Cuts will hit young women workers

Young women part-time workers will bear the brunt of benefit cuts announced by the government in its “mini-budget”, Claire Reindorp, chief executive of the Young Women’s Trust, has warned.

The threatened cuts will affect people working less than 15 hours a week if they don’t take steps to increase their earnings, requirements that are difficult for many young women who often face high childcare costs and are in low paid jobs due to sexism and discrimination, Reindorp cautioned. “Young women are at the sharp end of the financial crisis because they earn so much less than young men, and tax cuts which disproportionately benefit higher-earning men aren’t going to help them,” she said.

“Young women have the potential, drive and talent to be the engine of economic growth. Yet they’re more likely to be in low paid jobs, doing unpaid work that can restrict them to part-time hours.”