Not such a special day for women: Who is being served in the Sunday trading debate? Men, mostly, says Marjorie Mowlam

TOMORROW, the Bill that would legalise Sunday trading returns to the Commons for its report stage, and I can't be the only observer of the Sunday trading debate who has wondered why women's perspectives of this important issue haven't received greater attention. For women make up the greater proportion of the two sections of the population - shoppers and shop workers - who will be most affected by any change in the laws governing Sunday trading. The challenge is to come up with a solution that will meet the needs of both these groups in equal measure.

A glance at any supermarket will tell you that women are in the majority among consumers. The politics of Sunday shopping for this group are the politics of time. Most women have to work a double shift of paid employment and domestic labour. Anything that gives us more scope to juggle the different pressures in our lives must be a good thing.

The 1950 Shops Act was passed in another age. Only a minority of married women were then in paid employment, and they were consequently happy to shop in the week. In 1950 just 26 per cent of married women went out to work, either full or part-time - now the figure is 70 per cent.

Polls show that a clear majority of the population, male and female, want the chance to go shopping on a Sunday. Mori has carried out a poll of the general population every six months recently, and there has been a remarkably steady two-thirds support for Sunday shopping. Now that a wide range of shops are open on a Sunday, many women have got used to this convenience, and do not want to turn the clock back.

But here we must remind ourselves that women also make up 60 per cent of retail- sector employees. It is no good improving the lives of women as consumers if that means a restriction of freedom for them as employees. But working on a Sunday suits many women. As the big supermarkets and other chains all pay premium pay, and most double-time, it gives them a chance to work one day for two days' pay. Dad can look after the children, which is good for both parents, without the worry and expense of childminders.

Many other women in different situations also find that Sunday working suits them. Students in particular find it a useful way to earn essential cash in a way that is less disruptive to their studies than weekday working.

If it is women - as consumers, employees or both - who have most to gain from reform of the Sunday trading laws, it should not surprise us that most of the opposition to Sunday shopping voiced during the committee stage of the Bill came from men. There was much talk of the 'traditional Sunday' - meaning the wife stays in the kitchen slaving over Sunday lunch while her husband is no doubt boozing down at the local. Even the admirable commitment to protection of employees' rights shown by all sides in the debate - which I share - was spoilt by the body of opinion which still thinks that part-time workers are in it for 'pin money', rather than through necessity.

Of course part-time workers - whether they work on Sunday or any other day - get a bad deal from employment protection legislation, but this should be resolved by improving employee legislation, not by stopping these women from earning. In any case, a study by researchers from Stirling University of Sunday workers in Scotland, where Sunday trading has been legal for some years, showed that it was possible to be a regular steady Sunday shop worker. Even throughout the UK as a whole, 55 per cent of Sunday shop workers work every Sunday.

For me, the remark that best summed up the male MPs' attitude came from Simon Burns, Tory MP for Chelmsford, who told the committee: 'My wife not only has a full-time job, but she has to look after two young children under the age of six. She also has certain part-time jobs, being the wife of an MP and carrying out duties in Chelmsford on a Saturday. I do not suppose my wife is a superwoman compared with anyone else's wife. My wife has no difficulty shopping either for pleasure or for food during the week or on a Saturday.' I'd have liked to have heard Mrs Burns's version of the pressures on her life]

Given the number of men on the committee (18 out of 21) it was perhaps predictable that various exceptions have been proposed to the general ban on Sunday shopping. 'Boys' shops' such as DIY stores and motor spares shops will be allowed to open; supermarkets and the clothes shops that women want will not. It appears that a woman's place is in the home, at least on Sundays, while a man's is out at the shops, down the pub, up a ladder or under a car. Is it not also a case of double standards for many male MPs to favour more Sunday sporting events, but not more Sunday shopping?

I am aware of course that most people, myself included, favour keeping Sunday a 'special day', not a normal commercial day. That is why there should be special employment protection measures to ensure that no one is forced to work on a Sunday, and that those who do receive premium pay. The big retailers must not be given the opportunity to argue, if Sunday opening becomes the norm, that it should no longer attract a premium payment. Without protection for employees' rights, the value of Sunday opening to women is greatly diminished.

We must also respect the wishes of those who want Sunday to be kept 'special' for religious reasons, but not forget either that there are plenty of religious groups - those of the Jewish or Islamic faiths, for example - whose holy day is not Sunday but some other day of the week.

Even among those who want to keep Sunday different from other days, not everyone lives in a stay-at-home, nuclear family. Only 6 per cent of the population live in the traditional nuclear family nowadays, in which the husband goes out to work while his wife stays at home to care for their two children. Some families may want to shop together - with increased shift-working, Sunday may be the only day on which the whole family can choose new furniture or new curtains together.

It should be possible to keep Sunday special by providing legislation to protect employees' rights. People who don't want to shop on Sunday will not be forced to; and the huge number of women taking responsibility for an ever-increasing number of tasks will no longer have to cram them into the days between Monday and Saturday.

The author is Labour MP for Redcar and the Opposition spokesperson on women's issues.

(Photograph omitted)