Friday 10th of December 2010
Women who are currently struggling to pay back their debts and are concerned about the prospect of being made redundant may decide to ask individual voluntary arrangement questions.
Piya Khanna, founder and executive coach and change consultant at Change to Succeed, noted 65 per cent of public sector employees are female.
Therefore, they are more at risk of being affected by the 500,000 job losses that may occur as a result of the government's comprehensive spending review.
"The proposed cuts in benefits and tax credits that specifically impact women including the health in pregnancy grant … will hit working mothers and families alike," she added.
Ms Khanna observed that females are also more likely than men to be affected by reductions to housing benefits, as 53 per cent of claimants from 2005-08 were of this sex, compared to 25 per cent of men - with the remaining figure made up of families.
According to the Trades Union Congress, women will be hit disproportionately by welfare and public sector cuts, which could set progress on closing the gender pay gap back by several years.
Rachel Powell
