Equalities Bill: Methinks he doth protest too much

You have to worry when there is so much fuss about reporting on gender pay. I repeat the word ‘reporting’. The new Equalities Bill will require companies with over 250 staff to report on how much they pay their staff so that discrepancies between the sexes can be identified. The rationale is that this will shame companies into treating staff, regardless of gender, fairly. Which by law they already have to do.

I make three observations: 1) the protestations I read on BBC online, in the FT, the Independent, and the Times were made by Directors of CBI employees group, British Chamber of Commerce and the Institute of Directors. What do all these people have in common? They are all (unsurprisingly) men.

2) The main ‘concern’ is that this will be additional red tape that, during a time of recession, companies can’t afford. Well, if women are still paid on average 20% less than their male colleagues, it’s the women who can’t afford the reporting not to happen, and this is even more reason for measures to address pay inequality to take place now. Anyway, that argument doesn’t really stand because the legislation won’t take effect until 2013 at any rate.

3) Finally, if companies are so reluctant to disclose such details it really does make you wonder what it is they have to hide, perhaps the pay discrepancy is actually far worse then we can imagine.

This legislation alone will not close the gender pay gap. The CBI is right we do need better child care and careers advice. But that is not to say this legislation does not have a part to play.

Harriet Harman I applaud you for pushing forward this legislation!

For more detail on the Equalities Bill go to: www.equalities.gov.uk

Today is also Equal Pay Day in America – to find out more:
http://www.bpwusa.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3586