Women need stronger protections against zero hours contracts

And our new analysis on zero hours contract highlights why it is so important that unions keep fighting for women’s voices to be central to discussions on how we make work pay and tackle gender inequality.  

Women are bearing the brunt of zero hours contracts. They are overrepresented in sectors that use this exploitative practice, and they are more likely to be stuck on them for longer.  

Our analysis reveals that:

• Women are overrepresented in eight of the ten occupations with the highest number of workers on zero-hours contracts  
• Women are also more likely than men to be stuck on exploitative zero-hours contracts for longer than one year (69% compared to 64%).    
• On average, women on zero-hours contracts earn nearly £10 less an hour compared to men not employed on zero-hours contracts.  

Our analysis also shows that disabled women and Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) women are even more impacted.  

Disabled women are 49 per cent more likely to be on a zero-hours contract in comparison to white men, and BME women are 103 per cent more likely to be on a zero-hours contract in comparison to white men.  

And this comes with a pay penalty. The average zero-hours contract working woman typically earns around £10/hour less (£11.80 an hour) than the average man not employed on a zero-hours contract (£21.20).  

This stark gender divide is driven in part by women being more likely to be employed in undervalued sectors characterised by high levels of low pay, insecurity and a high prevalence of zero-hours contracts, such as social care and hospitality.  

There are nearly twice as many women working as waiters compared to men – a profession where 33% of the workforce is on zero-hours contracts.  

And three-quarters of care workers, the occupation with the second highest number of zero-hours contracts, are women.  

The impact is many women struggle to make ends meet and have no control over when they can work or how much they will get paid. This makes budgeting and planning things like childcare incredibly difficult. It also makes challenging the behaviours of bad bosses even harder, as many women fear losing hours if they raise issues.  

At this year’s women’s conference, we will be discussing how we make work pay for women and the importance of the Employment Rights Bill currently making its way through parliament.  

Women, like all workers, need strengthened protections at work. The Employment Rights Bill will introduce a wide range of measures that will directly or disproportionately benefit women in the workplace and drive greater progress towards gender equality.  

Measures such as banning the use of exploitative zero hours contracts and introducing a right to a contract that reflects the regular hours you work.  

Introducing access to sick pay from day one.  

Day one rights to flexible work and parental leave.  

The introduction of mandatory action plans to tackle the gender pay gap.

Extending protections from dismissal for pregnant women and new mothers.  

And introducing a fair pay agreement in social care.  

At conference this year, women from across the movement are making clear, as they do every year, that Britain’s low-rights, low-pay, and low-productivity economic model has failed, and women have borne the brunt.  

It’s time for change, it’s time to make work pay for working people, it’s time to deliver for women.  

#ResistPersistDeliver

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