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The UK furlough fiasco for working mothers during this lockdown only gets worse. Low awareness is a factor, so here goes. A thread:
1/ 71% of working mums requesting furlough have been turned down by their employer during this latest lockdown ~ @The_TUC https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jan/13/furlough-refused-to-71-of-uk-working-mothers-while-schools-shut-survey
1/ 71% of working mums requesting furlough have been turned down by their employer during this latest lockdown ~ @The_TUC https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jan/13/furlough-refused-to-71-of-uk-working-mothers-while-schools-shut-survey
2/ This, despite the fact that those "caring for children who are at home as a result of school and childcare facilities closing" have been eligible to be furloughed through the UK job retention scheme since Apr 2020.
3/ Lest we forget, flexible furlough is available for caring roles and can be granted on a part-time basis, so parents can choose to share caring responsibilities, if supported by their employers. Employers MUST step up: 78% of working mums not offered furlough during pandemic.
4/ Awareness is shockingly low: 2/5 of mums simply aren't aware they can ask to be furloughed (source: @The_TUC survey amongst 50,000 working parents), so let’s shout the house down now to change that. This issue hits women in low income roles and single parents hardest.
5/ “Whilst @The_TUC marketed the survey to all parents, just 7% of respondents (2,660) were men – suggesting the issue is heavily gendered” ( @TheGuardian)
6/ @mother_pukka puts it best: “This unpaid labour is mainly strapped to female shoulders because - for all the International Women’s Days Sellotaped together - that’s the current working world we live in. The system needs to step up for parents before we step back to the 1950s”
7/ This isn’t ‘just’ about working mothers and furlough, it’s about mental health and the long term damage to gender equality. If you are sitting on the fence as an employer about this, it’s time to get off (graphic source: @guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jan/13/furlough-refused-to-71-of-uk-working-mothers-while-schools-shut-survey
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jan/13/furlough-refused-to-71-of-uk-working-mothers-while-schools-shut-survey
8/ What’s more, we know “16.4 billion hours are spent on women's unpaid care work every day, the equivalent of 2 billion people working 8 hrs per day w/o pay. The actual value of this work counts to 9% of global GDP, equivalent to USD 11trillion” ~ @UN_Women Whose Time To Care?
9/ Join our call for:
@DWP to make furlough for working mums a right during lockdown, not an ignored request
Employers not to wait: empower managers to say yes, not no
Companies & boards to make male #flexibleworking role models a cultural norm, lifting burden on working mums
@DWP to make furlough for working mums a right during lockdown, not an ignored request
Employers not to wait: empower managers to say yes, not no
Companies & boards to make male #flexibleworking role models a cultural norm, lifting burden on working mums
10/ And finally: let’s see more organisations commit to becoming #FlexibleFirst, a win:win for employers and employees alike, regardless of gender.
Find out more about how and why here: https://wacl.info/flexible-first-campaign/
Find out more about how and why here: https://wacl.info/flexible-first-campaign/
