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Equal Pay Day 2010 (November 2nd) – which marks the day of the year when women in effect stop getting paid because of the pay gap between women and men of 16.4 per cent – will see an unprecedented coalition come together to publish a new report identifying how to close the UK’s persistent gender pay gap once and for all.

The Fawcett Society, UNISON, the TUC and the Equality and Human Rights Commission have together produced ‘Equal Pay: Where Next?’, a report showcasing the latest thinking from business, unions, employers, policy makers, campaigners and more on how to close the pay gap between women and men once and for all, with key recommendations for government and others on tackling one of the largest inequalities still remaining between UK women and men. (1)

The reports advocates that action is needed in four key areas to have any real impact on the pay gap:
1) Debunking the myth that equal pay is bad for business, showing that, actually, equal pay ‘pays.’
2) Making equal pay law ‘fit for purpose’ – starting by implementing the 2010 Equality Act, with its measures to improve employer transparency on pay rates for women and men, in full.
3) Changing working practices to reflect the modern workforce and support families, for example, increasing flexible working and job shares.
4) Tackling outdated and stereotyped ideas about men and women’s roles – in particular through education.

Welcoming the report, Ceri Goddard, Chief Executive of the Fawcett Society, said:

“With job losses in the public sector and spending cuts already threatening women’s overall economic independence, robust action on equal pay is more not less important. Given the pay gap in the private sector is even wider than the public sector, it’s particularly key that government fully implement the Equality Act 2010. This will give them powers to require big business to measure and publish any gaps in their male and female pay rates if voluntary progress is not forthcoming. The Government must send a clear signal to all employers that unequal pay has no place in the 21st century workplace, whatever the economic context.” (2)

Dave Prentis, General Secretary of Unison, said:

“It is an utter disgrace that women are still getting paid a significant amount less than men. The fear is that progress will be turned back, rather than built on, in the coming years. Drastic, ideologically motivated, public sector cuts are set to deal the biggest blow to women, who make more use of, and find more jobs in, the public sector. The government should be taking steps to give women their full protection – starting with overhauling the law. The time it takes for women to challenge unequal pay is a major hurdle. We have members who have sadly died in the time it takes to resolve an equal pay case. Allowing unions to take group action would also help more women challenge unfair pay.”

Sarah Veale CBE, Head of Equality and Employment Rights at the TUC, said:

“The recession forced many employers to rethink working practises in order to keep valuable staff. This flexibility needs to continue so that work can be remodelled to fit the skills of all workers, whatever their gender. The dearth of talented women in senior jobs and the endless gender pay gap is as much an economic failing as a social injustice.”

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Notes

(1) The full report is available to download from http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk

Recommendations and Conclusions include:

1. On establishing an effective business case for uniformly implementing equal pay practices
   Encouraging employers and trade unions who have implemented equal pay systems to publicise what they have done and how they have gained from it.
   Publishing examples of equal pay best practice in the private sector will debunk the myth that equal pay ‘is bad for business’.
   Encouraging businesses to extend their budgetary perspective. A longer term view will be more likely to show not only a more accurate financial picture, also the harder-to-evaluate qualitative gains
   Connecting the positive effects for the whole economy to arguments for closing the gender pay gap. For example reducing the gender pay gap would increase UK productivity while reducing financial dependency on the state; these gains will benefit business and the economy.
2. On changing the way work is organised in order to reflect a changing workforce landscape and to support equal pay measures:
   Extending the right to request flexible working to all workers.
   Raising awareness amongst employers that a modern workplace should offer more than just flexible working. It should include innovative practice, such as, job-shares at senior levels and ensuring that training opportunities for women working part-time/flexibly are made available.
   Highlighting to employers that maintaining unsustainable work organisation structures that are increasingly out of kilter with the way people live today will cause tangible harm to the organisation in terms of lost productivity, lower morale, lower employee loyalty and higher employee turnover.
   Involving trade unions to negotiate and bargain for extending members’ opportunities for well paid, high quality work and to tackle inequalities within workplaces.
3. On improving the law to implement a framework that makes unequal pay practices unlawful and holds organisations to account
   A root and branch review of equal pay law to ensure that it operates in the interests of women and employers. The current legal framework is ineffective, does not deliver equal pay and is wasteful of public resources.
   A new equal pay framework that makes clear the obligations on public and private employers to tackle unequal pay; allows for women claiming equal pay cases to take representative action; includes robust equal pay auditing obligations and increase the powers and sanctions available to employment tribunals and regulatory bodies.
   Implementing, in full, existing legislation such as the Equality Act 2010 that encourages workplaces to undertake and publish gender pay audits
4. On changing attitudes, beliefs and stereotypes that perpetuate the gender pay gap
   Undertaking more public education work in order to challenge stereotypical and limited ideas of women and men’s respective roles and abilities.
   Raising young people’s awareness of the gender pay gap and its consequences including working with schools to incorporate gender equality education in the relevant aspects of the National Curriculum.

(2) Gender pay gap information is dealt with at Section 78 of the Equality Act 2010, which the government has stated is currently ‘under review.’ Applying only to private sector firms that employ more than 250 employees, Section 78 gives employers a ‘grace period’ up to April 2013 during which they can voluntarily publish details on their gender pay gap, before giving government powers to enforce this requirement if sufficient progress on reporting has not been made by 2013.