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Gender pay gap reporting regulations: advancing gender equality policy in tough economic times

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British Politics Aims and scope

Abstract

This article sets out to explain why mandatory gender pay gap reporting regulations were introduced in 2016, whereas the two main parties had previously opposed state regulation. Observing the rise in the number of female MPs, it argues that the rise in descriptive representation has enabled substantive representation, but that this does not necessarily explain outcomes. Critical mass is a problematic concept due to difficulties of definition. Rather, the empirical evidence supports the idea that critical actors able to build alliances within the state machinery and beyond it, particularly by working with business influencers, are decisive in exploiting opportunities for change and securing support for it. Feminization of parliament and government also facilitate institutionalization of gender equality actors, although this process remains incomplete and contingent.

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Notes

  1. The 2016 regulations cover Great Britain, that is, do not cover Northern Ireland. They apply to public sector organizations only in England, since separate equality duties apply to devolved government in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

  2. This preference continues to be fundamental to government thinking. For example, Anne Milton MP, Minister for Women, giving evidence to the Women and Equalities Committee in October 2017 said on the subject of encouraging greater female representation in politics: ‘I am always nervous of legislation. I am always nervous because you get compliance, you force compliance, but you do not necessarily get the culture shift’ (WEC 2017).

  3. See Equality Bill, House of Commons, Committee stage, third sitting, 9 June 2009 (Bill stages, Equality Act 2010: available at https://services.parliament.uk/bills/2008-09/equality/stages.html). Lynne Featherstone (Liberal Democrats, member of committee) asked whether mandatory pay audits should not be introduced into the bill, stating that ‘Last night I sat for two hours at the meeting of Unison and the Fawcett Society. The room was full, and every person who spoke said that the most important thing in the workplace was to have mandatory pay audits, yet they have been left out of the Bill’. The TUC’s employment director, Sarah Veale, agreed: ‘It would be regrettable if the Bill was not an opportunity to introduce mandatory pay audits’.

  4. Equality Bill, House of Commons, second reading, 11 May 2009.

  5. Equality Bill, House of Commons, Committee stage, third sitting, 9 June 2009.

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  1. Institute for Policy Research, University of Bath, Bath, England, UK

    Susan Milner

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Milner, S. Gender pay gap reporting regulations: advancing gender equality policy in tough economic times. Br Polit 14, 121–140 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41293-018-00101-4

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