Theories of women, work, and unemployment (UK)

In 1981, 47% of married women over 16 years of age were economically active. It is therefore a glaring omission, that neither governments nor economic theorists have a coherent concept of married women's unemployment. It is presumed that because married women have something useful to do when not in paid employment (that is, domestic labour) that they cannot be 'unemployed' as such. This procedure is encapsulated in contemporary UK policy, whereby married women are not counted as unemployed unless they are entitled to claim unemployment or supplementary benefit in their own right. Most married women are not so entitled, which minimises the official unemployment figures.