The Impact of Austerity on Women in the Labour Market in the UK With reference to Equality

Page | 20 International Journal of Business and Applied Social Science Vol.2, No.6, June, 2016 The Impact of Austerity on Women in the Labour Market in the UK With reference to Equality Chrissie Oldfield London South Bank University Mail: oldfiec@lsbu.ac.uk UK This paper argues that women in the UK have been disproportionately affected by recent austerity measures and cuts to public service budgets, and looks at the growing inequality in respect of gender. The paper looks at the importance of women’s work and looks at where women work (2) and the importance of equality recognition. It considers the continuing and growing inequality in women’s position in the labour market and in society as a whole despite 40 plus years of equality and anti discrimination legislation in the UK. It looks at women’s greater reliance on public services and argues that taken as a whole the impact of austerity measures and cuts to the public sector budgets, resulting in unprecedented job losses has had a greater impact on women within the context of the austerity climate in the UK public sector.