in a study on equality that was commissioned by tony blair and released today, it was reported that women with young children are the most highly disadvantaged group in the english workplace.
according to the study's findings, women with children under the age of eleven are 45% less likely to be in work than a white man with similar background and characteristics, numbers that indicate higher rates of discrimination toward this group than any other group in the study incuding the disabled population and ethnic minorities.
the report tells the story more clearly than i can:
"The basic findings hardly need elaboration here. They are stark in their unfairness. A woman who works full-time earns only 83 pence for every pound that is earned by a man. Part-time women workers earn 32 per cent less per hour than women who work full-time and 41 per cent less per hour than men who work full-time. Women are crowded into mostly part-time jobs and in a narrow range of lower-paying occupations that do not make the best use of their skills. A woman’s ethnicity and qualification level also affect the size of the pay gap she faces, so that Pakistani and Bangladeshi women and low-skilled mothers are at very high risk of disadvantage. Our new research reveals clearly that there is one factor that above all leads to women’s inequality in the labour market – becoming mothers. ...In contrast, men’s employment rates are not affected by fatherhood."