Gender Equality and the Equality and Human Rights Commission
| Author | Ros Micklem |
| DOI | 10.1177/0952076708100880 |
| Published date | 01 April 2009 |
| Date | 01 April 2009 |
| Subject Matter | Features Section: Public Policy and Practice |
© The Author(s), 2009.
Reprints and Permissions:
http://www.sagepub.co.uk/
journalsPermissions.nav
0952-0767
200904 24(2) 213–217
Gender Equality and the
Equality and Human Rights
Commission
Dilution or Connection?
Ros Micklem
National Director Scotland, Equality and Human Rights Commission, UK
‘A society built on fairness and respect. People confident in all aspects of their
diversity’. That’s the vision of the new Equality and Human Rights Commission
(EHRC), but what does it mean in practice for the prospects of greater gender
equality in Britain? Does the new Commission represent an opportunity or a
threat?
When the EHRC opened for business on 1 October 2007, the Equal Opportu-
nities Commission (EOC) was wound up after working for more than 30 years
towards greater equality between men and women; the Commission for Racial
Equality (CRE) and the much younger Disability Rights Commission (DRC) also
closed. Of all of them, the EOC had probably been the most enthusiastic for
longest about the prospect of a single equality commission. But many long-
standing campaigners for the rights of women were (and still are) nervous that the
momentum for completing the ‘unfinished revolution’ of gender equality in
Britain will be lost under the new regime.
Interest groups working for race equality and for the rights of disabled people
have had similar fears but given the gender equality theme of this issue of the
journal, I want to explore in particular the challenge faced by the new Commission
and its allies in ensuring that the gender agenda is enriched by the connections
with other aspects of equality, rather than diluted by competing priorities.
There is plenty of evidence that the gender equality revolution is ‘unfinished’.
The most recent figures for the pay gap between women and men in full-time work
show very slow progress: across the UK the gap still sits at 12.6 per cent, accord-
ing to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), a lot better than 1997’s 17.4
DOI: 10.1177/0952076708100880
Ros Micklem, National Director Scotland, Equality and Human Rights Commission, The Optima
Building, 58 Robertson Street, Glasgow, UK. [email: Ros.Micklem@equalityhumanrights.com]
213
Public Policy and Administration 24(2)
per cent but nonetheless shocking, while the pay gap for part-time workers is even
greater at around 38 per cent – and around 40 per cent of women in work are part
time. The latest ‘sex and power’ index suggests that in the UK Parliament it will
take 200 years to achieve an equal number of women MPs at the current rate of
progress, and 73 years to have an equal number of women directors of the FTSE
top 100 companies. In Scotland, the percentage of women leaders of local coun-
cils has remained static at 18.8 per cent for 5 years, and the number of female
Members of the Scottish...
To continue reading
Request your trial