Revealed: Austerity Has the Greatest Effect on Women and BME Households, According to UN

Public sector cuts and the slashing of benefits in the wake of the 2008 global financial crash have had a disproportionate effect on women and BME (black and minority ethnic) households in Great Britain, according to a new report by the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR).

The effects of austerity on women detailed in the report are described as a ‘triple whammy’ by the Women’s Budget Group. These effects include women using more public services and being more likely to be in receipt on benefits, women making up the majority of the public sector workforce which has seen large scale cuts and women being more likely to miss out on earnings due to caring for a relative.

The report further states that BME households experience “persistent structural inequalities in education, employment, health and housing meaning that they have also been disproportionately affected by cuts” and that BME women experience an intersection of both gender and racial inequalities “making these women particularly vulnerable to cuts to benefits, tax credits and public services.”

According to the charity Gingerbread, single parenthood is one of most aggravating factors in child poverty with 47% of children in single parent families living in poverty. 92% of single parents are women which again demonstrates a disproportionate effect on women, especially when factoring in policies such as Universal Credit.

Wages for women in the UK are also lower than for men with a Global Policy Institute austerity report showing that women earn 81 pence for every pound men earn. This is coupled with the total percentage of women in poverty (20%) versus the percentage of men (18%).

All of this data is indicative of austerity policies, such as those pursued by the UK Conservative Party, affecting women more negatively than men. When the data pertaining to BME households is factored in, it becomes more apparent that demographics less represented in parliament are more likely to be the victims of austerity. For example, 32% of current Members of Parliament are women and just 8% come from an ethnic minority background. In total there are just 26 BME women in the UK parliament meaning that an MP is around ten times more likely to have been privately educated than be a BME woman. Considering that just 7% of the general population are privately educated, this is substantively unrepresentative.

 

There are initiatives in place aimed at getting more BME women into politics such as the Women’s Votes Centenary Grant Scheme, which is awarding funding of over £400,000 this year into increasing diversity in UK politics, to mark the 100th anniversary of the Representation of the People Act 1918 which afforded some women the vote.