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

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 126,300 usual residents in Ashfield, 64,441 are women – accounting for 51 per cent of the area's population.

In Ashfield, women made up 58.5 per cent 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.

A woman logs on to the Census 2021 website.

This is similar to the trend across England and Wales where there are about 2.8 million female unpaid carers and about 1.9m male unpaid carers.

Additionally, women in Ashfield were more likely to have a disability than men, with 23 per cent of women stating they were disabled in the census, while 21 per cent of men did.

The census also revealed 4,325 people in Ashfield had previously served in the UK Armed Forces. Just 580, 13.4 per cent, of them were women.

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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.

She said: “This Government must urgently reform the childcare system so it is affordable, accessible, and works for women and employers must make flexible work the default. We simply can’t allow this Government to stand by as women's hard-fought gains are lost.”

The survey also highlighted women in Ashfield were more likely than men to identify with a sexuality other than heterosexual. Figures show about 1,580 women in the area, 3 per cent of women, identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or another minority sexuality, while 1,060 men, 2.1 per cent, did.

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

Census data shows 95.1 per cent of women in the area identified as white, 1.2 per cent as black, 1.6 per cent as Asian, 1.6 per cent as mixed and 0.4 per cent as another ethnicity.

What Census 2021 shows about women in Ashfield