- Conference
- 2026 National Women's Conference
- Date
- 15 October 2025
- Decision
- Carried
When budgets are slashed, it’s women who bleed. We are the nurses, teachers, cleaners, carers and police staff who hold up our workplaces with our families. Yet when austerity comes, we are told to “tighten our belts”. We are already working double shifts, carrying the unpaid care of society on our backs and still fighting for equal pay. WE HAVE NO MORE TO GIVE.
We are here today because women workers are under attack. Cuts to our jobs, our pay, our childcare, our services – these cuts are cuts to our very lives. And let’s say it loud “we will not be silent, and we will not be sacrificed!”.
Austerity and budget cuts have disproportionately impacted female workers, leading to job losses, pay freezes, pension erosion, and increased workloads.
These cuts have intensified emotional labour, worsened mental health, and forced many women to take on unpaid caregiving roles due to the withdrawal of vital services.
Single mothers, older women, and Black, LGBT+ and disabled women face compounded disadvantages, with some losing up to 18.5% of their net income due to benefit changes. The Women’s Budget Group has conducted extensive research on the cumulative impact of austerity and welfare reforms, showing that Black and disabled women are among the hardest hit. A 2025 briefing by the Women’s Budget Group and Sisters of Frida highlights that disabled women are disproportionately affected by changes to Personal Independence Payment and Universal Credit.
The erosion of flexible working, childcare provision, and community services has further undermined gender equality in the workplace.
These cuts are not just bad policy. They are an act of injustice. They deepen inequality. They push women into poverty. They force us into impossible choices – food or rent, medicine or heating, our children’s needs or our own.
These cuts are not just economic—they are a form of structural violence against women.
Female workers are bleeding under the weight of austerity: emotionally, financially, and physically.
UNISON must stand unapologetically with women in the public sector and challenge policies that deepen inequality and harm wellbeing.
As of mid-2025, according to the office of national statistics, women make up nearly 65% of the UK public sector workforce, with approximately 5.2 million women employed compared to 2.9 million men. In the NHS alone, women account for over 75% of staff, many in frontline roles such as nursing, midwifery, and care work. Despite their dominance in these essential services, women continue to face a gender pay gap within the Civil Service, and are disproportionately affected by job cuts, pay freezes, and pension erosion. These figures underscore the urgent need to protect female workers from policies that deepen inequality and undermine the public sector’s capacity to serve.
Conference urges UNISON to take immediate and decisive action to protect female workers from the devastating impacts of austerity and budget cuts to affirm that an injury to one, is an injury to all – and that defending women workers strengthens the fight for justice for every women worker. We must stand together to demand fair treatment, equitable pay, and the restoration of vital services that support women’s employment and wellbeing.
Conference calls on the National Womens Committee to;
•Launch a national campaign under the banner “She Works, She Bleeds” to raise awareness of the gendered impact of public sector cuts.
•Produce branch guidance on lobbying employers to make gender impact assessments mandatory.
•Work with Labour Link to lobby for the restoration of funding to female-dominated sectors and services that support women’s employment and wellbeing.
•Produce branch guidance for branches on supporting employers to deliver improved mental health support, flexible working arrangements, and fair pensions for female workers.
•Work with our women’s networks, equality reps, and branches to amplify the voices of affected members and build cross-sector solidarity.
