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This article is the latest part of the FT’s Financial Literacy and Inclusion Campaign
More than one in three women say they would not apply for jobs that listed using numbers or data as a requirement compared with just one in five men, revealing the “gender numeracy gap” lurking in modern British workplaces.
The study of over 2,000 UK adults by the National Numeracy charity claims that women are disproportionately affected by a lack of confidence using numbers and maths, which can negatively impact their earnings, career choice and progression at work.
In conjunction with leading financial firms, the charity is calling on employers to recognise the vital role they play in closing the gender numeracy confidence gap by using its tools and resources to offer staff practical help with everyday maths in the workplace.
“We want women to put themselves forwards for decision-making jobs in businesses, and feel confident enough to manage a budget, work with data and ask questions about numbers,” said Lucy-Marie Hagues, chair of the charity’s gender task force and chief executive of Capital One UK, a bank.
“As women, we’re holding ourselves back a little bit because we’re looking at those jobs, and thinking ‘I’m not sure I will have the confidence to do that’ — we want to know we can do the job before we apply for the job,” she said.
With UK businesses braced for a jump in payroll costs next month due to national insurance increases, Hagues stressed that an investment of “time and leadership capital” was the chief cost of change, such as creating data apprenticeships to enable existing staff to skill up.
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“For me, boosting staff numeracy is a talent play,” she said. “Businesses are grappling with a shortage of data skills, and my feeling is we’re not getting the best from a big proportion of the workforce.” Noting the impact of AI, she added: “The skills that we’re going to need in the future are not going to be the same as the skills that are needed today.”
Numerous academic studies have shown there is no gender component to maths ability. Despite lacking the confidence of boys in Stem subjects, girls often outperform boys in maths and science subjects at GCSE level. However, fewer girls go on to pursue Stem subjects at A-level, and National Numeracy’s own research has found women consistently report they are less number confident than men.
A previous study found that negative memories of school maths lessons was a barrier that prevented women in particular from attempting to boost their numeracy skills in later life.
“We believe everyone can improve their numeracy, but we cannot improve the numeracy of the nation without addressing the yawning gender divide when it comes to number confidence,” said Sam Simms, National Numeracy’s chief executive.
Financial Literacy and Inclusion Campaign
FT readers have generously donated over £211,000 to the “Feed the Future” campaign to provide secondary school pupils in deprived areas with a healthy breakfast and financial skills training on the side. The fundraiser, jointly run over the Christmas and new year period by the FT’s Financial Literacy and Inclusion Campaign (Flic) and the charity Magic Breakfast, included a £51,000 match-funded donation from the Rosetrees Trust.
