Heavy cost of women's unemployment

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At the Wood Green Job Centre in Haringey, one out of three women interviewed there between April and July 1980 was not registered as unemployed. This figure rose to 3 out of 4 in a survey of local parents.

A great deal of social provision (not to mention Janetand-John style reading books!) is based on an "average' family of Mum, Dad and two kids, with Dad out at work and Mum at home all day. A Child Poverty Action Group study recently found that only 5% of wage-earners headed households which fell into this 'average' category. This ties in interestingly with the finding that in Haringey 32% of women were the sole earners in their families or households, and the corresponding figure in Lewisham was 31%.

Serious

Clearly, unemployment is affecting women and their families drastically. So why is the problem still so often seen as less serious than male unemployment?

For a start, unemployment is no new experience for women. Because of the assumption that a woman's primary duties are domestic, employers have always regarded women as a pool of reserve labour to be called upon when necessary and chivvied back to their kitchens when they are no longer needed. It's assumed that women are forever popping in and out of jobs, and continually having periods out of work, for one reason or another. So, even in times when unemployment generally is low, women themşelves have much lower expectatiors.

Desires But expectations should not be confused with desires. The Haringey/Lewisham survey found that, whereas most women did not really expect to be in a decent, well-paid job for most of their lives, this did not mean that they did not want to be.

Employers know that whereas women need their jobs, they still have to fit them round domestic commitments, and hence are overwhelmingly more likely to accept part-time, casual or home work. All these categories are notoriously open to exploitation. Once woman has lost even " the pathetic job she did have, she will be much more likely to take a job on any terms.

•A perfect example of this was cited by a Lewisham woman. At one time she had a waitressing job with a local engineering firm, but was made redundant. Two months later, the catering manager asked her back, but on a casual basis. She needed the money, she needed to work short hours, close to home, because of a child at school, so she accepted.

Men, of course, are also exposed to these dangers in LABOUR LEFT Leeds Labour Left meeting, Sunday January 10, 7.30, at Leeds Trades Council club.

Inaugural meeting of Rochdale Broad Left. Speakers:

Bob Litherland MP, Jim Allen (author, 'United Kingdom'). Wednesday January 13, 7.30pm, at the Castle Inn, Manchester Road, Rochdale. non-unionised firms, OI Where organisation is weak. But as men are being forced to take less stable, less skilled jobs, so there is a 'shift downwards'. Women's jobs have often been seen as the boring, repetitive undemanding ones. As the men are being forced into these, so women are being pushed yet further down the scale.

Far from women taking men's jobs, it could almost be argued that it is the other way round!

Women, too, come off badly in terms of training. In Haringey, the same numbers of women as men had received some post-school training. But this rather comforting statistic hides the fact that for one-third of the women their only training nest to Easie. This Kind int 'Sitting training is often of very short duration, and specific to a particular firm. It is not of much use once a woman leaves her job. Only 18% of the men received on the job training. Conversely, more than 4 times as many men as women had apprenticeships, leading to a recognized qualification in an industry-wide skill.

Heap

And right at the bottom of the heap, of course, come black women. The survey demonstrates quite clearly that, whereas black women, on average, left school with more qualifications, and had MEETINGS FORUMS LAMBETH: Sundays at 7pm. For venue phone 609 3071.

Jan.31: Stalinism.

Feb.28: The origins LEICESTER: 7.30 Sundays at the Socialist Centre.

Jan.10: Sylvia McNamara:

Women and the Third