Beyond Pay: Why Closing the Gender Pay Gap Starts with Supporting Working Parents

Date: 10th November 2026, 11:00 am

The gender pay gap remains one of the most closely scrutinised measures of workplace equality. Yet despite years of reporting and increased transparency, progress remains slow.

This session will challenge organisations to look beyond the headline metric and focus on the underlying drivers of gender inequality at work. Drawing on insights from Bright Horizons research into working parents and employers, we'll explore whether the gender pay gap is actually the downstream consequence of a more fundamental issue: the unequal distribution of care.

We'll argue that if organisations want to make meaningful progress on gender equity, they need to focus not only on pay, but on the experiences of working parents and carers throughout the employee lifecycle.

Our Panel:

• Employee Benefits editor Debbie Lovewell-Tuck
• Emma Willars, Talent and Development Manager at Bright Horizons
• Jane Clifford, People Director at Brewers Decorator Centres
• Jenny Locke, Head of People at the technology consultancy Daemon.