A new report by the National Union of Students (NUS) called Cut to the Quick has outlined the impact of government cuts and reforms on female students.
The report quotes research from the House of Commons Library which concluded that 73 per cent of the savings identified in the 2011 Autumn
Financial Statement came from women’s pockets, and that subsequent budgets and policies have failed to redress this imbalance.
The report also outlines the way cuts to wider services such as benefits and Surestart Children’s Centres will stop women from entering and staying in further and higher education. It quotes the chief executive of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, NIACE, who describes the situation as a ‘car crash’ for lone parents and mothers at home with children who do not receive active benefits and who will be priced out of a return to the labour market through education.
In further education anyone over 24 taking a Level 3 qualification, equivalent to ‘A’ Level, or above will have to pay fees and take out a loan to cover them if they can’t afford to pay from 2013.
The NUS believes this measure will hit women returning to education after having children, or those who missed out at school.
Over 70 per cent of those taking access to higher education courses for example, are women. But students taking the Access Course at Bournemouth and Poole College, for example, have been warned that fees will rise from £750 to £3,750 in 2013, following the removal of a £3,000 government subsidy. In 2010 the majority of students in higher education – 57 per cent – were women And in 2010 the government announced that from 2012, it would lift the cap on tuition fees so they could increase from £3,000 to as much as £9,000.
The average fee for a higher education course was £8,354 in the academic year 2012-13, according to the report. Cut to the Quick quotes the Equality and Human Rights Commission report Sex and Power, which claims that women take longer to pay their loans back due to the gender pay gap.
Women are also likely to be more wary about taking on large amounts of debt than men, according to research from Universities UK.
Student parents are also one of the most debt averse groups. And despite leaving education with better qualifications, women’s incomes tend to dip after they have children.
And female apprentices are more likely to be taking courses that lead to low paying jobs than their male counterparts; nine out of ten childcare and hairdressing apprentices are women, only one in 30 in construction and engineering are women.
Female apprentices earn on average 21 per cent less than males. This is greater than the overall gender pay gap.
The report points out that the government is choosing to invest heavily in large physical infrastructure projects, rather than social initiatives, as a way of getting out of the recession, but which will provide highly paid jobs for men rather than women.
According to the report, the government has tended to cut funding for arts and social science studies courses, where over two thirds of the students are women, and protect subjects like engineering and computer science, where over four fifths of the students are male.
These cuts may lead to larger class sizes and a declining in quality of the arts courses. And even when women do graduate in science and technology-related subjects, they find it harder to gain employment in their chosen field.
Under a third of female science and technology graduates of working age are employed in science, engineering and technology related jobs, compared with a half of men, according to figures from WISE, which promotes women’s participation in science, engineering and technology jobs.
The NUS warns that in a bid to save money some educational institutions may try to cut student services.
The report contains an account of a successful campaign by Goldsmiths Student Union against the closure of the college nursery. Cuts to police services may affect street safety and cuts to women’s refuges may curtail a woman’s ability to seek help after a violence attack.
The NUS cites the Ministry of Justice’s own Equality Impact Assessment for the Legal Aid Bill which found the removal of Legal Aid will affect over 350,000 women, who will lose their right to financial support, particularly in cases relating to housing, benefits, debt and family.
The report points out that under the Public Sector Equality Duty public institutions are required to consider the impact of cuts on equality, and that campaigners have successfully challenged organisations that have failed to carry out these assessments thoroughly enough.
But the NUS is now concerned that the government’s recent announcement that there will be a review of the Equality Duty will limit women’s ability to fight cuts and defend services.
Cut to the Quick not only provides a wealth of data and concrete examples of the disproportionate impact of the cuts on female students and women generally, but it is a useful campaigning tool, providing case studies and examples of successes, such as the NUS’s successful campaign against cuts to the Care to Learn funding. It also lists useful organisations and resources.
Story published on Women's Views on News, 15 August 2013
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