Public sector job cuts hit women first

With four in 10 working women in public sector jobs, redundancies will make a work-life balance even harder to attain

... So far men have been bigger losers in the recession job-loss stakes. This is not because women's jobs are inherently more secure – indeed the chances of losing your job are about the same for men and women in hard-hit sectors such as retail, manufacturing or finance. But because those sectors that have suffered the most redundancies employ more men than women, the net result has been more male job losses.

But the public sector is different. Big spending cuts and job losses here will hit women, as they are twice as likely as men to work in the public sector. Indeed four in 10 women work in public-sector occupations. This has been particularly important in areas hit hard by private-sector unemployment such as the North East, Yorkshire and Humber and the West Midlands. In these regions male unemployment is more than 10%, and many families will now depend on a public-sector woman's wage. If public-sector jobs are axed, many families could find themselves without anyone in work.

Women often work in the public sector because it offers relatively secure work, flexible working patterns and a chance to build up a decent income in retirement. The gender pay gap is smaller and the public sector offers more opportunities to combine a proper career with caring responsibilities. Spending cuts would inevitably threaten this – and thus set back the cause of gender equality.

Women's pensions would be hit particularly hard. Those public-sector pensions of tabloid fury go largely to women. Two thirds of current public-sector pensions are being built up by women. ...

Female employment hit by public sector cuts and childcare costs

Retail industry and public sector cuts affect women in the jobs markets, says IPPR, as it proposes universal childcare

Public sector job cuts and high childcare costs will push up female unemployment in coming months, a thinktank warns before the release of the latest round of UK jobs data.

Unemployment among women is already at its highest level for more than two decades, at 1.09 million, and with jobs going in the public sector and retail industry it is expected to rise further. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) wants to bring the jobless number down with universal childcare, something it argues would pay for itself.

The IPPR said there would be a net return to the government of £20,050 (over four years), in terms of tax revenue minus the cost of childcare for every woman who returns to full-time employment after one year of maternity leave

At the moment, the employment rate of women with children in the UK is lower than most OECD countries – ranking 19th, the IPPR says. ...