- Conference
- 2009 National Women's Conference
- Date
- 23 October 2008
- Decision
- Carried
It is a tragedy that in the 21st century poverty remains a reality in Britain today. With a looming recession the situation is likely to get worse. UNISON’s Northern Region suffers with higher deprivation than any other part of the country outside London. This affects women’s life chances, health and well being, educational attainment and low quality of life.
Poverty is directly related to low wages, vulnerable working and inequality in the workplace all of which affect women. The Northern Regional TUC published a report in 2008 that detailed the real extent of poverty in the North East. This report highlighted some stark facts about who are suffering most and why:
1)Over thirty per cent children in the north east live in poverty
2)Over half of those in poverty are in working households
3)Over one in four workers in the north east are low paid compared to the UK average of one in five
4)Women bear the brunt of poverty pay
5)Women working part-time earn thirty eight per cent less than men working full-time, with women earning just sixty one per cent of male earnings in the north east as a whole
6)Over a quarter of low paid jobs are in the public sector.
The TUC has asserted that failure to tackle low pay endured by women workers
is one of the key challenges that needs addressing if the Government are to succeed in its commitment to reduce and eventually eradicate child poverty. As we enter a recession, pressure needs to be maintained on the Government to fulfil its pledge to end child poverty.
Working women are far more likely to be in low paid jobs than men. Thirty per cent of working women have an income of less than one hundred pounds per week, compared to fifteen per cent of low paid men. Persistent occupational segregation means that women are much more likely to be in poorly paid part-time jobs, with three quarters of part-time workers being female.
Women also continue to face discrimination because of their caring responsibility throughout their working lives with many employers failing to support a balance of career opportunities and caring responsibilities. This affects women’s earnings and pensions in retirement, continuing the poverty spiral. Recent Government announcements to review maternity and parental rights are concerning women and the hard fought for legal protection around the issue of work life balance must be retained.
This National Women’s Conference calls on the National Women’s Committee to:
a)encourage regional women’s groups to campaign locally to tackle the issue of women and poverty;
b)work with UNISON’s Labour Link to ensure that the Government delivers on its commitment to halve child poverty by 2010 and eradicating it completely by 2020;
c)with Labour Link campaign to protect existing legal rights on maternity, parental and carers rights;
d)continue to work with UNISON’s service groups to eradicate low pay in the public sector;
e)Campaign to highlight the extent of women’s low pay in the public sector and to tackle job segregation which sees many of our women members in low paid part-time jobs which affects women and poverty in retirement.