Jobless women – the grizzly reality

Male bears aren’t covering themselves in glory right now.

Last week, the BBC’s Great Bear Stakeout, narrated by Billy Connolly, showed a feeding frenzy at one waterfall with giant salmon leaping straight into the giant grizzlies’ mouths.

But even though some massive males could hardly eat any more they still elbowed smaller females aside (including their own mates), despite the fact those patient, hungry mama bears were hunting to feed their own cubs.

You were left wondering how the species manages to survive at all, with such a short-sighted and unequal share at the food bonanza.

So what has all that got to do with David Cameron’s War on Women, as one paper described last week’s news of an unemployment epidemic amongst women? Well, once again, the male of the species appears to be well, how do we put this politely hogging the trough. According to the Fawcett Society, female unemployment has hit a 25-year high of 1.07 million. Since 2010 the women’s jobless total has risen by nearly 12%, while the number of jobless men has fallen by 7%.

Six out of 10 “new” jobs are going to men and there’s worse to come for gals. The report predicts another 400,000 women may lose their jobs over the next five years.

What’s going on?

Well two-thirds of women’s jobs are in the contracting public sector, so austerity public spending cuts hit women workers disproportionately. Some men who can’t find full-time jobs are displacing women from part-time jobs three times more women work part-time because it allows them to take care of children or elderly relatives. And changes to the complex tax credits system, combined with sky-high childcare costs, mean some women are better off on the dole.

But the Government says more women are working than ever howzat? Not surprising really the population and the retirement age have both risen so there are more women about.

Overall then, it’s a gloomy picture for gals. Not just because jobs look harder to come by but also because myths about women workers seem to be kicking in again. Women only work for pin money? Oh no they don’t! One woman in five was the breadwinner in 2010 and almost all of Britain’s two million single-parent families are headed by women and 60% of them worked last year. Most of the rest are literally on the breadline and that means their children are too.

And that brings me back to bears. Like every species on earth, including those grizzlies, women have babies. Does that mean our society can just shove them out of the way when it comes to the share-out of income-boosting, child-feeding and security-creating jobs? Do we want a bear-like society where the biggest beasts won’t share the goodies, not even with mothers feeding the next generation?

The Scottish Government boasts of “shovel-ready” projects to kick-start Scotland. But with a polarised workforce where 98% of construction apprentices are male, building projects don’t employ many women. Can’t smart ministers come up with a similar “soft hat” strategy for economic growth? If they can’t, I know some women who can.

It may make blokes uneasy to admit the fact, but our daughters generally have better exam results than all of us the world over. And if humanity is lucky, they will also one day have babies. A society that can’t work round one reality to make best use of the other sounds fairly grizzly to me.