The Paula Principle

Month: November 2014

Silver lining: is now the opportunity to change the standing of part-time work?

We know that the 'miracle' of the UK labour market reflects trends that most of us are not happy with: people are working for lower wages and in greater insecurity.   On top of this, they are working fewer hours, so incomes are dropping, and people's uncertainty about their employment depresses their wellbeing. The table below, from Craig Holmes' contribution to a most interesting set of papers from the Policy Network,  shows that 'self-employment' has grown considerably faster for men than women, and we know that this often disguises un- or under-employment.  We also know that underemployment generally is growing, where women and men want to longer hours but can't…
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Why doesn’t women’s work figure in literature?

  We went to the Design Museum, mainly to see my daughter who works there, but also to look at the exhibition on Women, Fashion & Power.  This cigarette card caught my eye because of the title at the bottom (rather blurred, I'm afraid):  "VAD woman'.    How fashionable you think her uniform is, and what it says about her power, is not the question here.  I came across Voluntary Aid Detachments when I read Dorothy Whipple's novel High Wages.  It's one of the very few books I've come across which deals more than just fleetingly with women's paid work.  High Wages  was first published in 1930, and has now been smartly reprinted by…
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Working Women’s Charter

Exactly 40 years A Working Women's Charter was published.   You can see a good TedX talk on it by Pamela Cox.   On Saturday, a group which admirably aims to provide policy debates with a historical perspective, History  & Policy, ran a meeting to reflect on  how many  of the original Charter's demands had been met, and what a new Charter might look like. The first Charter's 10 demands were (in abbreviated form - I looked for an online version of the more detailed list, but in vain): Equal pay Equal occupational opportunities Equal access to education and training Equal working conditions Equal legal rights Free childcare More paid…
Read More

Silver lining: is now the opportunity to change the standing of part-time work?

We know that the 'miracle' of the UK labour market reflects trends that most of us are not happy with: people are working for lower wages and in greater insecurity.   On top of this, they are working fewer hours, so incomes are dropping, and people's uncertainty about their employment depresses their wellbeing. The table below, from Craig Holmes' contribution to a most interesting set of papers from the Policy Network,  shows that 'self-employment' has grown considerably faster for men than women, and we know that this often disguises un- or under-employment.  We also know that underemployment generally is growing, where women and men want to longer hours but can't…
Read More

Why doesn’t women’s work figure in literature?

  We went to the Design Museum, mainly to see my daughter who works there, but also to look at the exhibition on Women, Fashion & Power.  This cigarette card caught my eye because of the title at the bottom (rather blurred, I'm afraid):  "VAD woman'.    How fashionable you think her uniform is, and what it says about her power, is not the question here.  I came across Voluntary Aid Detachments when I read Dorothy Whipple's novel High Wages.  It's one of the very few books I've come across which deals more than just fleetingly with women's paid work.  High Wages  was first published in 1930, and has now been smartly reprinted by…
Read More

Working Women’s Charter

Exactly 40 years A Working Women's Charter was published.   You can see a good TedX talk on it by Pamela Cox.   On Saturday, a group which admirably aims to provide policy debates with a historical perspective, History  & Policy, ran a meeting to reflect on  how many  of the original Charter's demands had been met, and what a new Charter might look like. The first Charter's 10 demands were (in abbreviated form - I looked for an online version of the more detailed list, but in vain): Equal pay Equal occupational opportunities Equal access to education and training Equal working conditions Equal legal rights Free childcare More paid…
Read More

Silver lining: is now the opportunity to change the standing of part-time work?

We know that the 'miracle' of the UK labour market reflects trends that most of us are not happy with: people are working for lower wages and in greater insecurity.   On top of this, they are working fewer hours, so incomes are dropping, and people's uncertainty about their employment depresses their wellbeing. The table below, from Craig Holmes' contribution to a most interesting set of papers from the Policy Network,  shows that 'self-employment' has grown considerably faster for men than women, and we know that this often disguises un- or under-employment.  We also know that underemployment generally is growing, where women and men want to longer hours but can't…
Read More

Why doesn’t women’s work figure in literature?

  We went to the Design Museum, mainly to see my daughter who works there, but also to look at the exhibition on Women, Fashion & Power.  This cigarette card caught my eye because of the title at the bottom (rather blurred, I'm afraid):  "VAD woman'.    How fashionable you think her uniform is, and what it says about her power, is not the question here.  I came across Voluntary Aid Detachments when I read Dorothy Whipple's novel High Wages.  It's one of the very few books I've come across which deals more than just fleetingly with women's paid work.  High Wages  was first published in 1930, and has now been smartly reprinted by…
Read More

Working Women’s Charter

Exactly 40 years A Working Women's Charter was published.   You can see a good TedX talk on it by Pamela Cox.   On Saturday, a group which admirably aims to provide policy debates with a historical perspective, History  & Policy, ran a meeting to reflect on  how many  of the original Charter's demands had been met, and what a new Charter might look like. The first Charter's 10 demands were (in abbreviated form - I looked for an online version of the more detailed list, but in vain): Equal pay Equal occupational opportunities Equal access to education and training Equal working conditions Equal legal rights Free childcare More paid…
Read More