UK Poverty Post

Girls on top?

It is not the case that women’s jobs have not been hit by the recession, as Fraser Nelson of the Spectator’s article of 27 May suggests. Oxfam’s recent report an Invisible Crisis shows that the problem is an underreporting of female employment.

There are lots of reasons why female unemployment is underreported. Many women don’t register as unemployed; they just move out of the workplace, and ‘stay at home’. Others take on casual, badly-paid, work which does not show up in official statistics.

The problems with women’s employment certainly have not disappeared. The Gender pay gap still exists: women working part-time earn 40% less than men, and full-time, 17% less. The majority of women work part-time with less access to employment benefits. Many jobs still typically occupied by women in the caring, retail and service sectors remain low status and insecure.

The Invisible Crisis looked at the impact of recession in 10 European countries, and revealed some disturbing trends. More women are working in precarious conditions, for less money, and without social security. Pregnant workers are being illegally sacked. And women reported having less and poorer quality food to put on the table, a rise in household debt, and increasing domestic violence because of the financial pressure currently faced by families.

The fall in male employment is real and worrying, but we shouldn’t neglect the plight of British women for a moment. The poor quality, badly-paid nature of many women’s work, the difficulties faced by women in combining paid work and caring responsibilities, and now the additional impact on women of the economic crisis – must be urgently addressed by responsible employers and the new government.