One in four men is now without a job, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.
In 1971 92 per cent of working-age men were in employment. This year the figure had fallen to 76 per cent.
The number of women in work has gone up by almost as much as the number of men working has shrunk.
Only 53 per cent of women were in paid employment in 1971 compared with 67 per cent.
In August, the Institute for Public Policy Research published its ‘Who’s Breadwinning?’ study reporting that 2.2 million women are now the main breadwinner for their households – a rise of 80 per cent in 15 years.
The number of mothers living with a partner who are the principle household earner has risen from 18 per cent to 31 per cent. The employment rate of lone mothers has risen form 43 per cent to 58 per cent. The report called for universal child-care provision.
Feminists are delighted by all this, except by the news that more men work in high-status professions earning bigger salaries than women.
Daisy Sands, of women’s rights group the Fawcett Society, said: “While highlighting the strides women have made over the last 40 years, this (ONS) report serves as a timely reminder of how far we have to go before we have a women-friendly labour market.”
Meanwhile, the implications for our society of men losing their God-given role as providers of their families as women scurry around trying to balance home and work while children are left in day-care have not been addressed by anyone.
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I don’t know that its’ quite as simple as that. Did the Patriarchs do as much work as their female servants ? Sometimes men like to sit in positions of relative glory and relaxation while everything is done for them at their behest.
Exactly. You rarely hear men complaining that women have taken their jobs.
We know little about much work the Patriarchs did of course, except that Jacob worked fourteen hard years as a shepherd for his two wives. I suspect the Alan Sugars and Richard Bransons of this world would say that they do put in the hours, even if they have those who come and go for them.
I thought he worked 14 years for one of them.
No, 7 for Leah then 7 more for Rachel. However, Jacob didn’t really care for Leah, although she gave him six sons, so I guess he thought he really served 14 years for Rachel. In that sense you are right!
Gen 29:20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.
Gen 29:21 And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her.
Gen 29:22 And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.
Gen 29:23 And it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him; and he went in unto her.
Gen 29:24 And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah Zilpah his maid for an handmaid.
Gen 29:25 And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold, it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What is this thou hast done unto me? did not I serve with thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou beguiled me?
Gen 29:26 And Laban said, It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn.
Gen 29:27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
Gen 29:28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
Gen 29:29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.
Gen 29:30 And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.
Hi Stephen
It is disheartening news and another blow against motherhood.
Kind regards
Mary
Can’t help wondering how many of those mothers are breadwinning as a result of men who have walked out on their family in exchange for a younger, child-free woman with no responsibilities. Can you enlighten me on this one at all, please ?
That happens, and it’s an old stereotype, but three-quarters of divorces today are initiated by women and most of those are under the ‘unreasonable behaviour’ heading.
Interesting. Since you’re so keen on proper referencing – what is your source for this, please ?
Thanks for sending me back to the figures. I stand slightly corrected.
The latest figures are for 2011 and say divorces in England and Wales initiated by men 40,000 and by women 77,000
Of those,
The men ‘proved the fact of’: adultery 15%, unreasonable behaviour 36%, desertion 1%, seperation 48%.
The women ‘proved the fact of’: adultery 15%, unreasonable behaviour 54%, desertion 0%, seperation 31%.
So the stereotype that a majority of divorces are men running off with the secretary is largely myth.
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?edition=tcm%3A77-283126
(Click on option 1 then table 8)
It was nearly six years ago that three (young) men were sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court for a combined total of eight years for GBH with intent and affray following a violent assault a year earlier which, according to the judge, was ‘.. a violent and unprovoked attack’.
According to a notice in a particular public sector office: ‘The programme is designed to support the career development of women by enhancing leadership skills and helping to develop strategies to support further career aspirations for women’.
According to Michael Buerk: “Life is lived in accordance with women’s rules” and men are now merely ‘sperm donors’”. Eight years ago (2005) he remarked ‘”.. almost all the big jobs in broadcasting are held by women ..’ adding that the “shift in the balance of power between the sexes” had gone too far’ (Times, 31/12/12).
Mothers find they can manage alone without having to depend on a male breadwinner to provide a steady income: at best he has short-term jobs; at worst he takes advantage of mothers on benefits ‘USELESS, JOBLESS MEN- THE SOCIAL BLIGHT OF OUR AGE (Camilla Cavendish, Times, May 28TH, 2010).
The heavy industries we once had in order for young men to constructively channel their natural masculine aggression and competitiveness are almost no more. Boys – especially – need competition: yet more and more we see playing fields being re-developed, one of the reasons being a perceived ‘elitism’ in competitive sport. So, in the worst scenarios, it is to gangs that they turn.
So violence is perpetuated firstly against women and girls. Here lies the issue of vulnerable families and why there are fatherless boys – and girls – at home. During interviews two months ago adults and children admitted a sense of abandonment, lack of guidance and dearth of fatherly love (Times, October 28th, 2011).