The fight to achieve gender equity starts at home

Each year in March, the world celebrates International Women’s Day.

This day marks a time where we as women often reflect on how far we’ve come and celebrate the glass ceilings we’ve shattered, and where we as a society think about how we’re challenging the status quo and working towards change.

This year the organisers are encouraging us to embrace equity and think about its critical difference with equality. 

At L&Q, we are striving for equality, but we know we cannot have this without a level playing field. Gender equity recognises that women are not always in the same starting position as men because of the disproportionate disadvantages they face.

The UK is currently facing a housing crisis which is hitting women the hardest – trapping many in a cycle of debt, inadequate homes, abusive relationships, and rough sleeping.

The gender pay gap means that women continue, on average, to earn less than men. This in turn means some households supported by women are spending larger-than-average proportions of income on rent. Across a lifetime, this means much less disposable income, more difficulty saving for a deposit for a house and less financial security. In the UK the median gender pay gap is 9.71%, and I’m pleased that at L&Q, ours is lower, at 7.12%.

We are encouraged by the progress we are making but determined to reduce this gap further. In 2019, we carried out an organisation-wide pay review, with the aim of reducing legacy pay inequalities

Fiona Fletcher-Smith - Group Chief Executive

We have adopted interventions when recruiting for senior roles, both internally and externally. These include setting targets for recruitment into our Senior Leadership Group and guaranteeing an interview for women who meet the minimum criteria for the role. Nurturing diverse talent is at the heart of our talent management strategy, making sure that women are proportionately represented on our programmes for Aspiring Managers and Future Leaders. For 2022, 64% of the cohorts for both these programmes were women. 

Getting it right for women isn’t just about our staff though. Our residents are more likely to be female – women are the household reference person in 56.6% of social tenancies. 

Housing is typically considered affordable when it takes less than a third of a household income. Research from the Women’s Budget Group published in 2018 found that no region in England is currently affordable to rent for women on median wages, whilst for men, every region is affordable except London.  

When it comes to buying a home, the numbers are just as stark. The median home in England costs 12 times a woman’s median salary, yet men need just over eight times.  

The wage gap’s knock-on effects don’t end there. Fewer options when it comes to housing make women more vulnerable to homelessness and domestic abuse, particularly after a relationship break down.

Many women who become homeless have multiple, complex needs and often don’t get the services they need. Recent statistics from the Big Issue reveal only 13% of the 2,440 people recorded as sleeping rough in England last autumn were women.  Homeless charities such as Shelter believe this is likely to be an underestimate because the added dangers of gender-based violence and harassment mean women remain desperate to avoid bedding down on the streets at night. Instead, they sleep on kitchen floors, sit in stations and take refuge at friends’ homes, and this under-reporting can mean services default to the needs of men. 

We must ensure equitable opportunities for our female residents to access all the services we provide – from supporting those experiencing domestic abuse or rough sleeping to the financial support we offer through our foundation. That means tailoring our offer to address gender-related barriers such as sexual exploitation and childcare responsibilities.

Beyond targeted service provision, investment in affordable housing is fundamental to guarantee that women on lower incomes have access to a decent home and secure tenure, the bedrock of people’s health, security and happiness. In line with Housing Today’s, ‘A Fair Deal for Housing’ campaign, we are calling for more government support to help us deliver the building boom of affordable homes at the scale we desperately need.

As we enter the new financial year, we are more committed than ever to keep pushing on for gender equity. We have a huge voice in our sector; people listen to us. We need to use our voice with ministers and other stakeholders to talk about the issues facing women - this goes for our colleagues and for the women who live in our homes.