Third sector offers more equality for women

The third sector offers greater opportunities for women to establish and lead organisations, as well as to gain employment with higher rates of pay.

Research undertaken by the Third Sector Research Centre found that gender inequalities in the third sector were less marked than in the public or private sectors.

However, gender inequalities were found to be significantly greater in the private sector than either the third or public sectors.

This should provide a note of caution at a time when the Government expect many jobs lost through public spending cuts to be transferred to private business.

Their report found that:

- Women made up 67% of the third sector workforce. This compares to 64% in the public sector and 40% in the private sector.

- The proportion of women within the third sector attaining higher managerial positions was similar to that in the public sector, and much higher than in the private sector.

- Women represented 50% of higher managers / professionals in the third sector. This compares to 46% in the public sector and 24% in the private sector.

- The pay gap between men and women was lower in the third sector than the public and private sectors.

- Among higher managers and professionals the gender pay gap almost disappears in the third sector.

- However, while the gender pay gap may be lower in the third sector, research finds that women at all levels are paid less than in the public sector.

TSRC researcher Steve McKay said: “It is encouraging that the third sector, whilst small, seems to provide opportunities for women to advance to management positions. Of course these figures don’t tell the whole story.

"We need to better understand the role of mitigating factors such as ethnicity and social class in determining pay and career success, as well as gendered differences in different types of third sector organisation.

"Further research will be undertaken by TSRC to help understand the motivations and experiences of a range of people working within the sector, including their career trajectories.”