The Equality Bill: more legislation and box-ticking or real change?

April 27, 2009

I’ve just read about the Equality Bill, which has been unveiled today by Minister for Equality Harriet Harman. The aim of the bill is to tackle workplace discrimination, particularly in relation to women, older workers and people from the working classes.

In order to expose the gender pay gap, the bill will require employers of over 250 staff to publish average ay rates for men and women within the organisation. This will take effect in 2013, but companies can voluntarily do this before this date. It will also become illegal to put clauses in contracts banning staff from discussing their salaries. Harman has said:

“Unless we can see [discrimination] workplace by workplace it stays swept under the carpet – that unfairness stays hidden, and we can’t tackle it if it’s hidden.”

However lots of business groups, including the Institute of Directors and the Chambers of Commerce have said that the bill will just add more pressure to companies already struggling to get through the recession, and have called for a moratorium on more legislation to enable the country to recover.

The CIPD has also given a ‘thumbs down’ to the idea that the bill will magically solve the gender pay gap. Charles Cotton, a spokesman for the Institute said that:

it was dishonest of policy makers to suggest that gender pay reporting is a “magic bullet” on the inequality issue.

This is because the problem with the gap in pay for men and women has been caused by many different factors, and discrimination in the workplace – whilst still an issue – is not the biggest cause. Therefore this bill will add a lot of pressure to organisations without solving some of the more deep-rooted problems such as cultural/societal norms (e.g. the assumption that women leave work to look after their children).

I can see where the business groups and CIPD are coming from on this one. Whilst discrimination in the workplace needs to be eradicated, there is a danger that yet another piece of legislation will cause more difficulties for organisations and Employment Tribunals that are already overloaded with claims. It is highly likely that the new requirements will just lead to more box-ticking and poor recruitment and selection decisions in order to fill quotas or avoid litigation, when we should be addressing the actual problem – i.e. why are women paid less?, and coming up with ways to tackle the root of the problem – such as speeding up the introduction of legislation allowing men to take on some of the maternity leave from their partners.

What’s your opinion on this subject?

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