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Scarlet Harris

Scarlet Harris

Scarlet is the TUC’s Women’s Equality Officer based in the Equality and Employment Rights Department. She joined the organisation in 2009 and works on policy issues such as maternity rights; representation of women in unions; occupational segregation; women in the labour market; equal pay; sex discrimination and family policy.

  • Equality

    The Childcare Conundrum

    29th January 2013 — Filed under: Equality

    Scarlet Harris Scarlet Harris

    Today the Minister for Education and Childcare, Elizabeth Truss, will set out the government’s plans to reform the childcare system. While Truss is right to identify the problems with the UK childcare system, the proposed solution of increasing the ratios of childcare worker to child, is likely to worsen the problem, rather than alleviate it.

    Let’s be clear, we have a big problem with childcare in this country. In fact, we have lots of problems with childcare in this country. To name but a few; it’s too expensive; it often doesn’t meet the demands of our long hours work culture and atypical working patterns; it is poorly paid and undervalued and there is little in the way of progression available to those who work in the childcare sector.

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  • Equality

    Better late than never – UK Government signs Council of Europe convention on violence against women

    12th June 2012 — Filed under: Equality

    Scarlet Harris Scarlet Harris

    Following my previous blogs on the UK Government’s failure to sign the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention (previously the CAHVIO Convention) on violence against women, I’m pleased to report that the government has now  (very quietly) announced that it has signed up. The announcement was buried in the detail of the announcement about the proposal to criminalise forced marriage which dominated the headlines last week.

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  • Labour market

    Women, part-time work, and underemployment

    15th May 2012 — Filed under: Labour market

    Scarlet Harris Scarlet Harris

    While the unemployment figures make the headlines with depressing regularity, what is less well reported is the level of underemployment. TUC analysis out today shows that the number of people who are working part time because they can’t find full time work is rising dramatically.

    While there are still many more women than  men who report that they do not want full time work (854,000 men as opposed to 4,287,000 women at the last count), there has been a notable decrease in the number of women who do not want full time work. This is matched by an increase in women who are working part time because they can’t find a full time job.

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  • Equality

    A happy International Women’s Day surprise: Government commits to signing Istanbul Convention on violence against women

    8th March 2012 — Filed under: Equality

    Scarlet Harris Scarlet Harris

    I got a nice International Women’s Day surprise when I woke this morning to the news that Nick Clegg had announced in a speech in the Hague last night that:

    “On the eve of International Women’s Day, I’d like to express the UK’s support for the principles in the Council of Europe’s Convention on Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence. A landmark agreement aimed at lifting the standards of protection for women across Europe. We are getting ourselves in a position to sign later this year”

    This is undeniably, unequivocally good news.

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  • Equality

    CAHVIO: UK shouldn’t be missing from key convention on violence against women

    25th November 2011 — Filed under: Equality

    Scarlet Harris Scarlet Harris

    Unite to end violence against women

    25 Nov: UN Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

    Today, 25th November, is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and it seems a fitting moment to ask the government to reaffirm its commitment to eradicating violence against women with a very tangible, and rather overdue, step. We’ve chosen today to start a petition urging the government to sign up to the Council of Europe convention on combating and preventing violence against women and domestic violence (the convention is known as CAHVIO).

    Now, the UK has a comparatively good track record on initiatives to end violence against women and girls (VAWG) – leaving aside recent retrograde steps such as cuts to local authority funding of refuges and other VAWG services and the disastrous Legal Aid reforms which will leave women fleeing domestic violence with no access to justice unless they can afford to pay. Compared to many parts of the world where violence against women is tolerated or even sanctioned by the state, the UK has taken many steps over the years to attempt to eradicate violence against women and girls.

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  • Equality

    The Equality Deficit

    15th November 2011 — Filed under: Equality

    Scarlet Harris Scarlet Harris

    Tomorrow (Wednesday 16th November) the TUC will be holding a one day conference called The Equality Deficit. The conference, which is free and open to all, provides an opportunity for trade unionists, voluntary sector workers, campaigners and community organisers to explore the equality impact of the cuts.

    Importantly, the conference aims to build alliances between the voluntary sector and trade unions. This isn’t about listing the many (and they really are many) ways in which the government’s swingeing cuts programme has disproportionately affected different equality groups. It’s about sharing knowledge, expertise, and experience and identifying campaigning and organising strategies.

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  • Labour market

    Women’s unemployment continues to rise

    12th October 2011 — Filed under: Labour market

    Scarlet Harris Scarlet Harris

    Another month, another horrendous set of labour market statistics.

    While men’s unemployment has risen more sharply than women’s this month, it’s still worth taking a quick look at what’s happening to women’s unemployment.

    (spoiler: the answer is “nothing good”)

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  • Equality

    What women want

    14th September 2011 — Filed under: Equality

    Scarlet Harris Scarlet Harris

    Leaked government documents this week exposed the coalition’s fear that they are losing the support of women voters. They’re right to be concerned. Gavin Kelly’s excellent analysis in the New Statesman shows that government policy is indeed alienating women voters, particularly working class women.

    So far, so good. Acknowledging that government policies may not be going down well with women is a good starting point. Where the author of the leaked memo starts to go wrong though is when possible remedies are suggested.

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  • Labour market

    Where did all the women go?

    14th September 2011 — Filed under: Labour market

    Scarlet Harris Scarlet Harris

    If today’s labour market statistics are anything to go by, the answer is the dole queue.

    The number of unemployed women and women claiming Job Seeker’s Allowance continues to rise to the highest levels in decades. The long predicted impact of public sector job cuts on women’s employment, is now plain to see.

    The number of women made redundant increased 72.3% on the previous quarter. A statistic so shocking I did a double take and had to call a colleague to check I hadn’t misread it. 

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  • Labour market

    Women’s unemployment at 23 year high

    17th August 2011 — Filed under: Labour market

    Scarlet Harris Scarlet Harris

    Contrary to city economists’ optimistic predictions that today’s labour market figures would show a drop in unemployment, it seems that unemployment is stubbornly refusing to fall.

    Women’s unemployment in particular saw a dramatic rise (21,000 on the quarter) taking the women’s ILO unemployment count to 1.05million – its highest level in 23 years.

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