Working for a Living

Abstract

It is not easy to write about women and work in the 1980s. The themes of equal pay, equal opportunities and women’s rights at work are so well-worn they are almost cliches. Surely we have heard that before? Didn’t women get equality years ago? What more do they want? The unfortunate truth is that although women workers did win significant advances in the 1970s, these advances were limited, and are now being undermined by the economic recession of the early 1980s. Women have equality on paper, not in practice.