Pressure group says women will bear brunt of Osborne’s Budget
A LEADING women’s rights pressure group yesterday lashed out at chancellor George Osborne for a Budget it said would force the fairer sex to “bear the brunt” of fiscal tightening.
The Fawcett Society said women would be disproportionately affected by the public sector pay freeze, since they make up 65 per cent of the civil workforce.
It said that would be compounded by the government’s policies on specific benefits, such as abolishing the health in pregnancy grant, which it said was “completely contrary to the government’s stated intention of protecting the most vulnerable”.
The society also singled out the VAT hike as a measure hitting women’s purses more than men’s, since everyday household goods are often paid for by the female partner.