The UK has dropped to 18th place in PwC’s Women in Work Index, marking its worst ranking for workplace gender equality in ten years.

A ‘sluggish’ pace in closing the gender pay gap and declining female workforce participation have pushed the UK further behind its peers, now ranking second-worst among G7 nations, behind Canada.

Despite marginal improvements in closing the gap between men’s and women’s average earnings, the UK has been outpaced by other nations making faster progress. At the current rate of change, it could take more than 30 years to close the gender pay gap entirely.

The UK’s female full-time employment rate was found to be particularly low at 68.9%, placing it 27th out of 33 OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) economies and well below the OECF average of 78.1%.

This decline in female workforce participation has significantly contributed to the UK’s slide in rankings.

Iceland, New Zealand, and Luxembourg continue to lead the index, performing strongly on gender pay parity and employment rates.

Meanwhile, countries such as Ireland and Canada have made notable post-pandemic improvements, demonstrating that progress is possible with the right policies and investment.

“The UK is improving its gender pay disparity, but at a slower pace than other countries,” Alia Qamar, an economist at PwC UK said.

“The sluggish progress compared to peers means long term the UK’s performance is consistently only just ahead of the OECD average, whereas other similar countries such as Ireland and Canada have shown impressive improvements in the post-pandemic era.”

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PwC’s research suggested it was vital that the UK improve women’s earnings as it found a correlation between increased female participation and productivity and GDP growth across OECD countries from 2011 to 2023.

Phillippa O’Connor, chief people officer at PwC UK, said: “The positive link between gender equality in the workplace and economic growth shows that investing in gender equality isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do.”

“The benefits of a larger and more diverse workforce are translating directly into GDP gains, as well as enriching economic diversity, reducing income inequality, and providing a stronger overall skills base.”

Speaking to what this news means for the tech sector, Zoe Kelleher, club executive, London, for AND Digital, commented: “Research shows that 90 per cent of women love working in tech, finding their careers rewarding, however, 90 per cent have also been subject to gender bias, amplified by unequal pay.

“Coding, for example, is an area that has progressed for the better, seeing a rise in the number of female coders which has helped developers in general to be more rounded. While the gender balance is still off, it’s moving in the right direction in a field with so much potential.”