A recent article in the Conversation by Veronica Sheen from Monash University addressed insecure work and the effect it has been shown to have on women.
In essence, after the age of 40, due to a combination of age discrimination and scarcity of full-time, permanent jobs, studies have found that women find it very difficult to acquire a good match between available positions and their education/skill level and their employment histories.
The pathway back from part-time work after a woman's children have grown up is either extremely difficult or non-existent. This can create a path out of the middle class and into far more precarious circumstances. The loss of a partner, through separation or death, can alos lead to the same trajectory, especially when young children are involved.
What is equally problematic in these reduced financial circumstances is that as disposable income decreases, these women are often faced with increased social exclusion or even isolation. This in return impacts on both retirement and superannuation savings into later life, with the associated personal and social costs.
The article concludes that public policy does not sufficiently support people in midlife make transitions into new, more sustainable occupations at a time where the labour market is expecting just that of people. It needs to focus on opening pathways into decent jobs at later stages of life, especially for women. This is especially important in view of the pressures on people to keep working well into their 60s.
My message to the Abbott government is stop trying to drive through Neo-Conservative economic policy, stop trying to drive down wages, stop attacking the carbon and mining taxes (which are effective and productive policy), and start focusing on what will actually improve productivity... treating workers decently, and supporting them at vulnerable times when they need to transition between different sectors of the workforce.
And on International women's day, make an even greater commitment to vulnerable workers, many of whom are women.