Women

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 2:04 pm on 8 March 2007.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Baroness Howe of Idlicote Baroness Howe of Idlicote Crossbench 2:04, 8 March 2007

My Lords, once again, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Gould, on securing this women's day debate. It is another excellent opportunity to assess the progress made since the passing of the Equal Pay Act 1970 and the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. We are making real headway in some fields, and perhaps it is true that the fact that a third of the speakers today are male, compared with the one male speaker a couple of years ago, is an indication of that.

I am not going to be as gloomy as some noble Lords who have spoken, as we see new evidence daily of an increasing number of talented women who are rising to the top of their careers and professions, including in politics, although the numbers are nothing like enough. In the corporate sector, however, despite the accumulating critical mass of qualified and experienced women just below board level, the blatant imbalance at board level—especially on the boards of the FTSE 100 companies—is clear evidence of the continuing need for a more positive change in attitudes. I would like some answers from the Government on that.

It has been the same with Governments in that there has been uneven progress. I gladly acknowledge the actions of successive Governments, especially this one, in helping to give women the choice of combining employment, including their contribution to their own future pension, with bringing up a family. Two-thirds of women want to combine work and family life, and many government initiatives in this field, such as Sure Start, have rightly been targeted initially towards the most deprived areas and families. These are now expanding throughout the UK, theoretically at least giving more choice to all women. I will return to that topic in a moment.

First, I shall say a word about the other key objective: equal pay for work of equal value. That is still a much less satisfactory story. As the EOC and other noble Lords today have pointed out, women working full time can still earn as much as 17 per cent less than men. One reason for this is continuing job segregation, which our education system clearly needs to address more forcefully. Yes, more women are going to university, which is splendid news, but this area still needs to be addressed. As the Women and Work Commission has estimated, tackling these aspects of sex discrimination more effectively could generate an additional £23 billion a year to the economy.

Secondly, I have a comment to make about the concerns currently being voiced by public sector employers, who predict overall job losses and other dark consequences, which they say will be a result of the implementation of the new gender equality duties. I have little sympathy with this; it all sounds remarkably like the doom and gloom expressed to the EOC when the Equal Pay Act 1970 and the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 first came into force, as the noble Baroness, Lady Lockwood, will remember. Yet we see today, if not yet quite perfection, the remarkable contribution that those Acts have made to giving women the opportunity to contribute to their own families' well-being as well as to the whole economy. These issues are now to be addressed by the new Equality Commission. I confess to remaining uneasy that each separate strand will lose the independence that it currently has to spend its own budget on its own priorities, but we must hope that real partnership will prevail.

Let me return to my other point: the importance for both sexes of being able to combine work and family life. We are all troubled, are we not, by ominous signals on the streets of Peckham, for example, of young people increasingly out of control. That is obviously not unconnected with the fact that the UK currently has the most unhappy children and a very high, if not the highest, family break-up rate, which does not augur well for the future. There is increasing evidence that children brought up by parents who stay together, whether married or not—I stress that marriage remains the most successful partnership—are far more likely to grow up as stable and productive next-generation citizens. The good news today is that more fathers want to share and enjoy practical parenting, if working patterns will accommodate it. The children of a family undoubtedly benefit from that. It is time that the importance of bringing up the next generation to be responsible and well adjusted members of society is placed far higher on the nation's agenda. It is in all our interests.

The question is whether that thinking is widely enough spread that all families and not just middle-class families, as the EOC recently reported, will benefit, and whether government policies to reduce poverty and get women back to work are attracting the most deprived and difficult families; that is, the families who most need the support if their children's lives are to reach their full potential and they are to break a cycle of deprivation. I hope the Minister will address that point.

I end by citing an example of successful innovation which I hope offers another pointer to the future. Thirty-five years ago, the Diplomatic Service was almost the last organisation to give up the practice of requiring women, on marriage, to retire from the service. Let us contrast that with what is happening today. At our embassy in Slovakia, the role of deputy head of mission is being successfully shared between a husband and wife on four-monthly stints which they cover in turn The husband is currently on home duty doing the school run, the shopping, the cooking—the lot. While their boys are at school, he is also studying for an OU MBA and improving his language skills. At the end of April, father and mother reverse their roles. It is good to know that one of our most respected, even if in some ways most conservative, departments of state is blazing the trail of progress in such a constructive way. That way lies the future.