Women in the North of England live shorter lives, work more hours for less pay, are more likely to be an unpaid carer, and more likely to live in poverty than women in other regions of England.

Decision makers including local and combined authorities directly or indirectly provide a wide range of services that have a major impact on the everyday lives of women and girls, including:

• education (e.g. special educational needs provision, youth services);

• children’s services (e.g. child protection, youth justice);

• adult social care (e.g. services for older people, people with disabilities or mental health needs, asylum seekers);

• services for victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence (e.g. funding refuges and other support);

• public health (e.g. preventing ill-health, planning health services); licensing (e.g. taxis, public entertainment);

• transport and highways (e.g. street lighting, public transport co-ordination);

• housing and homelessness;

• managing leisure facilities (e.g. parks, playgrounds and sports centres);

• economic and community development (e.g. skills training to get people back to work);

• providing advice and support (e.g. hardship payments, council tax benefit etc).

Decision makers often assume women and men have the same needs and use public services in the same way however evidence consistently shows this is not the case.