Lanark and Hamilton East MP and member of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, Angela Crawley, has today called on the Government to take more action to reduce the gender pay-gap.
The Local MP’s call for action comes after the Women and Equalities Select Committee published a report into the pay-gap across the UK.
The report made recommendations a number of recommendations, including a call to make all jobs flexible by default from the outset unless there is a strong and continuing business case for them not to be, for the Government to bring in non-transferrable leave for fathers and second parents to allow men and women to share care more equally and called for the establishment of an industrial strategies for low paid, highly feminised sectors to improve productivity and pay levels.
Commenting, Angela said:
“Despite the Equal Pay Act coming into force 45 years ago, women still earn less than men in Britain today. The difference in pay between men and women is a clear indicator that further action must be taken to achieve gender parity.
“The 19.2% gap between men’s and women’s pay has barely moved under David Cameron’s leadership. The gap for full- and part-time workers means on average a woman earns about 80p for every £1 earned by a man. Unless the Government pushes employers into action, women will not fulfil their potential and, as our report shows, deny the economy of £36 billion.
“As an illustration of how policy can have a positive impact on the gender pay gap, we do not have to look far. In Scotland, the action being taking with the limited powers we have appear to be working. The gender-pay gap is falling faster than the rest of the UK.
“Over the last year, the gender gap for full time workers in the UK only fell by 0.8 percentage points, to 9.5 percent. In Scotland, the gap closed 1.8 points to 7.5 percent.
“We did this by taking tough but necessary decisions.
“No young girl should grow up in 2016 with the prospect of facing a glass ceiling that limits her ambitions. We all owe it to future generations of working women to end gender inequality once and for all. Action on gender inequality cannot and should not wait.