Gender Inequalities in Britain: Bridging the Gap in Pay and Prospects

Abstract

The state has an important role to play in reducing inequalities and a string of legislation from the Equal Pay Act of 1970 to the Equality Act of 2010 requires all companies, institutions and associations, as well as private and public services, to ensure equal treatment in access to employment. Yet political discourse has hardly focused on gender equality until very recently. Mandatory equal pay reporting was promoted as part of the Conservative 2015 election manifesto. Moreover, during David Cameron’s speech to the Conservative Party in October 2015, the Prime Minister claimed that it was impossible to have true opportunity without equality and made explicit reference to the problem of gender inequality. This chapter will thus examine the reasons why there are still high inequalities in terms of pay and prospects for women in Britain and how the 2008 crisis has impacted on women. It will also discuss a range of new policies to tackle gender inequality and consider whether this represents a discursive shift from vague notions of fairness to a decisive commitment from central government to tackle gender inequalities head on.

Citation

Dalingwater, L. (2017), "Gender Inequalities in Britain: Bridging the Gap in Pay and Prospects", Fée, D. and Kober-Smith, A. (Ed.) Inequalities in the UK, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 233-249. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78714-479-820171011