More than three-quarters of mothers are in work according to official figures, a record high for the UK.

Rising steadily from 2009, the proportion of working mothers with dependent children jumped to 75.1% in June. It compared with 74.2% last year, the Office for National Statistics said.

Fathers with dependent children were still more prevalent in the workplace despite a small decline in the proportion with a job to 92.6%.

Encouraging more women into the workplace has been a goal of governments since the 1970s, with Britain, France and the Nordic countries recognised for providing the most comprehensive family-friendly policies over the last 20 years.

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The ONS said that, in addition to childcare subsidies, statutory maternity leave and pay for mothers, shared parental leave came into effect in 2015 giving couples the option of splitting 50 weeks of leave entitlement and 37 weeks of pay, though take-up is thought to be a low as 2%.

Employers were also credited with adopting flexible working arrangements, with about six in 10 (62.0%) parents saying that it was possible to vary their working day to look after children.

However, women’s groups questioned how much they benefited from taking on extra responsibilities when the pay they received remained lower than men and they were much more likely to take part-time roles with limited prospects for promotion.

The ONS said almost three in 10 mothers (28.5%) with a child aged 14 years and under said they had reduced their working hours to accommodate or limit the expense of childcare compared with just one in 20 fathers (4.8%).

Criticising a work culture that she said continued to sideline many women in low-paid, insecure work, chief executive of the Young Women’s Trust, Sophie Walker, said employers and benefit rules “punished family-friendly working” for millions of households. “For women to increase their hours is often impossible when childcare is so expensive that it costs more than the pay they receive.”

She said benefit rules that meant young parents received less money via universal credit than those aged 25 or older should be reviewed, and childcare payments should be paid directly to providers, avoiding costly deposit payments.

Sam Smethers, chief executive of the women’s campaign group the Fawcett Society, said it was welcome that there were more women in work, “but we need to ask what kind of work and whether they are in good jobs”.

She said: “We need to recognise that the pay women receive, the hours they work and the job security they enjoy is much worse than it is for men. There is too much segregation in the workplace. There is occupational segregation that means women are pushed into low-status jobs and there is segregation in the workplace, which prevents women from improving their position and getting promoted.”

A government equalities office spokeswoman said: “It’s great to see more women returning to work after having a child. The careers of talented women should not be held back because they take time out of their jobs to care for a loved one.

“That’s why we are investing in returners to work – giving them the opportunity to refresh and grow their skills. By acting on this issue we can grow the economy and achieve true equality in our workplaces.”

Walker said: “The government keeps saying there is a skills gap and yet it still overlooks a huge slice of the workforce, which is trapped in unpaid and low paid work for family and caring reasons and is not making full use of its skills.”