Women will need more than a spread in Grazia magazine to vote Tory
Published: Monday, March 19, 2012
Female voters have been hit hard by public sector cuts and NHS changes, so the budget's gender effect deserves close scrutiny
On last week's trip to Washington, David Cameron brought along the usual team of political correspondents, and one less likely reporter. She was from Grazia, the women's magazine, and was given lots of special access. Expect more spreads showing Sam Cam's "great" fashion sense in the next issue. It may be a trivial thing, but it reminds us just how worried Cameron is about the female vote.
Last year the Tories were falling behind when it came to women voters and there are signs they are pulling back. No polling should be over-scrutinised. However, this is a volatile issue that all sides agree is crucial to election performance, and the female vote is being studied with intense interest by Tory strategists.
This week's budget will mainly be scrutinised through the familiar prisms of class and fairness - which income group bands benefit most, how much help is given on thresholds, what is said about the top rate of tax. But the gender effect may end up being more electorally significant. A largely male political and journalistic culture at Westminster sometimes ignores it - yet coalition policies are hardly gender-neutral.
This is because of where women work, the impact of public sector cuts on family services, and women's incomes. As a new Fawcett society report shows on Monday, it is women who are being worst hit. Very broadly, the public sector is more female than any other part of the economy - about 64% of public sector workers are women. The public sector pay freeze disproportionately affects women, mainly on lower incomes. Moves to break down national wage bargaining and pay people who live in less expensive areas lower salaries would disproportionately affect women. Public sector job cuts and hiring freezes disproportionately affect women. Female unemployment has been rising at twice the male rate, and is now at a 25-year high.