The Best Places in the UK for Working Women

Wandsworth

London

Taking the overall top spot in our UK ranking was Wandsworth, in London, and in fact, London boroughs made up half of the top ten areas in our list. Wandsworth was the top-scoring place when it came to average earnings for women (just over £40,000 a year), which is almost on par with men in the borough, falling just 0.6% short.

The Best Places in the UK

for Working Women

Westminster

London

Another London borough came in second place, Westminster, which had the highest level of women employed as managers, directors or senior officials in the whole country, with 28.6%. While women make up just 42% of the workforce, those who do work here are well rewarded, with average annual earnings of £36,896, which actually makes it one of just 11 out of 297 authorities in our ranking where women earn more than men.

The Best Places in the UK

for Working Women

Blackpool

North West

The highest-ranking place outside of London was Blackpool, in the North West, which may be surprising when you consider that women in the town earn £18,400 on average, however, that was actually 3.1% more than men. It’s also one of the areas with the highest proportion of women in employment, with women making up 60% of the local workforce.

The Best Places in the UK

for Working Women

Ranked

Table View Map View

Working Women Score /10 (Higher is Better): Score of 0-2.99 Score of 3-3.99 Score of 4-4.99 Score of 5-5.99 Score 6+ No Data

Key Gender Wage Gap Median Annual Earnings Women as % of Total Workforce Women Employed as Managers, Directors & Senior Officials Overall Working Women Score /10

Rank	Local Authority	Region

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Gender Wage Gap

Anglesey,

-9.7%

Unfortunately, the vast majority of places in our ranking saw men earning more than women, often significantly so, with men earning an average of 15.5% more nationally and as much as 39.8% more in areas such as Mole Valley, in Surrey. However, in nine places, it was actually the case that women earn more than men, on average, most notably on the Isle of Anglesey, with a gender pay gap of -9.7%.

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Median Annual Earnings

Wandsworth,

£40,002

It’s perhaps no surprise to see that all of the areas where women earn the most are located in London and the South, where earnings are generally at their highest overall. Of the areas for which data was available, Wandsworth has the highest earnings for women, with just over £40,000, which works out as almost three times more than in other parts of the country.

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Women as % of Total Workforce

Mole Valley,

64.5%

Interestingly, despite being the area with the widest gender pay gap in the country (39.8%), Mole Valley in Surrey was also the place which saw women make up the largest proportion of its workforce. While women’s annual pay was £23,594, much lower than their male counterparts, women here make up over two-thirds of the local workforce.

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Women Employed as Managers, Directors & Senior Officials

Westminster,

28.6%

While it’s good to see more women in the workforce, it’s also important to consider how many of those are in influential positions such as managers, directors or senior officials. Again, the data showed that some areas which performed poorly in one area, performed well in others, as women in Westminster may make up just 42% of the workforce, but those that do, are very likely to be in one of these senior roles, with 28.6%.

The Best Places in the World

for Working Women

Norway

In top spot was Norway, which scored highly right across the board, with one of the smallest wage gaps of the countries that we analysed (with women earning 5% less than men), as well as providing one of the best environments for women looking to start a business, with the process of setting up a new startup taking just four days for women and costing 0.8% of the gross national income per capita. Nordic countries are well known for being inclusive and progressive places to live and work so it’s perhaps no surprise to see Norway taking the top spot here!

The Best Places in the World

for Working Women

Denmark

In second was another Nordic country, Denmark, which was another country where it was relatively easy for women looking to start a business, with average startup procedures taking just under four days, and costing just 0.8% of the gross national income. Denmark also had a gender pay gap of just 4.9%.

The Best Places in the World

for Working Women

Finland

Taking third place was Finland, where new mothers are afforded a very generous 161 , weeks off work after having a child (when we combine both maternal and shared parental leave), which is over three years! Finland also had one of the highest levels of female representation in the workforce (48%), although it did have a fairly high wage gap compared to many other countries on the list.

The Best Places in the World

for Working Women

Ranked

Key Gender Wage Gap Women as % of Total Workforce Total Maternal and Parental Leave (Weeks) Average Cost to Register a Business as a Woman (% of Average Gross National Income) Average Number of Days to Start a Business as a Woman Overall Working Women Score /10

Rank	Country

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Gender Wage Gap

Colombia,

4%

While it scored relatively poorly on all of the other factors that we looked at, it was actually Colombia which had the smallest gap between the earnings of men and women, with men earning just 4% more on average, according to OECD.

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Women as % of total workforce

Portugal,

49.1%

None of the countries we looked at had a 50-50 parity when it comes to women in the workplace, although Portugal was the nation where women made up the largest percentage of the workforce, at 49.1%.

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Total maternal and parental leave

Slovakia,

164 weeks

Being able to take time off after having a baby is vitally important to women in the workplace, so it’s crucial that they’re allowed to take a significant amount of time off with their family. The country which afforded new mothers the most time off was Slovakia, with 164 weeks, which works out at more than three years when you combine both the specific maternity leave and shared parental leave.

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Average cost to register a business as a woman

United Kingdom,

0.1% of average gross national income per capita

For women looking to set up their own business, the registration and startup costs can vary a lot around the globe, but here in the UK that cost was as little as 0.1% of the average GNI (gross national income) per person.

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Average number of days to start a business as a woman

New Zealand,

0.5 days

Similarly, women can sometimes face hurdles when it comes to setting up their own business and the process can take a lot of time, which can understandably put people off. For example, in Poland, the data shows that it takes the average woman over a month to get started. That’s not the case in New Zealand though, where the process takes less than a day on average!

Methodology

For both our UK and global rankings, we looked at a range of different factors, giving each place a normalised score out of 100 on each factor, before taking an overall average score across each one.

UK Ranking

Gender Wage Gap

The median annual gender pay gap estimate for all employees according to the Office for National Statistics’ gender pay gap dataset. This is calculated as the difference between average hourly earnings (excluding overtime) of men and women as a proportion of average hourly earnings (excluding overtime) of men. For example, a 4% gap denotes that women earn 4% less, on average, than men. Conversely, a -4% GPG denotes that women earn 4% more, on average, than men.

Median Annual Earnings

The median annual earnings for women according to Table 8 of the Office for National Statistics’ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (earnings and hours worked, place of residence by local authority).

Women as % of Total Workforce

The number of female employee jobs as a percentage of total employee jobs, according to Table 8 of the Office for National Statistics’ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (earnings and hours worked, place of residence by local authority).

Women Employed as Managers, Directors & Senior Officials

The percentage of women aged 16 to 74 in employment who are a manager, director or senior official, according to Nomis.

Global Ranking

Gender Wage Gap

The difference between median earnings of men and women relative to median earnings of men (in full-time employment) according to the OECD gender wage gap data.

Women as % of total workforce

Females as a percentage of the total labor force according to the World Bank DataBank.

Total maternal and parental leave

The total number of weeks which a woman can be on paid leave after the birth of a child combining both maternity and parental leave according to OECD.Stat.

Average cost to register a business as a woman

The average cost to register a business, normalized by presenting it as a percentage of gross national income (GNI) per capita, according to the World Bank DataBank.

Average number of days to start a business as a woman

The average time required to start a business is the number of calendar days needed to complete the procedures to legally operate a business, according to the World Bank DataBank.