Mind the gap: Report reveals inequalities facing women

TESTIMONY: The cover of the new public health report

By Simon Bristow, Co-Editor

Women are more likely than men to experience a common mental health problem such as depression or anxiety, and are at an increased risk of experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), eating disorders and self-harm, according to a new report.

The mental health of women is one of 11 themes considered in the new annual report by Julia Weldon, director of public health at Hull City Council, which this year focuses on women’s health.

The report says: “Some of the reasons why women experience mental distress and mental illness differently are due to the impact of social and life circumstances that they may experience, such as having relatively lower incomes compared to men, caring responsibilities and exposure to violence and abuse.”

Some of the issues potentially contributing to adverse mental health for women have their own dedicated sections in the report.

The report, titled Now You See Us: Shining the Spotlight on Women’s Health in Hull, is supported by data and the themes are explored by conversations with women with lived experience of the issues, and with professionals who work with them.

Each section concludes with key reflections and is also accompanied by a poem by Hull poet Vicky Foster based on the conversations and interviews.

The figures on domestic abuse and violence against women and girls are alarming.

In Hull, an average of almost 18 domestic abuse crimes were recorded every day in the year to March 2024, and a total of 30 women are hospitalised in the city each year as a result of violence.

In England and Wales, more than one in four women reported experiencing domestic abuse at some point since the age of 16. A crime survey for the year ending 2022 revealed that more than one in four women (27 per cent) have suffered some form of sexual assault since the age of 16.

What is the interest on imbalance?

On a shortfall, a life long, you didn’t create?

Every knock has a knock-on effect,

a spiral, a crisis. What is the interest

on not keeping up, when food’s a transaction,

heat’s a transaction, clothes – a transaction?

What are the penalties, then,

for insufficient funds?

 (From the section Not Keeping Up: Financial Inclusion)

In the section on violence against women and girls, the report says: “Educating men and boys on violence against women and girls is crucial to tackling the problem. It is important we offer early interventions for men and boys around low-level misogyny through education.

“Violence against women and girls is also becoming more prevalent in the virtual online world. Crimes online of this nature have additional concerns; perpetrators are able to conceal their identities more easily and remain unknown. Women and girls are disproportionately targeted by online gender-based violence through harassment and abuse.”

Another issue covered is financial inequality.

“Women are at a higher risk of financial insecurity, which has been exacerbated by the current cost of living crisis,” the report says. “Women are particularly vulnerable to the effects of this as they are more likely to work reduced hours or on zero-hour contracts, and they are more likely to have caring responsibilities (often in unpaid caring roles).”

STARK STATISTICS: A graphic from the report

The report shows women working full-time in Hull earn £114 a week less than men.

And although there is also a pay gap between women and men regionally and nationally, the disparity is greater in Hull than it is Yorkshire and the Humber and across Britain as a whole.

The gross median pay for women working full-time in Hull last year was £547, compared to £661 for men. In Yorkshire and the Humber it was £615 for women and £725 for men, and £673 for women across Britain compared to £775 for men.

The report also reveals stark disparities in women’s life expectancy according to where in the city they live, between the least and most deprived areas.

I’ve got difficult things

to say, and I don’t know how.

Something’s gone wrong

that’s outside my control.

I’m caught between places,

trapped between roles.

Can’t see the way forward.

I need a pathway out of this.

(From the section The Weight of Women’s Mental Load: Mental Health)

It illustrates this by examining the life expectancy of women living along the Number 5 bus route. This shows that women living in Kingswood live on average ten years longer than their counterparts in central ward – 86.2 years compared to 76.7 years respectively.

A total of 15 Hull women die prematurely from preventable causes each month.

The report also focuses on some of the most vulnerable women in society, including sex workers – street sex workers are 12 times more likely to be killed than other women the same age – the homeless, and migrant women.

Amanda Hailes, co-founder of An Untold Story – Voices, a lived experience group in Hull, draws on her own experiences as a street sex worker. She  said women sex workers are “often seen as not human”, adding: “The shame and the stigma surrounding sex work is overwhelming, when in fact sex workers are just trying to survive.”

One tick in a wrong box

and I’ve slipped over boundaries

I don’t understand.

And maybe I’m scared,

not speaking this language,

reading the signs.

Feeling the changes,

not knowing where you think I belong.

(From the section Navigating Difficult Journeys: Migrant Women)

On migrant women, the report says: “Not only are these women more vulnerable in relation to their finances, they are at an increased risk of coercion, physical violence and sexual exploitation.”

Asylum seekers are unable to work while waiting for a decision on their application, and the financial support they do get equates to about £7.03 a day.

Yani, herself a migrant who now works as a community inclusion co-ordinator, says in the report: “As soon as you say ‘I’m a migrant’ you just sense the difference of how people are going to treat you in the system.”

Mrs Weldon also reveals in the report she is facing her own health issues as she begins her journey to treatment and recovery from breast cancer.

“The support I have received from my female friends, family and colleagues at this difficult time is reflected here in the fabulous every day acts of kindness within our stories,” she said in the acknowledgements.

The full report is available in print and online.