IN evidence to the Economy Committee’s gender pay gap inquiry at Holyrood, the Scottish Women’s Convention asked: “Why does a plumber get paid more than an early years worker? Being able to fix pipes is an important job but it’s nowhere near as valuable as the young women who look after our kids on a daily basis.”

The Scottish Parliament’s Economy, Jobs and Fair Work Committee’s report on the gender pay gap, published today, asks if closing the gender pay gap could boost the Scottish economy.

Estimates on the potential benefits differ markedly and the committee considers that more analysis (specifically Scottish) is required. What may surprise some is that, alongside training for returners to work and the Scottish Government ensuring roles are advertised as flexible or part-time, the care sector could be a key factor in closing that gap.

Traditionally care is a sector that is underpaid and undervalued, and its workers 87 per cent% female.

But all this could be set to change. Child, adult and elderly care takes a growing and pivotal place in our economy. Improving pay could reduce the gender pay gap and result in a more balanced workforce. Care services are increasingly provided by private companies or the third sector, and demand for their services will continue to grow.

But we heard that the care sector’s status as undervalued and underpaid is holding it back, and its future could be in jeopardy. Scottish Care, representing the largest group of independent sector health and social care providers across Scotland, told us: “On average, staff are over the age of 45, with a significant group who are over the age of 50. Unless we begin to recruit a much more diverse workforce ... we will not be around in 10 or 15 years’ time.”

The UK needs 700,000 additional social care workers by 2037. The Scottish figure is roughly 80,000. Without a wider recruitment base, Scottish Care does not know where these new professional carers will come from.

What could help turn this around? We visited Men in Childcare, a Scottish Government and Edinburgh Council funded initiative, aimed at encouraging men into childcare. We were told men are interested in working in the sector but they tend to turn to childcare at a later stage in life. By then, financial responsibilities and the prospect of taking time out of the workforce to retrain means many drop out.

Men in Childcare thought financial support for men while retraining, or the option of qualifying on the job, would greatly increase the number of men in the sector.

Change is required to see the care sector and our nation’s economy grow hand-in-hand. For significant positive change, there has to be ambitious thinking by the Scottish Government.

To make grow a more sustainable, innovative and diverse care sector that can help sustain Scotland’s economy, our report calls on the Scottish Government to include care in the ranks of its priority sectors, up there with food and drink, financial and business services, life sciences, energy, tourism and creative industries.

By addressing the twin effects of low pay and financial assistance for retraining, not only can we narrow the gender pay gap; we can also balance the workforce, both positive steps.

Helping our care sector achieve its potential will take ambition, innovation and, for some of us, a shift in our cultural thinking. But it is within the Scottish Government’s power to help make this happen. The benefits for our economy and society could be significant