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army. It is these groups that are pulled into production insofar as there is a shortage of labour-and then at lower wages. In times when there is no such shortage, they will be pushed out of the labour force to become a pool from which any other labour that becomes too expensive (ie. demands decent wages) can be replaced, or threatened with replacement.
In this respect, it is no accident that it is black women who have exp erienced a 254% rate of increase in and sexism are so prevalent in society as a whole that the industrial reserve army can be accomplished Even within minorities groups there are differences. West Indians, for instance, are substanially harder hit than Asian workers. And, as is obvious from the above, sexism has become a strikingly potent weapon in managing' black workers.
However, this is only a general statement and we see only very general underlying trends from it. Offcase now than it was before the war that marriage takes women out of the workforce. The use of the home to conteol women's participation in the workforce is no longer the force it was. And the main reason for this is that the welfare state provisions introduced in this period made a life with two jobs (one at home, one in the factory) somewhat more tolerable than it was in the 30s.
This last point is important for two reasons. First, it means that getting women out of the workforce involves a far bigger push than was the case previously. This can involve an ideological offensive in favour of traditional virtues and family life'. Secondly, an attack on the place of women in the work force can't be separated from the project of dismantling the welfare state. So the ruling class is faced with a more complicated task than it had in the 30s.
In addition, we can note the impact of the women's movement since the last 60s which has resulted in some legislation the Equal Pay Act, full-time domestic slavery and used as replacements for the social services.
Other factors re-inforce the basic trends outlined above. First of all, the integration of married women into the workforce has certain features. The analysis in the Hunt Report show that women are more likely to be employed if under 25 or over 40 years of age. It is still usual for married women to leave work for ten to fiftcen years to have children.
The same report shows that in 1965, 84.7% of women workers received no training of any kind. Fifty per cent of all women employed were either in cierical/secretarial positions or involved in personal services" (such as hairdressing, chiropody,etc.)
In short, the position of women workers is one which still situates them at the bottom of the industrial pile, still determined by domestic responsibilities. A more recent study comments In the end, then, women do have higher turnover rates than men. Moreover women, who leave jobs are more
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likely to leave the labour force altogether... Survey date seem to show that personal reasons such as marriage pregnancy, and child care, dominate the mobility decisions of women...
The fileds in which women are employed are the least productive and most vulnerable secotrs of the economy. The most dramatic example is the textile and clothing industry where the problems of productivity are now being solve through closing whole factories for months at a time.
Finally, the Equal Pay Act has encountered significant resistance from managements. Its provisions are weak enough to start with but is even as a report from the Department of Employment -reeking of whitewash- is forced to admit:
Sixteen percent of the employers with manual workers likely to be af fected by the Act and 12% of those with no manual workers likely to be affected had made no moves towards implementing its provisions...there is evidence that many employers believe that they have either introduced equal pay or have phased plans for introducing it may not have grasped the full implications of the Act for their companies.
The present employment situation is inextricably linked up with the attacks under way against the welfare state. A fierce social struggle in which a whole range of questions whose benefit do we work' to is women's place in the home -come up for answer. The outcome of the struggle is dependent upon the politics of the situation.
Already massive fights against redundancies are taking place. Already forces in the labour movement are organising against the cuts. But two problems need to be confronted at once.
The first is the need to group the resistance around an overall programme that actually tackles the problems. Simple militancy is not enough. The rise of unemployment is the result of the continuing inability of capitalists to market their goods - they attempt to cut their losses through cuts in labour costs, The workers movement must insist that the bosses bear the burden of their own crisis.
For this reason, demands must include work-sharing with no loss of pay, nationalisation of all bankrupt companies, a national minimum wage for employed and unemployed alike, a 35-hour week ,and a sliding scale of social spending to match unemployment benefit, social security payments and other social service provisions to the cost of living. Socausts in the women's movement must be in the forefront of a specific fight to raise the demand for the from for John Sturrock (Report)
right of women to work. success. Women and blacks-a common sight on the dole queue.
The second problem is that the present leadership of the working class is not only unable to lead such strug gles-but is already lined up on the other side. It is a Labour Government that is implementing the cuts, and it was the General Coucil of the TUC that tried to sabotage the 26 November unemployment demonstration. Only if those forces now in struggle and those prepared to join them come together against the present leadership of the working class, will there be any measure of There is one final, vital point. The ruling class, along with Wilson and Healey will be only too happy to make use of the cointued confusions in the workers' movement about the family and the position of women. So it is absolutely vital that the forms of struggle that we undertake such as factory occupationsare based on a full consciousness of what is implied for women in them. There must be creches, nonemployed wives and husbands of strikers must be fully involved and there must be a consistent struggle against male chauvinism aongst workers. It is no accident that so many of the recent struggles have been lead by women workers. It will be no accident if male chauvinism precipitates defeat.
MARTIN O'LEARY The figures in this article are taken from the following sources: Department of Employment Gazette, The Hunt Report, and The Role of Women in the Economy (OECD,1975)
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health COnSU hygiene libraries.
Within the wide range of services covered by Nalgo-gas, electricity, local government and the NHS-women have formal equality in their cond itions of service. Equal pay has been established for many years. However, the real situation of women in these services demonstrates that equality on a formal level is no guarantee against various forms of discrimination.
Women in these services suffer from low pay- 35% of women in Nalgo falling below the TUC low pay tarfet of £30, as opposed to 8% of men. Low pay is predominant among typists, clerks, nursery nurses. These tend to be, women only jobs where women's wages cannot be brought up to the lev -el of a male counterpart. However, on higher professional grades, women do not even require equal wages as they are generally located at a lower lev. el than men within the same grade.
LOW PAY This problem of low and/or unequal pay is linked to the fact that women are located within occupat-