Law Society and Controversy: Equal Pay Discrimination

This report discusses the issue of equal pay discrimination faced by women in the UK, focusing on the gender pay gap. It explores relevant legislation such as the Equal Pay Act of 1970 and the Equality Act of 2010, as well as case laws like Samira Ahmed Vs BBC and Birmingham City council Vs Council Workers. The report emphasizes the need to address this issue and promote gender equality in the workplace.

LAW SOCIETY AND
CONTROVERSY

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
BACKGROUND.............................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Law Society and Controversy is an appropriate area of study which essentially highlights
the importance of legislation and its abidance by the groups, communities and societies
effectively. As for controversies, these arise when individuals or societies does not conform or
operate as per the legal requirements (Vago, 2015).
Hence, in context of the report below, it is based on Women as a social group within the
society, and who are currently facing the discrimination in context of Equal Pay. Therefore, the
report below would be covering a background to this issue, along with essentially discovering
relevant legislations and case laws in context of the same so that a proper and effective analysis
could be made up of the same effectively.
BACKGROUND
Women have been mostly subjected to discriminations since the very beginning of human
era. Whether it is within employment or other social or cultural role, there are various nations,
communities and individuals who are yet to be open minded about this social group.
As for discrimination, Equal Pay is being considered as one key issue which women have
been facing within the country. This is being faced in regards with the Gender Pay Gap. This
refers to the difference between the earnings that are earned by females and males. Within the
UK, this issue has a long history For instance, Prior to the 1970s, it was considered quite normal
for this social group to receive lower payment than men in similar jobs within the private sector.
Moreover, despite various reforms, strikes and labour movements to end this discrimination,
there is still an evident existence of the same within the United Kingdom.
As per the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the average pay which women earned in
2016 within the UK was around 90.6% of the pay which males earned (Gender pay gap and the
struggle for equal pay, 2020). There have been various reasons that are explained in context of
analysing the issue. For instance, the very first cause of this discrimination is associated with the
fact that women’s skills and competencies are highly undervalued. This is because of few
reasons, such as the patriarchal mindset which has been prevalent in the society, as well as
setting up gender stereotypes for certain job roles, which restrict a prominent and effective
payment being provided to women. Furthermore, other reasons that are accounted for towards
analysing the issue of equal pay is that not even the positions are stereotyped, but so are the jobs.
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For instance, while managers are considered as a secured job for males, teachers are considered a
job for females within the country.
Therefore, it becomes necessary to understand this issue, along with backing the same up
with the legislative essentials and the cases which pertains the importance of eradication of such
controversy and discrimination within the country. Furthermore, it is also necessary to provide a
detailed inside on relevant cases that have been a subject of study towards this area of
discrimination.
MAIN BODY
As specified above, Equal Pay has been a very prominent issue that has been quite
evident within the United Kingdom and is a grieve example of the discrimination that has been
taking place against Women within the country, especially those who are competent and working
at par with the other gender in a very successful and competent manner. Hence, in light to this,
there are various legislation and case laws that are required to be taken into considerations.
A quite imperative legislative act in this relation is the Equal Pay Act of 1970, which was
brought in and enforced by Barbara Castle, who was the Employment Secretary within the
United Kingdom. According to this act, if the job of males and females within the organisation is
deemed same and is quite effectively similar in terms of functionality and competence, then the
same must be remunerated equally as well (Starmans, Sheskin and Bloom, 2017). According to
the policy guidance associated with the same, it could be applied by the employers within the
organisations in several ways by the employers. For example, the policies of companies must
have equal and similar terms and conditions irrespective of the gender the individual belongs to.
In addition to this, it is also necessary that if an organisation is employing both men and women
within their company, then the policies must not be discriminated at all on any grounds. In
context of its practice guidelines, employers could enforce this legislation within the organisation
through rating the work as equivalent for both men and women under job evaluation scheme
adopted by the organisation.
Another legislative act in this regard is the Equality Act, 2010. Under this act, it is
mandatory for a workplace to consider each and every individual equal, irrespective of their
gender, cast, creed and other social and cultural variables. Within this act, there is a range of
protected characteristics which ensures protection to women as per receiving equal and impartial
payments for their work. One such characteristic is Gender Reassignment. Within this, there
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have been several recommendations that are essential towards analysing and implementing. For
instance, according to their report, no matter what the gender and if they wish to live their life as
a person of some other gender, still the company’s policies in regards with leaves or payments
being provided to the person (Marres and Moats, 2015). Furthermore, this act also protects
women who are experiencing pregnancy. This requires the companies to offer a more open
communication and friendly workplace requirement, along with taking into consideration the
situation faced by the women employees and hence, providing them flexibility in attending
office, doing their tasks and even receiving maternity leaves.
In addition to the relevant legislation, there are various case laws too which would
provide a detailed account of this issue, as per the decisions made by legislative bodies in context
of the same. One of the cases in this regard is Samira Ahmed Vs BBC, 2012. Within this year,
Presenter Samira Ahmed accused British Broadcasting Company (BBC) to unequal pay and took
the same to employment tribunal. During the trial she accused the company of underpaying her
for hosting a show where she was supposed to take feedbacks from audiences. Moreover, she
even claimed the amount of around £700,000. Moreover, the claims she made was in comparison
with another colleague of hers Jeremy Vine. While the latter got around £3000 every episode,
Samira earned just £440. Later on, the broadcaster and Samira reached into a settlement which
allowed Samira her deserved earnings (Samira Ahmed's BBC equal pay tribunal ends, 2020).
Another prominent case in regards to this has been of Birmingham City council Vs
Council Workers, 2010. Within this case, almost 4,500 female city council employees argued
that the payments which they were receiving for their job roles were not equal to their male
colleagues. The female workers which filed the case against the city council were serving roles
of carers, cleaners, assistants, teachers and so forth. All of these ladies claimed that the male
colleagues have been earning more than 4 times the salary they acquire. Furthermore, it was also
accused that this disparity was majorly seen within the organisation in roles that were considered
female dominated.
Therefore, after the trial the decision turned in favour of these female workers, which led
the city council to pay a sum of total £200 million (Female Birmingham council workers win
£200m equal pay case, 2020). Furthermore, it also resulted in a close audit within the council’s
payment schemes and adherence to the Equality Act, 2010. This case has been described as one
of the major cases that are linked with equal pay within organisations.
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Therefore, to sum up the above discussion, it is necessary that there must not be any
discrimination related to women in context of equal pay or within any other dynamic as it could
result in major downfalls in the reputation and working standards of the company (Conley,
2014). On the other hand, this would also be ethically and morally wrong to underpay a group of
employees because they belong to a different gender. Both the laws, as well as cases above
clearly demonstrate the legal requirements which must be followed by the organisations, along
with the consequences of stepping up against the legislative requirements, which further
enhances the requirement for revisions within policies related to payments, as well as providing
better and effective alternatives which allow women as a social group to acquire their rights in an
effective manner (Schouten, 2014).
CONCLUSION
Thus, it is concluded from the report above that law, society and controversy is a very
crucial and imperative are to be studied and explored as it allows to gain knowledge about
various social groups and the kind of discriminations which they are likely facing within their
respective fields. It is essential to analyse various legislation associated with the discrimination
so that the basic and necessary legal requirements could be analysed and implemented by
organisations. Furthermore, it is also imperative to assess certain case laws to evaluate the
evident and real life examples of consequences of such discrimination in an effective manner.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Conley, H., 2014. Trade unions, equal pay and the law in the UK. Economic and Industrial
Democracy. 35(2). pp.309-323.
Marres, N. and Moats, D., 2015. Mapping controversies with social media: The case for
symmetry. Social Media+ Society. 1(2). p.2056305115604176.
Schouten, P., 2014. Security as controversy: Reassembling security at Amsterdam
Airport. Security Dialogue,. 45(1). pp.23-42.
Starmans, C., Sheskin, M. and Bloom, P., 2017. Why people prefer unequal societies. Nature
Human Behaviour. 1(4). p.0082.
Vago, S., 2015. Law and society. Routledge.
Online
Female Birmingham council workers win £200m equal pay case. 2020. [Online] Available
Through: <https://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/apr/28/pay-female-staff-
birmingham-council>
Gender pay gap and the struggle for equal pay. 2020. [Online] Available Through:
<https://www.striking-women.org/module/workplace-issues-past-and-present/gender-
pay-gap-and-struggle-equal-pay>
Samira Ahmed's BBC equal pay tribunal ends. 2020. [Online] Available Through:
<https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50331641>
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