Platform for action ? poverty

By The Women's National Commission

Britain participated in the United Nations’ Beijing women’s conference in 1995 and is, therefore, party to the global platform for action on issues relating to sexual equality.

Poverty

What the global Platform for Action says governments must do

Take steps to reduce women’s unemployment, and raise their income
Help homes which are headed by single mothers
Help women immigrants to find jobs
Make sure social security systems treat men and women equally
Give poorer women free or cheap legal aid
Help poorer women to get credit and loans
Research the value of the unpaid work women do, in caring and in the home, and include it in Government statistics

What our government is doing

Introduced a National Minimum Wage, which is expected to raise the pay of more than a million women
Set up a Social Exclusion Unit to tackle poverty
Helps women get back into work through the New Deal for Lone Parents and Partners of the Unemployed
Announced part-time workers (mainly women) are now entitled to equal pay

What women say still needs to be done

Enforce the law on the minimum wage, so that employers cannot exploit women
Change the social security system to let women earn a decent pension, maternity pay and other National Insurance benefits, even if their pay is very low or they take time out to bring up their family
Change the social security system – it assumes that men are still the breadwinners: but up to 70% of mothers now work
Help the poorest women – pensioners and mothers bringing up children alone
Loan companies should develop strategies that ensure part-time workers, who naturally earn less money, are no longer treated as less creditworthy