Orders of the Day — EQUAL PAY (No. 2) BILL

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 9 February 1970.

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Photo of Mrs Jill Knight Mrs Jill Knight , Birmingham, Edgbaston 12:00, 9 February 1970

Every fair-minded person must acknowledge that it is gross injustice when a woman bearing the same responsibility in the same job and working the same hours as a man receives an inferior wage to his. I do not care whether we are talking about a bartender, a bus driver, or a bank executive. In setting out to destroy this injustice the Bill is worthy of universal support, and it has mine.

However, I am bound to voice certain misgivings and point out that there are one or two thorns on this rose. I fear that the Bill will turn out to be not an unmixed blessing for the fair sex, though I devoutly hope that I am wrong. I hope that everything works as I am sure that the First Secretary of State intends it to work, but there are potentialities about the Bill that worry me.

The right hon. Lady assured the House that there would be no likelihood of widespread sackings of women because of the Bill. My hon. and valued friend the Member for Melton (Miss Pike) mentioned the inequalities practised by some firms in the matter of sending women off on training schemes. I do not have that kind of worry. I am not so worried about women being sacked as about the possibility that they may not be hired.

An employer who has one vacancy but two applicants both of whom are aged 20, both of whom have exactly the same educational attainments and period of training, one being a man and the other being a woman, will, I fear, look at the matter long-term and say, "Here is a young man of 20. If he gets engaged and married and has a family, if anything he will be a better bet in my employment. If the woman does, I am not so sure. She may leave me. Even if she does not leave me for long when she has a child, she will inevitably have to look after the child when it is ill and before it goes to school" I am afraid that not the Bill or society, but nature inevitably takes a kickback on women.