WUNRN
Women's Resource Center - UK
UK - CUTS IN AUSTERITY PUBLIC
SPENDING & IMPACTS ON WOMEN
Introduction
Since the 2010 General Election, the Coalition
government has introduced an unprecedented austerity package of cuts to public
spending in order to tackle a national deficit of over £120bn. Within a context
of global and acute European financial crisis, many people in the
However, it is women who are at the sharp end of the
effects of austerity: as the statistics in this briefing demonstrate, it is
women who are increasingly unemployed or taking underpaid work; women who are
losing money for childcare and other basic needs through welfare cuts; and
women who are losing vital support from voluntary and community organisations
which have closed due to lack of funding. With 88% of the cuts still to be
implemented[i][i], it is clear that we are only experiencing the
beginning of the impact of the cuts.
Many of the reforms that have been announced are yet
to become legislation and will be phased in over the next two or three years.
There are a number of key issues that will affect women’s equality which will
be introduced this year:
[i][i] Institute for Fiscal Studies (2012), The IFS Green Budget http://www.ifs.org.uk/budgets/gb2012/12chap3.pdf