Census sheds light on county's women

The census survey – taken in March 2021 – shows that, of the 230,567 people in Northumberland, 163,989 are women and account for 51.2% of the area's population.

It also shows that women made up 59.6% of unpaid carers in the area - looking after someone because of long-term physical or mental health conditions and 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 Northumberland were more likely to have a disability than men – with 20.2% stating they were disabled in the census, compared to 18.8% of men.

The survey also highlighted women in the area were more likely than men to identify with a sexuality other than heterosexual – with 3,475 women (2.5%)

identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual compared to 2,555 men (2%).

The data also shows 97.7% of women in the area identified as white, 0.2% as black, 1.1% as Asian, 0.8% as mixed and 0.3% as another ethnicity.

The data came in the week of International Women's Day and women's rights charity The Fawcett Society says more concerted action is needed to tackle gender inequality.

The charity’s chief executive, Jemima Olchawski, said: "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 position.”