The Conservatives have failed working people – especially women
3 min read
This year, women effectively worked for free for the first two months of the year because of the gender pay gap.
At current rates of progress, it will take 20 years – until 2044 – to close that pay gap, consigning yet another generation of working women to pay inequality. That’s just one example of how women have been at the sharp end of years of Tory failure.
Time and time again, working women have been badly let down by this toxic Conservative government.
There is a mountain of evidence. Take zero-hours contracts, which ministers have allowed to explode on their watch. Women are markedly more likely to be on these precarious contracts than men. And Black and ethnic minority women – who have been hit particularly hard by Tory incompetence – are now nearly three times as likely to be on zero-hours contracts as white men.
Then there are key protections at work, like statutory sick pay, which women are twice as likely as men to miss out on. And when it comes to being pushed out of the labour market because of caring commitments, it’s women once again who bear the brunt.
They are seven times more likely than men to be out of the jobs market because they have given up or cut down paid work because they can’t find or afford the right care for their children or older or disabled relatives. And this rises to 12 times more likely if they are from an ethnic minority.
Every day we hear stories about sexual harassment in our workplaces. Many women in front-line jobs – like shop workers and GP’s receptionists – suffer regular abuse and harassment from patients and customers.
Last year, ministers promised to bring in a new law to put the onus on employers keep their staff safe from this type of abuse. But instead, they buckled to Tory backbenchers, massively watered down the legislation and let down working women across the country – again.
I could go on and on. The long and short of this is: the Conservatives have failed working people – especially women.
To make matters worse, the Conservatives are bringing in new laws which set working women back even further, like their new anti-strike laws. These curbs disproportionately take away women’s right to strike. It’s little wonder that women’s organisations have been queueing up to call out this spiteful legislation.
Everyone knows workers’ rights and women’s rights go hand in hand. Dragging our labour laws into the 21st century is vital if we want to achieve equality for women at work.
Labour’s New Deal for Working People stands in stark contrast to the Conservatives’ dire record on workers’ and women’s rights. The New Deal would be a genuine gamechanger for working women. It would ban zero-hours contracts and close the gender, ethnicity and disability pay gap. It would introduce a day one right to flexible working – not just a right to ask nicely for it. And it would introduce fair pay agreements to boost pay and conditions in social care, which we know is a predominantly female workforce.
It’s no surprise that polling has shown these policies to be hugely popular.
Winning the votes of working women will be key for both parties at the general election – whenever that comes.
Labour has clearly set out their vote-winning offer for women. As we mark this International Women’s Day, it’s high time others matched it too.
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress
PoliticsHome Newsletters
Get the inside track on what MPs and Peers are talking about. Sign up to The House's morning email for the latest insight and reaction from Parliamentarians, policy-makers and organisations.
