U.K. Women hardest hit by govt. job cuts

Over two-thirds of the employees in local government and schools who have lost their jobs since the general election in 2010 are women, warns the GMB union. A new study by the public services union on the latest official figures for employment in councils between the first quarter of 2010 and the third quarter of 2011, showed that there are 36 councils in England and Wales where the fall in the number of women jobs accounts for 100%. The report also said that of the 210,470 total jobs lost in local government since 2010, 68.2% were among women, including 75% in the southeast, 72.7% in the east of England, 69.8% in the southwest, 60.7% in London, and 57.3% in the East Midlands. "Women suffering like this is a direct result of the government cuts in public spending. This was entirely predictable because the public sector employs more women than men," said GMB's national officer for equalities Kamaljeet Jandu. “The drop in the number of women employed in the public sector means a serious loss of income from employment to women. Many households depend on having income from two wage earners to pay the mortgage and the household bills.”