Jun 15, 2015 - economy and AMs debating women's economic participation. .... work; the continued gender spilt in career
The Other Half A regular update of all things women-related Issue 33 Monday 15th June 2015
Dear reader, Welcome to the thirty third issue of Chwarae Teg’s policy newsletter The Other Half. In this newsletter, you will find the latest news stories and highlights from Wales, the UK, Europe and beyond. This publication features the very latest news and events impacting women in Wales. In this issue you can read about new childcare plans for England and a new employment support scheme from Welsh Government as well as catch up on MPs debating the Queen’s Speech and economy and AMs debating women’s economic participation. We also have summaries of reports on Universal Credit and age and the workplace. Hope you enjoy,
If you have any questions or feedback, please contact our Policy Team on 029 2047 8900.
The Other Half 15/06/15
News in brief New £30m work programme to boost economy
Welsh Government Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty Lesley Griffiths has announced a new programme to help long-term unemployed adults into work. This is the first phase of the Communities for Work programme, which is backed by £18m of EU funds. The project will help people who may struggle to enter the labour market due to a lack of qualifications, childcare responsibilities or health problems, working with Jobcentre Plus specialist employment advisors. The second phase of the programme will focus on supporting 16-24 year olds who are not in education, employment or training and is expected to be rolled out this summer. You can read more about the scheme here.
David Cameron announced childcare plans for England
Prime Minister David Cameron has announced changes that will be made to childcare provision in England which will see the amount of free childcare provision doubled. Currently parents in England are entitled to 15 hours per week of free childcare. This will increase to 25 under UK Government plans, although it’s not clear how many hours parents will have to work in order to qualify. In Wales, parents are entitled to 10 hours per week of free childcare. While the announcement has been generally well received, childcare providers have expressed concern about a shortfall in government funding. You can read the story in full here.
Sir Tim Hunt apologies for comments on women in science
Nobel laureate Sir Tim Hunt has apologized following comments he made about the “trouble with girls in science”. Sir Tim, who was awarded the Nobel prize in 2001, reportedly told a conference in South Korea that women in labs “cry” when you criticize them and “fall in love” with their male counterparts. Since making the comments Sir Tim has apologized and said his remarks were meant as a light-hearted ironic comment. He said “I’m really sorry I caused offence..i just meant to be honest.” You can read this story in full here.
MEPs call for clearer targets in gender equality strategy
MEPs have backed a motion that calls for the EU’s new post-2015 gender equality strategy to have clearer targets, practical actions to make real headway against discrimination in the labour market, education and decision making. The areas highlighted for action include fighting new forms of violence against women, balancing work and family life, women in top positions, health and education and integrating gender perspective within and outside the EU. Read more here.
The Other Half 15/06/15
Political Monitoring Westminster: MPs debate the economy
On the 4th June MPs debated the Queen’s speech with a focus on the economy. The Opposition took the opportunity to criticize the Queen’s Speech stating that that it fails to provide a strategy to build the productive economy that the country needs; a fragile recovery harms living standards; every effort should now be focused on supporting middle and lower income working people; this is a missed opportunity to tackle the principal causes of rising welfare costs that flow from a low wage and urged the Government to pursue sensible savings in public expenditure as part of a balanced approach. During the course of the debate a variety of issues were raised including: the need for a living wage; the increase in the number of people working 2 jobs; the rise of low skilled employment; productivity rates of the British workforce; the impact of inequality on society and the economy; concern over further cuts to the welfare budget; the importance of the skills agenda in economic strength and deficit reduction. Concluding the debate, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith said that the Government will pursue what they set out to do: unemployment going down, workless households down, the deficit down. You can read the debate in full via Hansard.
National Assembly: AMs debate women and the economy
On the 10th June AMs debated women’s participation in the economy following a motion tabled by Plaid Cymru as part of opposition day. The debate follows the publication of a report compiled for Plaid Cymru by Chwarae Teg. The motion called on Welsh Government to take effective action to promote women’s full economic participation. A number of amendments were tabled focusing on issues including childcare, shared parental leave, the living wage and the need for quality, well-paid and flexible employment. During the course of the debate issues discussed include: the dominance of women in low paid, part time work; the continued gender spilt in career choices; the need for better support for women returning to work following maternity leave; the need to address continued perceptions that it’s women’s role to care; women’s absence from leadership positions in Wales; the lack of women in STEM and the economic cost of not fully utilizing women’s skills. In response to the debate Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty Lesley Griffiths said that Welsh Government remain committed to achieving women’s full economic participation and pointed to a number of policies and scheme working to do this including the Strategic Equality Plan; Girls Make a Difference event in North Wales and childcare provision through Flying Start and free school breakfast clubs. The minister stated that WG is aware there is more work to be done and will continue to work to remove the barriers women face and ensure Wales is country where women are equally represented at all levels. You can read the debate in full via the Record. The report prepared for Plaid Cymru is available here.
The Other Half 15/06/15
Reports Resolution Foundation: Making the most of UC
This is the final report of the Resolution Foundation review of Universal Credit and recommends that the policy focus in Universal Credit must shift from reducing worklessness to encouraging and supporting all members of a household into decent, sustainable work. The report also makes clear that improvements to enable UC to make work pay and smooth the transition into work must be made before wider roll out. The recommendations would aim to improve incentives and provide effective practical support to help people progress; make a better-integrated and simpler-to-navigate working age benefit system and rebalance incentives to enter work as in its current form UC offers weaker incentives to those that are most in need of support to start working - single parents, second earners with children and the disabled . You can read the full report here.
JRF: Understanding Age and the Labour Market
This report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) looks at the role that age and generation play in employment and how these factors have changed over time. While the report does not focus solely on gender the recommendations would have a significant impact on older women who are more likely than men to be in low paid sectors and can face additional barriers in accessing training. The recommendation is that policy interventions to address the issues age can cause in relation to employment should focus on those with low qualifications and improving the quality of flexible working and quality and relevance of training and qualifications. These interventions would enable the youngest and oldest in the labour market to escape from a cycle of lowstatus, temporary and low-skilled work. Read the report in full here.
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