Pandemic set to derail female breadwinners

The rise in the number of households where women out-earn men could stall as women bear the brunt of caring responsibilities and face furlough or redundancy, new figures suggest.

Women now earn more than male partners in almost a quarter of households according to research by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for mutual insurer Royal London.

The findings show a marked shift in the traditional earning dynamic between couples, with an 18 per cent rise in the proportion of households where the breadwinner is female since 2004.

The trajectory suggests it will still be 62 years before women earn more than men in half of households.

“We know that men tend to earn more than female colleagues in the workplace but the domestic gender pay gap is also important when considering economic equality,” says Becky O’Connor, personal finance specialist at Royal London.

“Women becoming breadwinners could be the key to some pretty big changes and the undoing of some harmful assumptions.

“These figures suggest women’s earning patterns are breaking out of a vicious circle that has persisted for generations, in which women have traditionally assumed caring roles, so have earned less.

“Then, because they earn less, their incomes and careers often that take the hit when caring duties arise.”

The coronavirus lockdown means this is now playing out in real time, with women’s work being lost through job cuts and caring demands.

“This could have a lasting impact and derail the rise of the female breadwinner,” adds O’Connor. “In those households where women already earn more, it may make economic sense for male partners to take on more of the responsibilities that typically take women out of the workplace. This could mean more children seeing their fathers as carers.

“Understanding the dynamic of earnings in someone’s household can also help employers shape HR policies on things like flexible and part-time work for men as well as women.”

The lockdown has certainly accelerated Britons’ appetite for a more flexible approach to work and real life.

More than 13 million people across the UK plan to ask their employer for changes to their long-term working pattern once the current coronavirus pandemic has subsided, according to separate research by Direct Line Life Insurance.

Just under half of UK workers are set to request their employer provides permanent flexible working arrangements after restrictions are fully lifted, with some HR departments preparing to receive “significant volumes” of working from home requests.

Irrefutably proving to their employers that they can do so successfully, half the workforce across the country is now working from home full-time according to the latest official figures.

Though only one in 12 will ask for this to continue permanently, more than a third of the workforce wants to work from home for between one and three days a week going forward.

A poll of HR directors by the insurer found their predictions suggest 70 per cent of the workforce will be able to work flexibly long term after the coronavirus restrictions are lifted, potentially easing workspace costs as budgets are reined in.

Saving money is also high on employees’ agendas. A third say the savings on travel, food, coffee and other work-related costs are key reasons for wanting to work from home far more. Others say lockdown has made them less keen to resume lengthy commutes.

For others, working flexibly would give them more time to spend with their children, partners or their broader family, all of which may be seen as having greater importance once lockdown restrictions have been lifted and people are able to see their wider family again.

Health and wellbeing is another aspect many are hoping to improve with some flexible working arrangements going forward, including concerns over pollution levels returning to pre-lockdown levels.

In response to all this, almost two-thirds of HR directors plan to allow staff to work from home at least three days a week if not full time on a permanent basis.

And if a greater number of both men and women take the opportunity to work flexibly, experts not only suggest the number of female breadwinners will continue to rise, but also that such an equalisation of income has “potentially profound consequences for society”.

These include for the way couples spread the burden of caring responsibilities for children and adults, the way couples manage joint finances and the gender pay and pensions gaps.

The shift also suggests that demand for financial products and advice will increasingly come from women, demanding a huge change of approach from a financial services industry that has long been criticised for assuming its customers are male.