Women´s employment and the gender gap in Britain

Denise Kingsmill was appointed in April 2001 by the UK Cabinet Office  to examine and report on possible non-legislative and cost-effective proposals to deliver improvments in women's employment prospects and participation in the labour market so that:

  • effective use is made of the skills and experience of both men and women to their benefit and to the benefit of businesses and the economy in terms of productivity and competitiveness;
  • the pay gap between men and women is reduced;
  • practical guidelines on best practice are developed and promoted; and 
  • understanding and awareness of existing equality legislation is increased amongst employers and individuals.

The report (190 pages) emphasizes

  • The UK is not alone in experiencing a continuing pay gap between men and women. However, the operation of labour markets in the UK , with the relatively high employment rates for women and high proportion of women working part-time compared to other EU member states, are relevant to the UK having one of the widest gender pay gaps within the EU when considering hourly earnings
  • " I am convinced that the scale and persistence of the gender pay gap in Britain reflects a failure in human capital management that is neither good for the economy nor in the interests of the majority of employers or employees. The need to address issues  of women's employment and pay is not just a matter of creating a society in which men and women have equal opportunities and are equally valued for the contributions they make, important though these are. It is also a matter of ensuring the best use of the full range of available human capital to promote economic growth."
  • " Any business that fails to ensure that women : play a full part in its operations cannot hope to optimise its productivity and competitiveness."
  • " A  growing body of research points to the importance of good human capital management practices. For example, recent work carried out at Sheffield's Institute of Work Psychology found that indicators of people management were strongly correlated with variations in productivity and profitability and were a better predictor of company performance than strategy, technology or research and development."
  • A disproportionate number of women work in the public sector GBP 3.9 million, or over 30 per cent of all women employed in the UK - compared to 2.4 million men - less than 20 per cent of all men employed in the UK.

Denise Kingsmills report offers 14 evidence-based recommendations to which the UK Government has given much careful consideration:

  1. The Government to set up an inquiry, involving business, investors, trade unions, human capital management specialists and representatives of the accountancy profession to provide input to the Standards Board proposed by the Company Law Review. The inquiry should be asked to advise on incorporation of human capital management information, including information on women’s employment and pay, as part of the mandatory requirements in OFRs. It should also be asked to advise on appropriate ways of reporting similar information for smaller companiesfor which an OFR will not be required, for partnerships, for charitable bodies and for other organisations not required to file company reports and accounts .
  2. Public sector bodies to be required to report similar information on human capital management in their annual reports.
  3. Private sector organisations to be encouraged to conduct employment and pay reviews covering all aspects of women's employment in those organi-sations in addition to pay, by the time of introduc-tion of OFRs.
  4. All public sector bodies to be required to conduct employment and pay reviews to a similar timescale.
  5. The Government to monitor progress with employ-ment and pay reviews in the private sector with a view to considering the need for legislationon lag-gards at a future date.
  6. Where public sector work is contracted out for the first time, or where contracts come up for renewal and there are clear comparators for the contracted services still retained by the public sector, bidders to be required to demonstrate that they will offer the terms and conditions prevailing previously where these have been established through a pay review or job evaluation.
  7. The Government to seek to establish a new academic centre of excellence, jointly funded by government and business, with the dual function of initiating, sponsoring and co-ordinating research on issues affecting the careers and labour market prospects of all women and providing practical market driven solutions to business
  8. An identifiable element of the appraisal and remuneration of senior (board level) members of Government Departments and other public organisations to be linked to the achievement of stated diversity objectives, as part of the more general move towards payment by objectives.
  9. Overhaul of Investors in People (IiP) and the IiP standard to include women’s employment and pay issues.
  10. The Government to give serious consideration to the introduction of a right for employees to request the employer to confirm whether he/she is receiving remuneration equal to a named colleague, with the employer required to respond within a given period giving information as to why the work is not similar or of equal value or confirming action being taken to rectify the position.
  11. The Government to introduce training tax credits for employers, available in respect of employees on lower pay, who provide or fund training to enable those employees to move to higher paid jobs.
  12. The government to introduce training tax credits available to employers who recruit and train women who would otherwise be unemployed or on low earnings for jobs in occupations in which women are seriously under-represented.
  13. The Government to convene a group of relevant experts to see how an investigation into the causes of differences in earnings between part-time and full-time workers and the operation of labour markets for part-time jobs might best be organised, with a view to establishing a research programme under the auspices on the new body proposed above.
  14. The Government to monitor the impact of changes to the structure of tax and NICs and the rules governing provision of stakeholder pensions, and review these in terms of their implications for gender pay differences if it becomes clear that they are leading to the creation of part-time jobs paying just below the new lower earnings threshold or to a gender gap in the take-up of stakeholder pensions.

For the entire report:

Report

For the  UK Government response to the Kingsmill recommendations:  

Response