It is within this context that the current government’s attacks on women, both as workers and parents, should be located, as it is women who are being forced to bear the burden of the coalition’s austerity measures, and continue to suffer disproportionately through the recession. The Fawcett Society, the UK’s leading campaign group for equality between women and men, has already warned Cameron that the government’s policy of cutting public sector jobs and massively reducing funds to public services and social welfare will “risk pushing progress on women’s equality back a generation”.

But what does the age of austerity really mean for ordinary women in the UK? The recent unemployment figures revealed that more than one million women are now out of work – the highest rate for 25 years, with women making up two thirds of the increase in unemployment. Women are losing their jobs at a greater rate than men with women’s unemployment up by 18 per cent since the recession started compared to men’s which has increased by only 1 per cent.

Added to that is the coalition’s attack on the public sector – 40 per cent of women in work in the UK are employed in the public sector and make up 65 per cent of the public sector work force – so the threatened 700,000 job losses largely in lower paid or part time jobs, will hit women the hardest. There is also the prospect of women on low wages being excluded from future pension schemes when the earnings threshold is raised to £10,000 in October. It is thought 500,000 male workers would lose out but almost two million female workers will be affected.

In terms of social welfare and financial assistance women will also be hit hard. A House of Commons Gender Audit of the government budget found that 72 per cent of cuts will be met from women’s income as opposed to 28 per cent from men’s. This is because many of the cuts are to the benefits that more women than men rely on, and the changes to the tax system will benefit far more men than women. Financially speaking £11 billion of the £18 billion cuts, through changes to tax and benefits each year, is coming from women’s pockets.

As for pay equality at work women continue to fall behind their male counterparts. The Office of National Statistics Annual Survey of Hourly Earnings show that for every £100 men take home women on average take home £85, which has remained the same for some years.