What Census 2021 shows about women in Barking and Dagenham

A woman logs on to the Census 2021 website ahead of all households being asked to complete the census ahead of Census Day on Sunday. Picture date: Saturday March 20, 2021.

From unpaid carers to disability, the recent census has revealed areas where there are significant differences for men and women in Barking and Dagenham.

It comes as International Women's Day is celebrated this week with women's rights charity The Fawcett Society saying 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 218,869 usual residents in Barking and Dagenham, 112,288 are women – accounting for 51.3% of the area's population.

In Barking and Dagenham, women made up 60.1% 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 Barking and Dagenham were more likely to have a disability than men, with 19.4% of women stating they were disabled in the census, while 16.2% of men did.

The recent census also revealed 2,170 people in Barking and Dagenham had previously served in the UK armed forces. Just 340 (15.7%) 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 Barking and Dagenham were more likely than men to identify with a sexuality other than heterosexual. Figures show around 2,045 women in the area (2.4% of women) identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or another minority sexuality, while 1,645 men (2.1%) did.

Across England and Wales, females (3.3%) were more likely to have identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or another minority sexual orientation than males (3%).

Census data shows 45.1% of women in the area identified as white, 22.2% as black, 24.9% as Asian, 4.2% as mixed and 3.6% as another ethnicity.