Fifteen Women, families and the ‘Great Recession’ in the UK
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Susan Harkness
Abstract
In the final chapter, the focus returns to the UK and the gender impact of the current recession. All the preceding chapters have drawn attention to gender divisions in both unemployment and employment disadvantage, and, in this chapter, using a range of national data sets, Susan Harkness examines the differential gender impact of the recession in the UK in detail. In the context of three decades of change in women’s employment patterns, the chapter highlights characteristics of the current recession that have significant policy implications. In general, women’s employment has not been affected to the same extent at that of men – the so called ‘silver lining’ of gendered occupational segregation. However, the interpretation of greater numbers of women in low-paid, part-time, low-quality jobs as a good welfare outcome is dubious, especially given the changing importance of women’s incomes within couple households.
Abstract
In the final chapter, the focus returns to the UK and the gender impact of the current recession. All the preceding chapters have drawn attention to gender divisions in both unemployment and employment disadvantage, and, in this chapter, using a range of national data sets, Susan Harkness examines the differential gender impact of the recession in the UK in detail. In the context of three decades of change in women’s employment patterns, the chapter highlights characteristics of the current recession that have significant policy implications. In general, women’s employment has not been affected to the same extent at that of men – the so called ‘silver lining’ of gendered occupational segregation. However, the interpretation of greater numbers of women in low-paid, part-time, low-quality jobs as a good welfare outcome is dubious, especially given the changing importance of women’s incomes within couple households.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Notes on contributors v
- Introduction xi
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Contemporary debates and developments in the UK
- Introducing Universal Credit 3
- Reconciling fuel poverty and climate change policy under the Coalition government: Green Deal or no deal? 23
- Doctors in the driving seat? Reforms in NHS primary care and commissioning 47
- Financing later life: pensions, care, housing equity and the new politics of old age 67
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Contributions from the Social Policy Association/East Asian Social Policy Research Network Conference of 2012
- It’s time to move on from ‘race’? The official ‘invisibilisation’ of minority ethnic disadvantage 93
- Corporations as political actors: new perspectives for health policy research 113
- Square pegs and round holes: extending existing typologies fails to capture the complexities of Chinese social policy 129
- The Earned Income Tax Credit as an anti-poverty programme: palliative or cure? 149
- Social policy and culture: the cases of Japan and South Korea 167
- Load-shedding and reloading: changes in government responsibility – the case of Israeli immigration and integration policy 2004–10 183
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Themed section: work, employment and insecurity
- ‘What unemployment means’ three decades and two recessions later 207
- Precarious employment and EU employment regulation 227
- How do activation policies affect social citizenship? The issue of autonomy 249
- Modernising social security for lone parents: avoiding fertility and unemployment traps when reforming social policy in Northern Europe 271
- Women, families and the ‘Great Recession’ in the UK 293
- Index 315
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Notes on contributors v
- Introduction xi
-
Contemporary debates and developments in the UK
- Introducing Universal Credit 3
- Reconciling fuel poverty and climate change policy under the Coalition government: Green Deal or no deal? 23
- Doctors in the driving seat? Reforms in NHS primary care and commissioning 47
- Financing later life: pensions, care, housing equity and the new politics of old age 67
-
Contributions from the Social Policy Association/East Asian Social Policy Research Network Conference of 2012
- It’s time to move on from ‘race’? The official ‘invisibilisation’ of minority ethnic disadvantage 93
- Corporations as political actors: new perspectives for health policy research 113
- Square pegs and round holes: extending existing typologies fails to capture the complexities of Chinese social policy 129
- The Earned Income Tax Credit as an anti-poverty programme: palliative or cure? 149
- Social policy and culture: the cases of Japan and South Korea 167
- Load-shedding and reloading: changes in government responsibility – the case of Israeli immigration and integration policy 2004–10 183
-
Themed section: work, employment and insecurity
- ‘What unemployment means’ three decades and two recessions later 207
- Precarious employment and EU employment regulation 227
- How do activation policies affect social citizenship? The issue of autonomy 249
- Modernising social security for lone parents: avoiding fertility and unemployment traps when reforming social policy in Northern Europe 271
- Women, families and the ‘Great Recession’ in the UK 293
- Index 315
