Walking through the Swedish Riksdag, our guide stopped. He turned to face us and, looking rather embarrassed, told us that the unicameral parliament is not representative of women. After breathing in deeply, he let out that only 47% of Swedish Members of Parliament are female. This definitely wouldn’t happen in Rwanda – where 56 per cent of legislators are women.
Britain’s measly 21 per cent ranks 41st out of 184 lower chambers, in terms of representation of women. What was the Swedish man complaining about?
The inequality faced by many women in the workplace in this country (and in social life, too) appears to be so well researched and reported that the findings make little impact on public opinion and, perhaps more importantly, on our legislature and government.
With the Labour leadership competition hitting its final straight, now should be the perfect opportunity for the opposition party and for the trade unions to campaign for equal working rights for men and women.
The number of female directors in FTSE 100 boardrooms is still shockingly low. It has recently been reported that the women on boards of directors account for just 12.2 per cent of the total, while a quarter of boardrooms have no females present at all.
Although both the public and private sector have to adhere to legal constraints on equal and fair pay, gender inequality largely stems from the number of women doing part-time work, working in less well-paid industries and doing less overtime.
But it is not only the opportunity to make it to the top of their chosen career that many women are missing out on. Not only are women under-represented in some workplaces, they are also paid less than men – sometimes for doing the same job.
The coalition Government’s recent scrapping of plans to make private sector employers competing for public sector contracts release diversity statistics may or may not come as a shock to advocates of gender equality. A spokesperson for the Government described ministers as having a “hands-off” approach to regulation.
Introduced in 1957, the Treaty of Rome was signed on the basis that men and women would be paid equally for doing equal work, with Britain’s first piece of legislation coming into force in 1975.
After 35 years of legislation, the Chartered Management Institute predicts that female executives will not receive equal pay to men until 2067. Is it really necessary for women to have to wait for 92 years from the introduction of the Equal Pay Act?
Research used in The Spirit Level – which has been dubbed “the book that spooked the right” – shows that the most equal countries are Norway, Sweden, Finland and Japan. They take the top positions in the categories of social mobility, happiest and healthiest people and the least crime. The left must push for legislation and regulation to improve Britain’s record. After all, the Government is already looking to our northern European neighbours for ideas on what to do next.
Norwegian policymakers have already taken a hard line on stock exchange companies – threatening to close them down if they do not make sure than 40 per cent of their board is made up by women. Meanwhile, state-maintained organisations are required to have 45 per cent female representation in top jobs.
Getting into work after having children is considered to be another hurdle that many face. Nordic countries have been much more proactive in their approach to helping mothers back into employment. Forty years ago, most introduced paternity schemes, with the aim of promoting gender equality in child rearing and improving women’s positions in the labour market.
Parents in Sweden are given 480 paid days off to use to spend with their children before they reach the age of eight. Even more impressively, 80 per cent and 90 per cent of mothers and fathers respectively are in employment. The price of childcare is capped at a monthly rate of no more than 3 per cent of income per child.
Recent statistics in this country show that families are paying up to £400 a week in central London for their child to be looked after during the working week. On average, childcare costs around 33 per cent of a family net income – 11 times the cap percentage in Sweden.
Efforts to make Britain more equal have started the ball rolling. Realistically, however, we are far behind the progress that has been made elsewhere. A movement towards fairer and equal work for men and women would, after all, benefit everyone in our society.
