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Gender Inequality and Social Policy: Women and the Redundancy Payments Scheme*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2009

Claire Callender
Claire Callender
Affiliation:
Lecturer, Department of Social Administration, University College, Cardiff.
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Abstract

The article examines the impact of the redundancy payments legislation on women workers. The legislation's adequacy and appropriateness for women is assessed and the assumptions and values enshrined within it are analysed. The article demonstrates that the provisions of the legislation are disadvantageous to women in comparison to men, and that they in effect discriminate against them both directly and indirectly. Moreover, it is suggested that women's particular vulnerability to unemployment and redundancy may be partly explained by the actual mechanics of the redundancy legislation. It is argued that the legislation is based upon a male-dominated conceptualization of work and so fails to consider the position of women in the labour market — a market which by its very nature leads to gender inequalities.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , April 1985 , pp. 189 - 213
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

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