MENS AND WOMENS INCOMES - EVIDENCE FROM SURVEY DATA

The article highlights the discordance between the reality and the per ception of women's independence and equality. The changes in legislati on and increased female participation in the labour market since the 1 960s give the impression of considerable progress. Equal treatment of men and women has been proposed. Evidence from national survey data ho wever, shows that women's income is still lower than men's with no mat ching increase with age and career. Social security policy has always been based on labour market participation but women's labour market pa rticipation is quite different from that of men. Because of childcare responsibilities many women work part-time at some time in their worki ng lives. Equal pay legislation has had little influence on the income s from part-time work. The failure of real income from part-time work to rise oner time has been a major cause along with job segregation an d the segmentation of the labour market in maintaining the difference between men's and women's incomes. Women's continued lack of personal income has consequences for the support for women and children, partic ularly evident in the case of lone mothers. The incomes available to a woman are unlikely to be high enough to provide an adequate independe nt living standard for herself and any dependent children.