Gendering of the Workplace: Statistics and Evidence

Work and Home
Women still undertake the majority of care work (including household chores), but this is now often undertaken alongside paid-work, as labour force participation rates for women have increased to levels much closer to men. However, this is not a consistent picture worldwide, as the following map [1] demonstrates.


Unpaid work
Part of the reason for the lower representation of women in the workforce is that they are disproportionately likely to take on roles that are not measured as economic activities, such as unpaid care work and managing the home. The following graph shows how some countries compare when considering the gender ratio of unpaid work.
Part-time and full-time work
Women are disproportionately likely to work part-time compared to men. This offers them flexibility to take on caring roles, which they are more likely to undertake than men, but it is also associated with lower rates of pay and less preferential working conditions. The graph below sets out some of the international differences between rates of part-time work between men and women.
Occupations
We can also see occupational segregation, whereby men and women are more likely to be employed in particular occupations. This can have knock on effects where there are benefits and opportunities attached to particular occupations.Women in science?
Men are far more likely to be employed in science-based subjects than women. According to UNESCO, women scientists comprise less that 30% of the scientists globally. In the US (2011) [4] women comprised 26% of computer and mathematical-based occupations. In the UK (2017) [5] women comprised 23% of science, engineering, technology and mathematics-based occupations (excluding health). Eurostat suggests a more positive picture for women in science in Europe. Overall, however, men are disproportionately represented in science-based fields.Women in caring roles?
Women are far more likely to be based in caring roles. Some national-level statistics are given below.Where? | Proportion of women in role |
Australia, 2018 [6] | 88% of nurses are women |
China, 2016 [7] | 98% of nurses are women |
UK, 2018 [8] | 89% of nurses and health visitors are women |
US, 2011 [9] | 92% of registered nurses are women |



Read more:
Unpaid work (UK):
The Office for National Statistics published an article claiming Women shoulder the responsibility of ‘unpaid work’.The House of Commons Briefing Paper entitled Women and the Economy looks at women’s participation in the UK labour market and in businessWomen in Science (Global):
This UNESCO paper, Women in Science, presents data on the gender gap in science.The Executive Summary of Science, Technology and Gender: An International Report, from UNESCO, presents data relating to gender disparity in science and technology.Elsevier’s Gender in the Global Research Landscape presents an anlysis of research performance through a gender lens across 20 years, 12 geographies, and 27 subject areas.Women in work
Our World in Data has published an overview of data related to the Female Labor SupplyReferences
- World Development Indicators (WDI) Data Catalog [Internet]. Datacatalog.worldbank.org. 2019 [cited 28 June 2019]. Available from: https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/dataset/world-development-indicators
- Women shoulder the responsibility of ‘unpaid work’ – Office for National Statistics [Internet]. Ons.gov.uk. 2019 [cited 28 June 2019]. Available from: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/articles/womenshouldertheresponsibilityofunpaidwork/2016-11-10
- Ortiz-Ospina E, Tzvetkova S, Roser M. Female Labor Supply [Internet]. Our World in Data. 2019 [cited 28 June 2019]. Available from: https://ourworldindata.org/female-labor-supply
- Dept of Labor, Women’s Bureau, Data and Stats – Employment and Earnings by Occupation [Internet]. Dol.gov. 2019 [cited 28 June 2019]. Available from: https://www.dol.gov/wb/occupations_interactive.htm
- Women in STEM workforce 2017 – Welcome to the WISE Campaign [Internet]. Welcome to the WISE Campaign. 2019 [cited 28 June 2019]. Available from: https://www.wisecampaign.org.uk/statistics/women-in-stem-workforce-2017/
- Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia – Statistics [Internet]. Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au. 2019 [cited 28 June 2019]. Available from: https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/about/statistics.aspx
- Yang J, Hao D. Dilemmas for nurses in China. The Lancet. 2018;392(10141):30. Available from https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31185-1
- Narrowing of NHS gender divide but men still the majority in senior roles – NHS Digital [Internet]. NHS Digital. 2019 [cited 28 June 2019]. Available from: https://digital.nhs.uk/news-and-events/latest-news/narrowing-of-nhs-gender-divide-but-men-still-the-majority-in-senior-roles
- Are non-pregnant and non-nursing women allowed to do the same jobs as men? [Internet]. Our World in Data. 2019 [cited 28 June 2019]. Available from: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/are-non-pregnant-and-non-nursing-women-allowed-to-do-the-same-jobs-as-men
- Ortiz-Ospina E, Tzvetkova S, Roser M. Female Labor Supply [Internet]. Our World in Data. 2019 [cited 28 June 2019]. Available from: https://ourworldindata.org/female-labor-supply
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