There is no evidence to support the notion that women have been hit harder than men by this recession, according to John Philpott, chief economist at the CIPD.

Last week, the TUC said the redundancy rate among women over the nine months to September 2008 had risen by 2.3 percentage points, almost double that of men.

Philpott said that men have accounted for 8 in 10 of the jobs lost between the beginning of the jobs downturn in the spring of 2008 and the late autumn.

“During that period male employment fell by more (0.7%) than female employment (0.3%), while the number of unemployed men increased by almost 200,000 (21%) compared with 96,000 additional unemployed women (an increase of 14%).”

David Curtis, director of recruitment at Women Like Us, a recruiter that finds flexible work for working mothers, adds: “Despite the economic turmoil, our experience of the part-time job market is that it is holding up.

“In fact, the number of employers coming to Women Like Us for advice on how to get the best out of part-time recruitment in this difficult climate increased in the second half of last year, as did the roles which we successfully filled for employers.”