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Look at women’s work – and their pay

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women and work, pay issues, low pay, hours, TUCWomen are still not paid equally for their labour.

This week saw the highest recorded figures of women in work since records began in 1971, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The figures say that 67.2 per cent of women are now in work – approximately 14 million women.

This represents the smallest gap between employment rates for men and women since the start of the recording period.

So what is this women’s work?

The style of women’s work has always been significantly different from that of men, women often due to caring responsibilities are found in jobs at the lower paid end of the spectrum, with part-time hours, less in terms of pension rights and less security.

A report published by the TUC back in September 2012 expanded on these well-known truths by stating that the recession impacted on the way that women were working and how content women were with their working life.

The report found that women accounted for more than a third of those in self-employment and over half of the increase in self-employment since the recession.

The number of women who work part-time but would prefer a full-time job was on the rise, and the numbers who didn’t want a full-time job falling.

Women make up the majority of underemployed workers – and the number of underemployed women workers has risen by 40 per cent since the start of the recession.

Women are still not paid equally for their labour.

In August the TUC raised the issue of women workers again, pointing out that the majority of women who work part-time hours actually earn less than the living wage. They pointed to 50 local authority areas where the majority of working women were earning less than the living wage by a pay gap of 34.2 per cent.

And it’s not just the public sector. The issue of women’s pay is notorious.

A poll commissioned by a third sector recruitment agency found that on average women fundraisers were paid 12 per cent less than their male counterparts.

Estimates from the NCVO that women make up 73 per cent of the fundraising workforce.

And then Asda hit the headlines – again – recently with an equal pay claim.

Lawyers are currently arguing that although men and women work in different areas of the store their roles were similar enough that they should be paid at the same rate.

The law firm representing the women is question said that in the private sector equality for women was still in the 1970s and more claims needed to be made.

Frances O’Grady, talking at TUC Women’s Conference in March 2014, also had no illusions.

“With a record number of women now in work, we’re absolutely right to talk about what kind of jobs women are doing,” she said.

“Research we [at the TUC] are publishing today shows that the best-paid occupations are dominated by men – and often no-go zones for part-time workers – underlining the devastating occupational segregation that continues to scar our labour market.

“The upshot is we are simply not being fairly rewarded for the work we do.

“Almost a third of us are in low-paid work, nearly double the proportion of men.

“Four in ten part-time women earn less than the living wage.

“And the gender pay gap costs full-time women over £5,000 a year.”

So although we are ‘working’ in record numbers we are still doing it for less.

And according to the TUC and the private sector law firms we should be shouting about it.

Lets hope Made in Dagenham provides the inspiration we all need.

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