Mums are still facing the lowest wages across Wales, but Cardiff women are on a mission to fix it
Walking into the Cardiff headquarters of a Welsh charity you may not expect to find a buzzing business networking event. But that’s exactly what happened when Chwarae Teg launched their new business initiative to encourage Cardiff employers to make their workplace a more adaptable environment for working mums.
On Thursday 27 November Emma Tamplin, engagement partner at Chwarae Teg officially launched the Cardiff branch of Hive. A business network designed to help both businesses and employees share new ways of flexible working and hiring that benefit everyone.
Chwarae Teg, or Fair Play, have been working for just over 23 years to improve gender equality at work. Speaking at the launch, Emma explained that since Chwarae Teg’s original work/life balance network started 10 years ago, new social barriers and ways of working have developed that prevent women from being able to maintain successful careers.
The gender pay gap is well-known, and national statistics consistently reveal that women are still losing out. But it is mothers who face the biggest gap.
This is where Hive comes in: to bring together employers from across the sectors in Wales to share new ways of flexible working that can help working mums maintain a career.
What a way to make a living
Hive is waving goodbye to Dolly Parton’s nine to five work day. Flexible working can include job sharing, working from home and working outside normal hours.
According to Chwarae Teg’s research with businesses in the Cardiff area, a lack of flexible working has limited the opportunities available to women at different stages in their careers.
And it’s not just here in Cardiff. These regional findings reflect the wider figures from The Office for National Statistics, which recently revealed that men in the UK are still earning 17.5% more than women.
This is largely because more women are losing out on full-time salaries whilst they balance part time work with childcare.
As Amy Kordiak, regional project manager for Chwarae Teg’s Agile Nation project, explains: “Women returning from maternity leave need to reduce their hours and need a degree of flexibility. If that’s not on offer they really are stuck. They have to rethink their career and sometimes take a job that does not fully suit their skill set and is below the level they should be aiming for.”
Despite the situation in Wales improving in the last few decades, the continued lack of flexibility for working mums in Cardiff is still a major factor hindering women’s career progression and earnings.
Amy Preece, Managing Director at Women Making a Difference agrees that balancing work and family life remains the greatest factor preventing mothers from progressing at work. Helping to empower women to become leaders within their communities and workplaces, Amy has found that “there have been definite barriers in terms of hours of childcare and flexibility, which means that mothers are unable to access career orientated positions.”
Although businesses are legally obliged to have a policy in place to help mothers with paid parental leave, Chwarae Teg have found that many companies only provide the minimal requirement. And those that did, failed to notify people that they had opportunities for flexible working. So for many women, the choice remains: to take a pay cut or leave the workplace entirely.
Mum’s the word!
But when companies do promote and use these flexible working policies, everyone wins. Pauline O’Hare, an education business advisor at Careers’ Wales, was part of a job share with another mother when she returned from maternity leave and was looking after two young children.
Still with the same company after fifteen years, Pauline explains how, as well as being able to look after her children without sacrificing her career, the employers also benefitted:
“There was a huge benefit for me to be able to work part time but not have to go back to a lower paid job. It made me feel more grateful for the chance to do that, and I appreciated the flexibility so I was more flexible and was more committed to the company.” (You can hear more from Pauline in the side bar).
However, with Hive now up and running and members, like Pauline, from a range of local companies sharing their experiences and lessons, it seems there will be plenty of new ways for mothers to become a more active part of the Cardiff workforce. Let’s hope more employers across the sectors in the city take note and start implementing and sharing their flexible working policies, because now there really is no excuse.