The Labor Party claimed that women were £570 worse off a year than they were before the Conservatives came to power 12 years ago, and the Autumn Manifesto would make them even worse off.
Citing an analysis of ONS figures, Labor said that in real terms, the average full-time female worker’s salary had fallen from the equivalent of £30,250 in April 2010 to £29,680.
They also accused the governors of mentioning women only once during Thursday’s fall statement and of failing to consider the impact of their decisions on women.
The party said Jeremy Hunt’s measures would cost the women £605m over the next five years, as a result of their decision to maintain tax thresholds over that period.
It came as Anneliese Dodds, the shadow women and equalities minister, accused the government of a “decade of failure” for women.
Speaking at the Fawcett Society’s annual conference on Saturday, she was expected to pledge to put equality for women at the center of Labor’s agenda, with a “feminist recovery” from the cost-of-living crisis through changes to work and childcare rights.
She was to say, “The Tories have wrecked the economy and, as usual, have put women in the bill.”
“With higher taxes, lower wages and no action on childcare, the only question women will ask themselves is, ‘Am I better off under the Tories? We now know the answer is no.
“Women know they face a lost decade in living standards thanks to the reckless decisions of conservatives. Work will put women at the center of our economic recovery.”
Their analysis also found that the median house price, £280,992, is 12 times the average annual gross wage for female workers, which is £22,776. They said the figure for 2010 was 10 times the average woman’s salary. In contrast, the average house price is nine times the average gross annual wage for men.
In her speech, Dodds also planned to talk about the “soft-headed bigotry of low expectations” for girls that she experienced when she was growing up. Kathryn Birbalsingh, recent comments from the government’s social mobility czar, said girls tend not to think about physics because “there’s a lot of hard math” involved in these kinds of outdated views.
A government spokesperson said: “This government is dedicated to addressing the barriers that prevent women from reaching their full potential.
The Chancellor has announced targeted £26 billion in support to protect against the worst cost-of-living pressures, and we are pursuing a number of other initiatives to support women in the workplace. This includes our pioneering pay transparency pilot, legislation to improve access to flexible working, and our new Corporate Action Team. ”