With the number of women out of work across the UK hitting a 23-year high of 1.09 million, protesters marched against cuts to women's employment yesterday. The 'Don’t Turn Back Time' on women’s equality marches saw women, and men, dressed in 1950s clothes, march in London, Brighton, Manchester, Stratford and Coventry.
Anna Bird, acting chief executive of the Fawcett Society, told Sky News that the Government's approach to reducing the deficit was "pushing women out of the workplace".
"At the same time, women are bearing the brunt of cuts to benefits - £11bn of the £18bn cut through changes to tax and benefits each year is coming from women's pockets," she said.
"Decades of steady, albeit slow, progress on equality for women is being dismantled, as cuts to women's jobs and the benefits and services they rely on turn back time on women's equality."
A report by the society found that two thirds of local government jobs cut belonged to women. The report measured employment in that sector from the first quarter of 2010 and the second quarter of 2011.
The national unemployment rate currently sits at 8.3%, or 2.62 million, according to the Office For National Statistics. The unemployment rate is the highest since 1996 and the number of total unemployed people is the highest since 1994.
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Source: Huff
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