What Census 2021 shows about women in Wigan

It comes as women's rights charity The Fawcett Society says more concerted action is needed to tackle gender inequality in the UK.

The census survey taken across England and Wales in March 2021 shows of the 329,330 usual residents in Wigan, 166,333 are women – accounting for 50.5 per cent of the area's population.

In Wigan, women made up 58.2 per cent of unpaid carers, meaning they were looking after someone because of long-term physical or mental health conditions or illnesses, or problems related to old age without compensation.

This is similar to the trend across England and Wales where there are approximately 2.8 million female unpaid carers and approximately 1.9 million male unpaid carers.

Additionally, women in Wigan were more likely to have a disability than men, with 21.2 per cent of women stating they were disabled in the census, while 19.1 per cent of men did.

The recent census also revealed 10,135 people in Wigan had previously served in the UK armed forces. Just 1,180 (11.6 per cent) of them were women.

Jemima Olchawski, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said there is not a single "sure-fire" solution to improve gender equality in the UK, but more action is needed.

"This Government must urgently reform the childcare system so that it is affordable, accessible, and works for women and employers must make flexible work the default," she added.

She said: "We simply can't allow this Government to stand by as women's hard-fought gains are lost."

The survey also highlighted women in Wigan were more likely than men to identify with a sexuality other than heterosexual. Figures show around 3,860 women in the area (2.8 per cent of women) identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or another minority sexuality, while 2,910 men (2.2 per cent) did.

Across England and Wales, females (3.3 per cent) were more likely to have identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or another minority sexual orientation than males (three per cent).

Census data shows 95.2 per cent of women in the area identified as white, 1.1 per cent as black, 1.8 per cent as Asian, 1.3 per cent as mixed and 0.6 per cent as another ethnicity.