Coronavirus: Lockdown measures could widen gender pay gap in UK

Mothers are much more likely than fathers to have lost their job since the beginning of the UK-wide coronavirus lockdown, a development that could widen the gender pay gap, according to new research. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found that mothers are 1.5 times more likely to have quit or lost their job since the lockdown was imposed in March. Because women are also more likely to have been furloughed, they are nine percentage points less likely to be currently working for pay than fathers, the research found. The IFS warned that there was a risk that the differences could result in “larger detrimental effects” on the career progression and earnings of mothers than of fathers.