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Economy

Livingstone calls for tough equal pay rules

Written by Adrie van der Luijt

Thursday, 28 February 2008

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, has urged the Government to introduce tough new equality legislation later this year.

The Mayor, speaking at the launch of his fourth Women in London’s Economy report, warned that failure to do so will have a serious impact on London’s future economic growth.

Pay records under wrap

Highlighting the lack of progress made by companies in the capital to close the gender pay gap, the 2008 Women in London’s Economy report reveals that on average women in London continue to earn almost a quarter less than their male counterparts, with women in the private sector worst affected.

Although the number of companies voluntarily undertaking equal pay reviews has increased the majority of private companies in the capital continue to keep their pay records under wraps and their female employees in the dark.

The report also exposes the persistence of a ‘glass ceiling’ in London’s economy. Currently there are just two female CEO’s in the capital and only 11 per cent of directors are women.

Female employees continue to be employed largely in female-dominated sectors, most notably public, administration and health.

Mandatory equal pay audits

The Mayor of London called it unacceptable that women in London continue to be paid and valued less than their male counterparts.

He said that London’s economic success depends on employers being able to access to the widest range of talent and a strong skills base.

“The most far-sighted employers understand this and support the business case for equality. But there are still far too many employers in London who do not,” Livingstone added.

He called for the introduction of a Single Equality Act to introduce mandatory equal pay audits which trigger remedial action and mandatory equality duty in public sector procurement.

The Mayor wants the Act to support and strengthen the public sector gender equality duties by ensuring it is properly enforced, for example, by creating a statutory duty on the public sector inspectorates to monitor public authorities for their compliance with these laws.

Self-regulation not enough

In addition, it should strengthens the law on positive action that can help smash the glass ceiling, ensure pregnancy discrimination law is fully enforced and strengthen the powers of tribunals to take and enforce action against discrimination.

“Self-regulation is not enough. Without this legislation we are in danger of falling behind other countries who have already taken huge steps towards equality in the workplace,” the Mayor warned.

Livingstone, who is currently running for a third term in office, highlighted that he had advocated mandatory pay audits as a way to close the gender pay gap, stronger enforcement of pregnancy discrimination legislation and mandatory equality procurement, all of which have already been implemented by the Greater London Authority.

“The Government must live up to its promise and take this new legislation forward. Without it millions of women in London will continue to suffer discrimination and ‘equality in our lifetime’ will remain nothing more than a pipe dream,” Livingstone concluded.

Extra powers

Harriet Harman, Minister for Women, said she did not believe women were less committed, less hard-working or less able than men and stressed that they should not be paid less.

“The gender pay gap has fallen from 17 per cent to 12 per cent in the last ten years, and there will be some tough measures in the new Equality Bill which will come out later this year, to cut it even further," she warned.

The fourth Women in London Economy report is calling for the Government to put forward a Single Equality Act that includes mandatory pay audits, extra powers to enforce pregnancy discrimination legislation, changes to the law to allow employees to take class or group representations against their employer and legislation that would make it mandatory for all public bodies to ensure they only procure services from companies who enforce equality and anti-discrimination policies.

The Mayor hosted a conference for over 500 London businesswomen, policymakers and opinion formers to discuss the report’s finding on the role of women in London’s economy.

The fourth Women in London Economy Report found that the mean gender pay gap for full-time workers in London has not changed since 2007. London still has a higher pay gap at 23 per cent than the UK as a whole (17 per cent).

Gap between private and public sectors

Among the top 10 per cent of earners there is a 32 per cent pay gap between men and women compare with only 21 per cent overall in the UK.

Far more women working full-time at low rates of pay are employed in the private sector than the public sector.

In London, the median gender pay gap for full-time workers in the public sector is 10 per cent while in the private sector it is 16 per cent.

The difference in the gap between the private and the public sectors is larger for the highest-earning full-time workers, at 11 per cent in the public sector and 34 per cent in the private sector.

Twenty-nine per cent of London businesses have conducted an Equal Pay Review (EPR), up from 18 per cent in 2005. One in six reviews conducted uncovered a pay gap.

Fifty-five per cent of women with children work in London compared to 65 per cent nationwide.

Some 25,000 pregnant women in London and the South East claimed to have faced discrimination at work last year including dismissal and financial loss.

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