What Census 2021 shows about women in Tower Hamlets

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 Tower Hamlets.

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 310,306 usual residents in Tower Hamlets, 154,437 are women – accounting for 49.8% of the area's population.

In Tower Hamlets, women made up 57.2% 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 Tower Hamlets were more likely to have a disability than men, with 21.7% of women stating they were disabled in the census, while 18.5% of men did.

The recent census also revealed 1,930 people in Tower Hamlets had previously served in the UK armed forces. Just 365 (18.9%) 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."

Contrary to national trends, women in Tower Hamlets were less likely than men to identify with a sexuality other than heterosexual. Figures show around 7,110 women in the area (5.6% of women) identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or another minority sexuality, while 11,015 men (8.7%) 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 37.9% of women in the area identified as white, 7.6% as black, 45.6% as Asian, 5.2% as mixed and 3.8% as another ethnicity.