSE 100 companies and 12.3 percent at FTSE 250 companies. The low share of women in top positions certainly contributes to the overall gender pay gap in the United Kingdom, which stood at 14.9 percent for all workers in 2022, and 8.3 percent for full-time workers. The pay gap is even more pronounced among older age groups, and was in double figures for every age group that was above the age of 39. Certain industries and sectors also had a greater gender pay gap than the overall average, with the financial and insurance sector having a gender pay gap of 31.2 percent, the widest gap of any sector in the UK in 2022.

Views on gender equality

Attitudes towards gender equality have also changed considerably in recent decades. As recently as 1987, 48 percent of people in the United Kingdom agreed with the following statement "a man's job is to earn money: a women's job is to look after the home and family." Unsurprisingly, the share of people of who agree with this sentence has declined considerably, to only eight percent in 2017. In relation to household responsiblities in general however, approximately 77 percent of women in February 2023 thought that more should be done to achieve gender equality in this area. In 2019, 55 percent of men agreed that achieving equality between men and women was personally important to them, while a further 29 percent identified themselves as being a feminist.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by D. Clark, Jun 8, 2023

Key insights

UK Gender pay gap
14.3%
Average annual full-time earnings for UK women
31,672 GBP
UK gender pay gap in the finance sector
27.9%
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