Tweet
Appeal to businesses follows coalition push to finds ways to regain lost women voters
The home secretary, Theresa May, has appealed to firms to publish information on pay-gaps and promotion rates across the gender divide, as part of a coalition drive to attract more women voters.
May gave a speech on pay inequality and appeared on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour on Wednesday, while David Cameron hinted in the Commons that the government will introduce further measures to improve female representation in boardrooms and Westminster as part of a charm offensive to win back women's support.
It came a day after the Guardian revealed a leaked government policy memo exposing anxiety at the heart of the coalition over their poor polling with women voters and setting out ideas to reach out to them, including shortening the school holidays, frontloading child benefit and banning advertising to children.
It is now understood that the document was commissioned by the Liberal Democrats. However, the Tories are also deeply concerned at their polling with women.
May announced that Tesco, BT and the law firm Eversheds have signed up to the voluntary reporting scheme and will publish equality data on their staffing on their websites, in some cases including full pay audits. She said it was wrong that among full time workers a gender pay gap of more than 10% had persisted.
Asked on Woman's Hour why existing laws that would make gender auditing mandatory had not been enacted, she said: "The mandatory power is still available in the Act but I think if you make something mandatory they do it but only to the point at which they have to do it. We're encouraging companies to look more widely at their equality issues in their workplace."
She confirmed that the government is looking "across the board" at how its policies affect women and appeared to recognise that women are bearing the brunt of the economic strategy to cut the deficit. "It is very tough out there for a lot of people at the moment," she said. "I know that and obviously we are hearing figures on the economy that show that things are choppy and difficult for people. I recognise that.
"I think women will look at a variety of issues. They will look at their own personal circumstances, what the government is doing to help them back into the work place, but they will also look at what we're doing for their families."
The Fawcett Society, which campaigns for women's rights, welcomed May's recognition of the problem but said that the government was failing to acknowledge the full impact of its cuts on women.
Anna Bird, acting chief executive, said: "Sadly it appears the government thinks the problem is one of perception not reality. In response to a 23-year high in women's unemployment the government seems to think an exercise in spin or at best a few cheap wins is called for."
Anne Longfield, director of the charity 4 Children, said the government should take note of the Unicef report this week which found that children are stuck in a "materialistic trap" because their parents use gifts to try to appease their guilt over struggling to spend time with them.
She said: "The pressure on mothers especially – to give children the time they know they need and deliver everything else and enough money – leaves many feeling a real sense of constant under-performing and guilt. Under the current economic plans of course people start to blame the government. The government has got to take the prime minister's promise to family-proof its policies more seriously."
At prime minister's questions on Wednesday Cameron said that more changes could be introduced to encourage more women to become MPs and join company boards. "Only 14% of FTSE 100 company directors are women. We should do far better," he said.
"We need to take much more proactive action to make sure we have a much better balance at the top of politics. We need a much better balance at the top of our boardrooms as well." Four of the 49 female Tory MPs were positioned directly behind him throughout the session.
Grandparents' role
Shadow cabinet minister Tessa Jowell is proposing that Labour recognise the role grandparents play in raising children. Jowell has lead Labour's Family Life Policy Review over the last year and one of her major conclusions is that with half of all grandparents under the age of 65, increasing numbers are involved in childcare. Jowell says 35% of grandparents are doing so while remaining in work.
Jowell said in a speech on Wednesday: "[A grandmother] will be giving much more time than her own mother would have done, helping her grandchildren. Not as a treat, but absolutely integral to the pattern of her grandchildren.
In Germany and Portugal, she said, grandparents have the right to parental leave when parents are unable to take it.
"In Germany, grandparents can take up to 10 days of paid leave to care for a grandchild in a medical emergency, and in Portugal grandparents are allowed to take 30 days of paid leave a year to care for a sick grandchild if parents can't."
She pointed to employees at ASDA, where they are entitled to 5 days' unpaid leave at the birth of a grandchild, or for a child's first day at school or religious festivals. They may also apply to take up to 12 weeks leave which grandparents often use to look after children during the summer holidays.
- Gender
- Women in politics
- Theresa May
- Liberal-Conservative coalition
- Pay
- Work & careers
- Conservatives
- Liberal Democrats
Polly Curtis
Allegra Stratton
guardian.co.uk © 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
More...
Comment