Child Maintenance charges mean single mothers lose out (again)
It’s not the first time – and sadly it is unlikely to be the last – that contributors to this website have commented on government budgets, cuts, plans and initiatives which seem to mete out...
View ArticleA good week for employment – as long as no one mentions women
This week’s unemployment figures came as a welcome surprise to many people as Richard Exell points out in his Left Foot Forward blog. As Richard explains, the rise in employment and the drop in...
View ArticleA mixed picture for women’s employment
Today’s labour market statistics present a mixed picture of women’s unemployment. On the one hand the news is good. The number of unemployed women (ILO measure) fell by 5,000 on the quarter to just...
View ArticleMore broken promises – women and the State Pension Age
Earlier this year Sarah Veale, Head of Equality and Employment Rights at the TUC, blogged on this site about the impact of changes to the State Pension Age on women. Since then campaigns by Rachel...
View ArticleThe Justice Secretary’s views on “serious rape”
I want to say a few words about Ken Clarke’s views on rape and rape law but I’m struggling to know where to begin. So what did he say that was wrong? In case you missed the furore today, I’ll briefly...
View ArticleState Pension Age – The next Coalition U-turn?
Sarah Veale and I have blogged here previously on how government proposals to speed up the equalisation of the State Pension Age will affect hundreds of thousands of women approaching retirement. In...
View ArticleViolence Against Women services are “not a luxury”
Trawling through the 2,200 charities and voluntary organisations facing Local Authority funding cuts listed on the False Economy website and widely reported in the press today, makes for extremely...
View ArticleWomen’s unemployment at 23 year high
Contrary to city economists’ optimistic predictions that today’s labour market figures would show a drop in unemployment, it seems that unemployment is stubbornly refusing to fall. Women’s unemployment...
View ArticleWhere did all the women go?
If today’s labour market statistics are anything to go by, the answer is the dole queue. The number of unemployed women and women claiming Job Seeker’s Allowance continues to rise to the highest levels...
View ArticleWhat women want
Leaked government documents this week exposed the coalition’s fear that they are losing the support of women voters. They’re right to be concerned. Gavin Kelly’s excellent analysis in the New Statesman...
View ArticleWomen’s unemployment continues to rise
Another month, another horrendous set of labour market statistics. While men’s unemployment has risen more sharply than women’s this month, it’s still worth taking a quick look at what’s happening to...
View ArticleThe Equality Deficit
Tomorrow (Wednesday 16th November) the TUC will be holding a one day conference called The Equality Deficit. The conference, which is free and open to all, provides an opportunity for trade unionists,...
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CAHVIO: UK shouldn’t be missing from key convention on violence against women
25 Nov: UN Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women Today, 25th November, is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and it seems a fitting moment to ask the...
View ArticleA happy International Women’s Day surprise: Government commits to signing...
I got a nice International Women’s Day surprise when I woke this morning to the news that Nick Clegg had announced in a speech in the Hague last night that: “On the eve of International Women’s Day,...
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Women, part-time work, and underemployment
While the unemployment figures make the headlines with depressing regularity, what is less well reported is the level of underemployment. TUC analysis out today shows that the number of people who are...
View ArticleBetter late than never – UK Government signs Council of Europe convention on...
Following my previous blogs on the UK Government’s failure to sign the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention (previously the CAHVIO Convention) on violence against women, I’m pleased to report that the...
View ArticleThe Childcare Conundrum
Today the Minister for Education and Childcare, Elizabeth Truss, will set out the government’s plans to reform the childcare system. While Truss is right to identify the problems with the UK childcare...
View ArticleWhen cuts cost lives: women’s economic independence and domestic violence
It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about violence against women and a trip to the Women’s Aid AGM last week reminded me that a blog is long overdue. Yesterday, a UK government delegation was in...
View ArticleEqual Pay Day – We know there’s a problem, let’s start talking about the...
Once again Equal Pay Day is upon us and once again, there is little in the way of good news. The gender pay gap stands at 15%, unchanged on the year before. We know the reasons for the persistent gap...
View ArticleCommitting to eliminating violence against women – Time to match words with...
Nearly two years ago, the TUC welcomed the news that the Government had finally signed up to the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention (previously known as CAHVIO). Signing up to the Convention was an...
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