The
Government is seriously undermining equality in the workforce by failing to
change the law so that public bodies are required to promote sex equality,
according to the Equal opportunities Commission (EOC).
EOC
chair Julie Mellor said sex equality would not be achieved unless the law is
changed and called for the modernisation of the equality legislation.
Some
247 MPs, including more than 200 from Labour, backed an early day motion
earlier this year calling for the law to be changed. And in response, the EOC
has published a vision for equality, which sets out how a more equal society
would improve everybody’s quality of life, increase prosperity, strengthen
democracy, and improve public services.
Mellor,
who is speaking today about ‘the birth of a single equalities commission’, at a
fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth, said:
"Britain’s sex equality laws are almost 30 years old. They mean
individuals can take legal action if they have been discriminated against, but
they do little to ensure everyone is treated fairly. We need institutions to
change."
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