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Protect equalities and take the Red Tape Challenge
As discussed in a prior blog post, the aim of the Red Tape Challenge website is to seek your views on the ways in which to, primarily, rid business of the burden of regulations and the bureaucracy associated with them.
Many comments on the website have expressed deep concern over the inclusion of the Equality Act, as it represents decades of fighting for social justice and fighting for protections from discrimination in the workplace.
9 June 2011: spotlight on equalities
Every few weeks the Government publishes all the regulations associated with a particular sector on the Red Tape Challenge website. The Red Tape Challenge will be turning the spotlight on equalities regulations on the 9 June 2011 for approximately three weeks.
During this time there will be an external facilitator from the Government to stimulate debate and facilitate more specific questions in relation to the Equality Act (as well as existing questions which include, ‘should they be scrapped altogether?’).
The appointed facilitator might organise other events to stimulate debate or indeed target the business press, so there may be opportunities to comment or participate in this consultation elsewhere.
It will be very important for individuals and organisations to post on the site during this time, even if you have already done so. The equalities section should appear on the front page from 9 June, but in the interim you can access existing comments on equalities under the General Regulations.
The last thing we want to do is give the Government a mandate to dilute or take steps to reverse equalities legislation, which is the hallmark of a progressive society. So please post a response.
Beat the Red Tape Challenge
The UK Government are asking businesses, organisations and the public to take part in the Red Tape Challenge.
The Red Tape Challenge website seeks your views on ways in which to, primarily, rid business of the burden of regulations-and inspections and bureaucracy that goes with them.
This is an interesting consultation process, with its intention to ‘open up Government’ to the public and stimulate debate and discussion to find out ways ‘existing regulation can be fulfilled in the least burdensome way possible.’
The site goes on to say that ‘presence of a particular regulation or law on this website should not be read as implying any intention on the part of the Government to remove that regulation or law from the statute book.’
So why ask the question ‘should they be scrapped altogether’? If enough people said yes, then as a beacon of democratic accountability that is exactly what the Government should do?
My dubiety is strengthened by the inclusion of the Equality Act 2010, a piece of legislation which sticks in the throat of a Government who firmly believe in meritocracy.
So far there have been 5043 individual responses to ‘equalities regulations’, many of whom are aghast at the thought of losing some hard fought for equalities legislation.
Without the Equality Act it would be lawful to pay a woman less money for the same work, sack a woman after she marries and sack a woman for being pregnant. The list could go on.
So I would urge you to take the Red Tape Challenge, if only to ensure this Government does not manage to get a mandate to reverse the equalities legislation, the cornerstone of a progressive society.
Record four female directors at Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Film Festival is underway and this year there are four female directors in the running for the Palme d'Or . Last year there were none.
It is the most women in one single year since Cannes started in 1946.
An improvement nonetheless, but as Charlotte Higgins discusses in the Guardian there is a chronic shortage of female directors in the industry.
Birds Eye View, whose aim is to 'celebrate and support international women film makers' suggest that only 6% of directors and 12% of screenwriters are women. The UK Film Council 2010 report states that of the number of UK titles released in 2009 only 17.2% of directors were women and 16.5% of writers were women.
The reasons why there are so few women are familiar; women are responsible for the majority of care at home, the lack of access to business networks make securing funding and sponsorship difficult, the 'macho' culture and the need to constantly prove your technical credentials that comes with working in a male-dominated occupation are also a problem.
As Lynne Ramsay said on the lack of women directors, "it is a bit like a country not being filmed – and that country not having a voice. It really does matter."
Close the Gap weekly (6)
This week there are a couple of events to highlight for May, including a conference about the challenges of promoting equality during hard economic times and details of the WiSE Conference.
EVENTS
20th May 2011
Promoting Equality During Austerity
MacKay-Hannah Conference. Keynote speaker is Alison Pritchard, Head of Strategy GEO. Other speakers include, Professor Ailsa McKay, Vice-Dean of CBS and Professor of Economics, Glasgow Caledonian University.
24-25 May 2011
WiSE Conference: Counting on Women- Gender, Care and Economics
Speakers: Professor Marilyn Waring, globally renowned feminist economist and Professor Martha Fineman, internationally renowned law and society scholar.
6 May 2011
The London Mathematical Society is organising this all day event.
19 May 2011
The Society of Petroleum Engineers and Women in Mining are hosting an event for women interested in working in the energy Sector. Taking place in London.
NEWS
José Zapatero's feminista agenda
When the suffragettes were out for the count
What's at stake in the Walmart women's lawsuit
Skills warning over energy sector
The World Bank's approach to gender mainstreaming
Tax and welfare changes will hit women and children hardest, says Ed Balls
Has feminism blocked social mobility for men?
It's nonsense for David Willetts to say that women have stolen men's careers
Female graduates earn 20% less than men
EU Skills makes gender equality commitment
Equality laws under attack by private sector interests
Pension chnages 'will help women and poor'.
RESEARCH
From Opportunity Now: What holds women back? Women and men's perceptions of the barriers to women's progression
New paternity regulations have come into force
The Additional Paternity Leave Regulations 2010 came into force on 3 April 2011 and mean that fathers* are now entitled to up to six months’ paternity leave on top of the two weeks to which they are currently entitled.
Parents can now share 46 weeks’ parental leave if the mother goes back to work after 20 weeks. A woman expecting a baby after 3 April 2011 can now transfer the second half of their one year maternity leave to their partner.
The father* is then entitled to take the mother’s maternity leave on statutory pay of £128.73 a week, or 90% of average weekly earnings if that is less, for 26 weeks. If the mother goes back to work after 30 weeks, the father is entitled to 16 weeks and so on.
The father* is, however, only entitled to Additional Statutory Paternity Pay during the first three months of leave; the last three months are unpaid. The new regulations also apply to parents who are adopting. *Despite the use of the name 'paternity leave', the leave is available to female partners of women who have given birth.
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