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Women and welfare sanctions in the UK

by Oxfam | Oxfam GB - UK
Monday, 22 November 2010 14:42 GMT

* Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Women will be negatively affected by the UK Universal Credit system suggested last week. Ruth Barnes explores how. Iain Duncan Smith. Photo: Steve Punter www.flickr.com/people/spunterThe UK Government white paper "Universal credit: welfare that works" was widely criticised by anti-poverty organisations last week. Under the new proposals, people who refuse to accept work that the Job Centre deems "reasonable" will be made to carry out US-style unpaid work placements. Work placements will last four weeks and include tasks such as picking up litter. People who refuse to work or accept jobs may lose their benefits for a maximum of three years. Oxfam's Kate Wareing voiced concern over reducing people's benefits leading to hardship and destitution. The sanctions are treating unemployed people like criminals for using a service we all rely on. And these ideas are being promoted at a time when it is very difficult to find work. I'm particularly interested in the effect the changes will have on women, as women are more likely to claim benefits. This is due to women having lower incomes, and greater caring responsibilities. They're caught in the net of conditionality and struggle to balance the greater pressure to get jobs at any price, with the fact that paying for care, so they can go out to work, is frankly unaffordable. What are the facts here? The gender pay gap is pervasive, as women are shockingly paid an average of 16% less per hour than men, and that rises to 21% less for apprentices. Women are also more likely to carry out unpaid (and undervalued) caring work. Because of women's lower incomes and greater contribution to caring responsibilities, a larger share of their income is made up of benefits and tax credits ? one fifth for women, one tenth for men. So women are going to be much more affected by the welfare changes, and by conditionality, than men. Oxfam have called for the UK Government to make sure benefit reform is sensitive to the differing needs of women and men. Introducing conditionality to benefits is a controversial move which is likely to have a negative impact on women. Douglas Alexander, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, has highlighted that the sanctions will hit parents as "women in particular are often trying to balance work that pays, with caring responsibilities." It will be difficult for women with caring responsibilities to meet conditions such as increasing their hours or doing unpaid community work. They simply won't have the spare time. As illustrated by Joseph Rowntree's report on low pay, mothers found it difficult to find work to accommodate their childcare demands. Women often had to chose between family caring duties and wider employment. The white paper fails to outline how conditionality and childcare will intersect and whether any childcare support will be provided to people carrying out unpaid work. It is imperative this is addressed ? or women will be stigmatised, when really they simply cannot, rather than will not, work. In America work requirements (or workfare) have been used to encourage people off benefits. The Department of Work and Pensions wrote a report in 2008 comparing workfare programmes in the US, Canada and Australia. Universal credit is by no means identical to US workfare, but the principle of making people do unpaid work to receive benefits is the same. Interestingly, the report states that workfare is less likely to work for people facing barriers to work such as the cost of childcare, or emotional and physical problems. People facing these barriers were least likely to meet obligations to take part in paid work and in the most extreme cases they were left with no income. The proposals also create an unnecessary climate of fear. Women usually manage the household budget.  They are going to be sanctioned when they have no power to avoid it. The threat of having benefits removed will cause a mother with a carefully managed family budget a great deal of stress and anxiety. What's more, sanctions such as the removal of benefits will affect the whole family. As Sally Copley from Save the Children has said, "it is children who will suffer when a single mum is told to take a job but there is not suitable childcare available." Is that what the UK Government wants by stigmatising women in their failure to acknowledge and address particular gender needs? Welfare sanctions will put some of the most vulnerable women and children in society under great stress and at risk of destitution. This is unacceptable. Where we work: United Kingdom More from the Oxfam Press Office at http://www.oxfam.org.uk/news
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