"The need to forge an effective alliance between workers in the public sector and the users of public services is vital for the defence of the ality is and was very different. poorly paid, non-unionised 'caring'. Linking up consumers and workers in defence of public sector ear less than the Council of Europe decency threshold. This will increase, with pendence. women's already minimal pay being pushed even lower than men's after aboWith the huge reduction in public serv. ices, women are also forced more and more into the role of unpaid carers. There is an attempt by the ruling class to present this as natural and 'how things used fo be'and to "privatise' social care. The reThe unpaid labour of millions of women caring for dependent relatives in isolated homes is being exploited as a means of reducing public spending and funding tax breaks for the rich.
Both carer and cared-for suffer as a result: indeed in today's more mobile society this form of care is often imprac tical. The elderly person in need of 'care' may well live hundreds of miles away from the woman who is meant to do the Many families no longer expect to fulfil this role as the state has looked after those in need for many decades.
Women's expectations have also significantly changed with their entry into the paid worxtorce, paracarary tre padlic sector, since World War Two. They do not expect to do for free the 'caring jobs' they have been paid to do and they also expect some kind of financial indeHowever this does not mean women will refuse to do these tasks. The unpaid workforce of 'community carers'is huge. 17 percent of all women are carers; 6.8 million people in Britain currently care for relatives or friends an estimated saving to the state of £24 billion.
The Tories have not chosen to confront any of the gains women made in the '60s and 70s head on. There have been no government backed attacks on abortion rights and no negative changes to the Sex Discrimination Act or the Equal Pay Act. Some layers of women continue to do quite well and the Tories can exploit this division to their advantage.
A small layer of women without dependents and/or with high wages have benefitted from equal pay and reduced direct taxation.
But the vast majority of women have seen their pay levels reduced, working conditions worsened and caring role increased. The independence they previously gained from their access to the paid workforce is under attack by their new commitments, while access to serv-