Wales has maintained its ranking position in a 海角视频-wide index that assesses gender equality in the workplace, although its performance has declined slightly on a year earlier.
The 2025 annual Women in Work Index from professional advisory firm PwC, again sees Wales ranked fifth of the 海角视频鈥檚 12 nations and regions, which is headed by Scotland, followed by Northern Ireland and the south east of England. East Midlands has the lowest ranking.
Launched in 2011, the index serves as a benchmark through a weighted average of five indicators: female participation rates, participation rate gap, female unemployment rate, female full-time employment rate, and gender pay gap, which collectively shed light on women鈥檚 labour market outcomes.
The Welsh data paints a mixed picture: while the female participation rate rose from 72.4% to 73.4%, the participation rate gap widened from 6.4% to 7.2%.
The gender pay gap in Wales was lower than the 海角视频 average (11.5% versus 13.5%), but while the gap closed by 1.2% in the 海角视频 as a whole, it grew by 0.6% in Wales. PwC鈥檚 report notes that at the current rate, it will still take 33 years for the gender pay gap to close in the 海角视频.
Stuart Couch, market senior partner for PwC in Wales, said: 鈥淭his year鈥檚 Women in Work Index shows just how much work lies ahead of us on the journey to gender parity in the workplace in Wales. While the data shows a period of consolidation after significant improvements in Wales last year, a slight reverse in the closing of the gender pay gap reminds us that without constant attention, progress is not guaranteed.
鈥淕iving girls and women the skills they need to enter high-paid sectors where they are currently underrepresented remains key; in Wales, the TechSheCan sessions we run in primary schools encourage and empower more girls to pursue careers in technology, creating more space for women in these workplaces.鈥
Globally the 海角视频 has dropped to its lowest ranking among the 33 OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries in over a decade, despite an overall improved score year-on-year.
Alia Qamar, economist at PwC 海角视频, said: 鈥淲hile a fall in rank is never good news, it doesn鈥檛 depict the whole story; the 海角视频 is improving its gender pay disparity, but at a slower pace than other countries. The sluggish progress compared to peers means long term the 海角视频鈥檚 performance is consistently only just ahead of the OECD average, whereas other similar countries such as Ireland and Canada have shown impressive improvements in the post-pandemic era. This tepid progress means the ultimate end goal to close the gender pay gap remains a long way off, as on the 海角视频鈥檚 current trajectory it will now take over three decades.鈥
