Women feel the heat as 33% are sole breadwinners

THE increasing pressure on women to juggle family and work is highlighted in a new study which shows that more than a third of working women are the sole breadwinners in their household.

The 2011 Pfizer Health Index, published yesterday, also shows the stress people are under as a result of workplace and financial concerns, particularly among parents, with more than one-in-five affected.

Across both genders, the numbers claiming to have lost a job has trebled in the past two years, up from 7% to one-in-five. Almost half (49%) now live in a home with ‘a fundamental recession impact’, a rise of 233,000 year-on-year.

A quarter of homes have experienced job loss and a quarter work hours reduction.

There is almost universal agreement that women should have the opportunity to balance work and family commitments, with nine out of 10 men in favour and eight out of 10 women.

There was also almost universal agreement that women tend to place their children’s health before their own. More than 80% believe this to be the case. More than seven out of 10 women believe that they delay having children so as not to sacrifice a career.

Speaking at the study launch yesterday, Dr Mary Henry, former Independent senator and physician, said there was huge pressure on women. “And while it is human nature that a mother would put her child’s health before her own, I would urge mothers to make sure they look after their own health and wellbeing,” she said.

Approximately 37% of mothers work outside the home, roughly half full-time and half part-time.

Women who work are significantly more likely to be co-habiting (56%), separated or divorced (47%), whereas single or widowed women are substantially less likely to work (as low as 14%). Around 43% of married women work for pay outside the home. Class distinctions are apparent in the study. More than half of women who work outside the home are from what are classifiable as middle-class backgrounds. In contrast, 62% of non-working women are from working-class backgrounds. The study concluded that “if working outside the home is symbolic of female emancipation it remains a primarily middle-class phenomenon”.

Slightly more than half of all women indicate that they would be enthusiastic to work out of home, but an almost identical number suggest that it is something that they would only do out of financial necessity. Of those women who do work, most (78%) make a contribution to the household finances, but two-thirds are less likely than men to be the main contributor.

Interestingly, working women tend to be healthier (34%) than those who don’t work (25%) and women in general are far more proactive in looking after their health than men. Last year, 29,000 women were screened for sexually transmitted diseases compared to 800 men. Almost one fifth of women have had a mammogram as part of BreastCheck in the past year, much the same as 2010, but cervical screening has jumped significantly, from 29% of women to 34%.

The study, by Behaviour and Attitudes, was carried out in July in August and involved close to 1,000 respondents.