{"id":1212,"date":"2025-05-23T14:13:31","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T13:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/scarletthreads\/?p=1212"},"modified":"2025-06-06T10:28:03","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T09:28:03","slug":"the-gender-pay-gap-explore-the-true-cost-of-unpaid-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/scarletthreads\/2025\/05\/23\/the-gender-pay-gap-explore-the-true-cost-of-unpaid-care\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gender Pay Gap: Explore the true cost of unpaid care"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The effects of unpaid care is very present in Amina Bhaduri’s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amina’s story<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Decades ago, 24-year-old Amina moved with her husband and two children from Bangladesh to London, hoping that together they could build a better life. Absorbing the scenic skyscraper buildings and the bustling streets of the city\u2019s rush hour, they felt immersed in what they believed would bring promising wealth and success to their new family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What Amina couldn\u2019t predict, however, was the subtle forces at play that would eventually prohibit her dreams .<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, being a migrant to a new country would create its own set of barriers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen we were looking for work, it was a lot harder than we imagined. Places didn\u2019t take our qualifications seriously, and I also think that they didn\u2019t see us as intelligent because of our accents. I speak perfect English, but I noticed a lot of hiring managers talking down at me and being quite patronising. It was hard not having the same footing as someone born here.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Settling into the UK<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Eventually, they managed to secure work, Amina as a retail crew member and her husband in a warehouse. With soaring costs, the pair realised that hiring child care for their kids was not an option. They also found that the government support schemes didn’t cover enough of the costs to make a real difference. That is when they decided that Amina should reduce her hours so she could be there for the kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt didn\u2019t feel like a choice, it felt like what I should<\/em> do. It was more of an expectation in the family that I was the one to stay at home more as the mother- so I didn\u2019t really question it. My husband earned more than me so it made financial sense for me to stay at home anyway. It wasn\u2019t luxurious, but we got by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen you make these sacrifices, you don\u2019t always realise the long-term cost. As the years went on, I worked fewer hours to stay with the kids, and over time, my income became way less than my husband\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the time, it didn\u2019t matter to her since their money combined made things work. However, years later when the children moved out and their marriage fell apart, things took a turn for the worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Present day<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The consequences of reducing her hours became painfully clear. Now, 62-years-old and approaching retirement, she realised the financial insecurity she faced due to her lack of earnings. The sacrifices she made for her family, while seemingly necessary at the time, had left her with limited resources in her later years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI never imagined I would be this close to retirement and unable to support myself. It\u2019s heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The legal fees of the divorce itself, combined with the long-term impact of reducing her hours, meant that the little payout she received from her husband made a scarce impact on her financial situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been left with this awful predicament and It’s not really like I had a choice- someone had to look after the kids and it’s not like we were able to afford childcare. Surely it’s a poorly designed system if you have to choose between supporting yourself or supporting the kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt feels unfair. It feels like I gave everything, and in return, the world gave me nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are nearly 6 million women in the UK today with the potential to struggle like Amina. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unpaid care<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
As a result of systemic structures making women more likely to take on unpaid caregiving among children and elderly, unpaid care has reached rocketing disproportionate rates between men and women in the UK. According to the Office for National Statistics, women perform 60% more unpaid caregiving than men. This contributes to an estimated \u00a3700 billion to the economy annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cExisting policies have definitely perpetuated a heteronormative dynamic,\u201d says Beverley Skeggs, a sociology professor at the University of Lancaster. \u201cOur current structures mean that traditional dynamics continue and perpetuate stereotypes about who’s expected to do the caring roles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cVery expensive childcare in this country is tied with a fairly ungenerous paternity leave allowance and pay because of the existing gender pay gap.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pay disparities<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Although maternity leave can last up to a year, paternity leave is significantly shorter, allowing 1-2 weeks. While the pay is the same, mothers would receive the pay for a longer duration. This results in only 20% of fathers taking the leave compared to 75% of mothers (ONS Labour market review 2023). The UK gender pay gap also stands at 13.1%, meaning that women earn, on average, 13.1% less per hour than men. This contributes to <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen you combine insufficient paternity leave with the pay gap, you kind of have a setup where, when families start deciding to have children, it defaults to women doing the lion’s share of care. It would make more financial sense in these scenarios for the women to give up full-time work in the longer term.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/scarletthreads\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2025\/05\/Photo-1-darlynn-unpaid-care.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/scarletthreads\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2025\/05\/Photo-2-darlynn-unpaid-care.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/scarletthreads\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2025\/05\/Brown-and-White-Modern-Digital-Marketing-Expert-Facebook-Post-1.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/scarletthreads\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2025\/05\/Brown-and-White-Modern-Digital-Marketing-Expert-Facebook-Post.png\")
<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"