This makes Northern Ireland the sole region in the UK where the gender pay gap has consistently shifted in the wrong direction.
As families throughout Northern Ireland gear up to celebrate Mother’s Day, fresh figures from PwC’s Women in Work Index 2026 reveal the reality of working life for women – particularly working mothers across the region.
Northern Ireland has dropped one position to third place in the UK in PwC’s regional rankings, following a 2.7-point fall in its overall Index score. The region is now experiencing a growing divide between the opportunities accessible to women locally and those available elsewhere in the UK.
Central to this challenge is participation. Northern Ireland records the lowest female labour force participation rate of any UK region, standing at just 71.3% – nearly three percentage points beneath the regional average.
The region also experienced the largest rise in its participation rate gap, the difference between male and female participation, climbing by 1.88 percentage points, whilst regions across the UK on average witnessed that gap reduce by 0.67%.
The gender pay gap in Northern Ireland has widened every year since 2020, rising from 7.5% to 7.9% this year, driven by a greater proportion of women in part-time positions and longer working hours for men. This makes Northern Ireland the sole region in the UK where the gender pay gap has consistently shifted in the wrong direction.
There is, nonetheless, one positive development: Northern Ireland maintains its leading position for the lowest female unemployment rate in the UK, at just 1.4% compared to the regional average of 3.4%. Whilst this is encouraging, it highlights a paradox – women within Northern Ireland remain in employment, yet far too many women are being excluded from the workforce entirely or restricted to lower-paid, part-time positions.
On a national level, the UK rose one spot to 17th in the worldwide Index, reclaiming its status as the highest-ranking G7 nation. However, underlying advancement has plateaued, hindered by increasing female unemployment and declining full-time employment rates amongst women.
Cara Haffey, Partner at PwC Northern Ireland, commented:. “This Mother’s Day is a moment to celebrate everything that working mums contribute to their families, their workplaces and the Northern Ireland economy. But it should also be a wake-up call. The data shows that women here face the steepest barriers to participation of anywhere in the UK, and the gender pay gap continues to move in the wrong direction.”
“If we want Northern Ireland to thrive, we need to make it easier for women to fully participate in the workforce. That means investing in affordable childcare, creating more flexible working opportunities, and ensuring that the pipeline of talent into well-paid roles is open to everyone.
“The fact that we have the lowest female unemployment rate in the UK shows that when women here can access work, they do – and they stay. The challenge now is to remove the barriers that are keeping too many on the sidelines.”
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