The 9-5 has a gender problem

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Welcome to Monday Mornings! This publication dives into the new world of work beyond the 9-5, exploring the rise of mass entrepreneurialism. Through sharp analysis and interviews with the builders, thinkers, and leaders driving this shift, we’ll unpack what a post 9-5 world means for individuals, businesses, and society.

Monthly Briefings always include the following segments: In a nutshell, Get informed, Trailblazers, A final word (from me) and some Monday Marvels and Moanings this month.

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Happy Monday, folks!

In this month’s briefing, we’re digging into what the reality is for women in today’s workforce, and will be covering:

• The data on women’s economic inactivity in the UK

• How the ‘shift to mass entrepreneurialism’ is more female than it is male

• Why romanticising domesticity can be a shrewd financial move (#tradwife)

In short, we’re asking: Is the 9-5 really set up for women to thrive?

The pandemic shone a line on the 9-5 - and in particular, its inflexibility. Adjustments including remote work policies were made, but for many women, these still fell short. So many women have left the workforce in the last few years that it’s been coined the ‘Great Breakup’.

Here are just a few basic data points to consider.

Women (of all ages) are faced with as many as 30 different biases in the workplace. Women experience more hormonal changes than men and absenteeism from work due to menopause and other women’s health issues is significant.

Meanwhile, women are seven times more likely to have caretaking responsibilities. It could take 45 more years for the pay gap to close, and the cost of childcare continues to make returning to work unviable for many mothers. It seems the 9-5 has a gender problem.

1/ Women and the Labour Market Briefing
(Source: Women’s Budget Group, Feb, 2024)

Women’s Budget Group - a (feminist) think tank - have analysed the UK’s official labour market data to understand female participation in the workforce. On face value, the data shows that 72.1% of women are employed in some capacity compared to 75% of men. Not such a big gap, right? But diving deeper reveals that many women in this pool work part-time or self-employed, and are ‘far more likely to be in poverty' than their full-time counterparts (this gap significantly widens when accounting for race and ethnicity).

The briefing suggests the main reason for the economic disparity is unpaid care work — a quarter of working-age women are out of work due to caring for their family or the home.

‘Looking after the family’ could sound like a personal choice, but it’s also the case that the burden of care so often falls onto women because they earn less. We know about the gender pay gap, but there is also a 21% pay gap specific to mothers too, compared to fathers, during the first 20 years of their child’s life.

Perhaps most striking, though, is that 200,000 more UK women are out of work due to long-term sickness than men. The reasons are inconclusive, but poorer health is known to occur more often amongst those who earn less as well as those who carry out unpaid care work. Meaning, that today’s working world is leaving women both poorer and sicker than men.

2/ Trade like a tradwife
(Source: The Spectator, July, 2024)

Executive Spectator editor Lara Prendergast opens by describing her phone as a more liberating device than the washing machine or contraceptive pill.

Citing the millions of British business owners running their Esty business out of their home (often women selling to other women), she describes the ability to work from our phones as liberating women from ‘chronic low salaries and stagnation’ of traditional employment.

With the average salary of a 30-year -old woman in London sitting at £33,600, she points out that its unsurprising this tech-savvy generation would turn to influencing and entrepreneurial pursuits (or even starting an OnlyFans account) when the monetary gains of such pursuits can be so much larger. Like the ‘cleanfluencer’ Laura Mountford who quit her job at M&S to build an online following, making five or even six figures in brand deals per post she creates. Average salaries look like small change in comparison.

The rise of the ‘homefluencer’, ‘cleanfluencer’ or ‘mumfluencer’ has been considered by many as a return to traditional values — known as the ‘trad wife’ trend — but as Prendergast points out, there is nothing ‘traditional’ about monetising family life and now, home is where the ‘grift’ is.

3/  The women forced to 'choose' self-employment
(Source: BBC, October, 2022)

This article highlights the following: “In the US, more women are working for themselves. On the surface, it seems empowering – but there’s a dark narrative driving this rise in self-employment.” 

The piece goes on to track how women (and women of colour in particular) were disproportionately driven into self-employment by the pandemic, according to the BBC reporting - based on the US Center for Economic and Policy Research (CERP). Between 2019 and the first half of 2022, there was a major spike in self-employment particularly for women with primary school-aged children. Described as a rise in ‘involuntary self-employment’, the trend was largely linked to the pairing of pandemic home-schooling requirements and lack of childcare options.

Whilst the sources interviewed describe many positives in their choice to quit traditional employment, the reality is that there are now more women in the US without access to the inherent benefits of employment - including healthcare insurance and a retirement plan - than there were pre-pandemic.

Another trend in the CERP data revealed that the shift to self-employment was more significant amongst lesser educated women who might not have found themselves fully remote work opportunities so were left with no choice but to start something of their own to continue to make ends meet.

• Five Hour Club - A job board set up by Amy Grilli to promote jobs that can be done on a ‘Five Hour Workday’, because the 9-5 doesn’t work for parents.

• TALO - Founded by Jade Bentwood, TALO is a mentor scheme that supports working-women to navigate key life transitions including parental leave, fertility, baby loss, perimenopause and menopause.

• Pregnant Then Screwed - A charity (incidentally, seeking a new CEO) dedicated to ending the motherhood penalty. It was founded in 2015 by Joeli Brearley who was sacked by voicemail two days after she informed her employer that she was pregnant with her first child.

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A Final Word (from me)

It is evident that the traditional 9-5 has many challenges for both men and women alike — especially those with caring responsibilities.

For all the potential policy improvements that could be made around flexible working and affordable childcare, true change will only come when it is widely acceptable to make work fit around our lives, not the other way around.

We need more than statements in employee handbooks about what we are permitted to do. We need a shift in perception— time off for caring responsibilities, hormonal challenges, or other life events is normal and not a reason for discrimination. Workplaces must actively fight for their employees’ rights to take time off without fear of reprimand, missed pay rises, or lost promotions.

Women are leaving the 9-5 in their droves for myriad of reasons: the push factors being its inherent inflexibility and risk of discrimination, but the pull factors loom large, too. Meaning that we live in a time, largely fuelled by social media, where the appeal of being one’s own boss has never been greater. Historically women were perceived less likely to start a company due to the risks involved (women, stereotypically, being more risk-averse) but I believe that today, when you bundle in the downsides of working for an employer, that risk no longer looms so large.

In the Industrial Revolution the “doctrine of separate spheres” emerged, where women were considered occupied in the private, or domestic, sphere and men in the ‘public’ working one. Whilst women have of course made huge strides in equality and positions of power, it is interesting to me that a very high percentage of female owned businesses appear to operate in their own ecosystems of selling to, and buying from, other women exclusively. Are we seeing the 21st century version of separate spheres recreated?

I do not believe that a mass exodus of women from the workforce is a net positive. We need policies and legislation that help retain female talent in organisations — whether full-time, part-time, or freelance. Women’s voices must remain at the table, ensuring the creation of mainstream products and services that are reflective of women too (over 50% of the population!). Without this, we risk perpetuating systemic bias, leaving women feeling unseen and misunderstood, and pushing them to opt out in search of spaces where they can truly belong.

And, in other news this month…

👍Monday Marvels  

Bolt drivers — who represent a large swathe of the UK’s gig economy workers — have won their legal claim to be classed as workers and not contractors, and so become entitled to rights including paid holiday and at least a minimum wage.

👎 Monday Moaning

Netflix, once known for their generous parental leave policies, have seemingly gone back on their word. There are reports HR have removed policy wording from handbooks about parental leave, and select employees have reported being let go right after taking extended leave.

That’s a wrap for today! Stay tuned for the next one on Monday 30th, featuring a guest who doesn’t think the 9-5 is going away anytime soon, after all 👀

I’d love to hear your thoughts on today’s topic. What else do you think should be considered? Share your opinions in the comments!

Monday Mornings is written and hosted by Ellen Donnelly, a writer, speaker, and coach focused on the future of work. She specialises in the shift towards mass entrepreneurialism, and supports founders navigating pivots in her private coaching practice, The Ask.