Gender Inequality & Imbalance In Business: 2020 UK Facts & Statistics

Across different job roles and industries, a lack of diversity between genders has proven controversial, but what is the true extent of the issue? We have gone in-depth to see where the problem lies, going from Universities to the Boardroom.

Higher Education Vs Industry

Total number of students currently enrolled by subject in the UK female vs male.

Subject	Female	Male
Medicine & dentistry	37,335	28,660
Agriculture & related subjects	11,855	7,350
Computer science	16,040	77,170
Engineering & technology	26,955	134,340
Law	53,545	34,035
Business & administrative studies	161,450	165,325
Mass communications & documentation	28,775	19,825
Education	124,960	39,405
Total number in HE overall	1,273,335	992,370

Percentage of students female vs male in the UK:

Subject	Female	Male
Medicine & dentistry	56.57%	43.43%
Agriculture & related subjects	61.73%	38.27%
Computer science	17.21%	82.79%
Engineering & technology	16.71%	83.29%
Law	61.14%	38.86%
Business & administrative studies	49.41%	50.59%
Mass communications & documentation	59.21%	40.79%
Education	76.03%	23.97%
In HE overall	56.20%	43.80%

Gender Distribution By Profession

Selected Profession	% of women in profession
Nurses	88%
Teachers (secondary)	60%
Solicitors	45%
Doctors	44%
Accountants	43%
Police Officers	26%
IT Specialists	17%
Civil Engineers	11%

Gender Across Sectors

For the key industries, there are disparities in both job type and salary. See how the different sectors compare below.

	Gender Pay Gap	PROPORTION OF FEMALES IN ROLES BY INDUSTRY
CONSUMER	49%
Role		Junior	Mid-Level	Senior	CEOs
% of women		33%	26%	16%	10%
ENERGY	31%
Role		Junior	Mid-Level	Senior	CEOs
% of women		24%	19%	11%	0%
FINANCIAL SERVICES AND INVESTORS	38%
Role		Junior	Mid-Level	Senior	CEOs
% of women		43%	33%	20%	9%
HEALTHCARE	15%
Role		Junior	Mid-Level	Senior	CEOs
% of women		39%	31%	15%	6%
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY	25%
Role		Junior	Mid-Level	Senior	CEOs
% of women		32%	21%	11%	5%
MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND INFORMATION	18%
Role		Junior	Mid-Level	Senior	CEOs
% of women		35%	25%	25%	13%

In the Boardroom

Many nations are doing their bit to close the gap in terms of having females at the very top of companies. We’ve highlighted the best and worst countries for disparity in boardroom.

Bottom 5

Country	Men	Women
Hungary	95.45%	4.55%
Czech Republic	93.83%	6.17%
Russia	92.50%	7.50%
Portugal	89.91%	10.09%
Greece	85.71%	14.29%

Top 5

Country	Men	Women
Norway	60.29%	39.71%
Sweden	62.34%	37.66%
France	62.52%	37.48%
Italy	67.80%	32.20%
Finland	69.12%	30.88%

Global Average

Country	Men	Women
United Kingdom	73.75%	26.25%
United States	80.08%	19.92%
Global 2016	81.51%	18.49%
Glob al 2014	84.76%	15.24%

Sources:

• https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/11-01-2018/sfr247-higher-education-student-statistics/subjects
• https://www.egonzehnder.com/gbda
• http://reports.weforum.org/future-of-jobs-2016/consumer/
• hesa.ac.uk
• egonzehnder.com
• reports.weforum.org
• summer.harvard.edu
• statista.com
• ons.gov.uk

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