Anti-discrimination Legislation and Equality in the Work Place - Essay Example

HOW SUCCESSFUL HAS ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LEGISLATION BEEN IN PROVIDING EQUALITY IN THE WORK PLACE? INTRODUCTION: In this report, a study of inequality in the work place in the United Kingdom is reviewed, the main areas where discrimination occurs: such as ethnicity, race, gender, age, and disability; the barriers to change, and the effectiveness of policies and legislation for establishing equality, are presented. Ethnicity: Significant changes in the demography and population of Great Britain have taken place in the last 50 years. Severe post-war labour shortages led Britain to look to its former colonies such as the Caribbean, South Asia, Africa, Middle and Far East for new workers, providing them with British citizenship and inviting them to take up jobs within the UK labour market (Kenny; Briner, 2006: 3). The UK workforce has steadily become more multi-ethnic in the past five decades (p.31). Gender: The number of women working away from home has increased several-fold, with the proportion of women in the workforce nearly equal to that of men, and steadily increasing. But, in terms of remuneration, choice projects or promotions, they are discriminated against. Age for retirement around the mid-fifties is considered too early in present times, with men and women perceiving themselves to be capable of several more years of employment. Employers’ preference for younger people is prevalent, with educational qualifications and energy counting more than experience which veterans may have. Disabled persons seek to prove themselves to be as good as their able counterparts in their job skills. But frontline jobs and chances for further progress in the work place are not given to them. Part 1: INEQUALITY IN THE WORK PLACE: Ethnic and Racial Discrimination: In a study, among those who reported discrimination at the work place on the basis of ethnicity or race, 28 % reported being passed over for promotion, 21% reported being assigned undesirable tasks, and 16% reported hearing racist comments Dixon, et al, 2002 quoted in (Nelson; Nielsen, 2005: 18). Migration to the United Kingdom, and settlement patterns mean minority ethnic people now make up 8% of the UK population residing mainly in the larger cities like London and Birmingham. UK Government projections show that, because of their younger age profile, minority ethnic people account for 50 per cent of the growth in the UK working population between 1999 and 2009 (Cabinet Office Strategy Unit, 2003 as quoted in Kenny; Briner, 2006: p.3). Ethnic minorities like the Africans also are represented as a significant proportion of the population, many of them having their roots in Britain since several generations earlier. Ogbonna (1998) quoted in Kenny; Briner (2006: 14), states that a “vicious circle of unequal opportunities” commonly affects the motivation of unemployed minority ethnic young people who are unsuccessful due to discrimination in finding work after completing employment training. The problems of discrimination and bias that confront these people on the basis of ethnicity or race, occur only during selection and assessment in the work place. This emphasizes the fact that both crucial factors: selection for appointment as well as upward progress are exceedingly difficult to achieve due to their race and ethnicity. In the Review of Professor T.H. Marshall’s essay on Citizenship and Social Class (1950), Cole (2007: 420) observes that the three elements to the concept of citizenship are: civil, political and social. These had been a unified forces in earlier times, but in modern societies they have become differentiated. Western society has proceeded to embody a basic equality of civil rights, extending to equality of political rights, and a similar equality of rights to a social minimum of living and security. The incomplete progress to the third stage pertains to the clash between factors of market economy and social justice. The Reports of the Commission of Social Justice (1994: 81-82) quoted in Marshall et al (1997: 1) argue that in Britain at least class is the most important determinant of a person’s life chances, and ranks first among the factors that make ours an unfair society. For example, observing that children of fathers in unskilled and semi-skilled jobs are one-third as likely to enter university as they would be were places allocated at random. The Commissioners conclude that this demonstrates that the British society is stratified by class and class differences in access to positions of advantage are unjust. Inequalities of opportunity that are rooted in the class structure and are not simply the take-up of the opportunities by individuals with differing genetic, moral or other endowments that do not derive from their class position (Goldthorpe, et al, 1980: 252) quoted in Marshall, et al (1997: 2). Conversely, the economic circumstances of the underclass derive mainly from the self-defeating attitudes and behaviour of the poor themselves, state Marshall, et al (1997: 2). Hills; Stewart (2005: 93) state that social and political participation is important for social inclusion because deprivation is about more than income poverty. The ability to take part in decisions that affect our lives is one way we are included in society. Political engagement and social interaction are two of the four types of activity people should be able to participate in to be considered socially included. “Having useful ideas to contribute to society” and “ to be involved in the community”help people from minority communities, races and ethnic groups to be socially included, which principles should be successful for inclusion in the workplace also. Gender Discrimination: When a person is treated unfairly in the work context because of gender, discrimination occurs. (Stockdale; Crosby, 2007: 3). Unfair treatment can concern levels of compensation, may be in terms of non-monetary rewards like opportunities, and in terms of on-the-job treatment such as sexual harassment. In the spectrum of waged work, most women earn less than their male counterparts, even when they do similar work and are employed in the same place as men (Domosh; Seager, 2001: 58). A reliable generalization is that women in most countries earn about twenty to forty percent less than men, around 70% of what men earned in several countries including the United Kingdom, with wider gaps in other countries. Overall, the wage gap is slowly narrowing between that of men and women. The gender pay gap can be attributed to several factors such as outright wage discrimination, women’s segregation and concentration in lower-paying female dominated fields, and the high percentage of women working part-time. These gender differences are magnified and refracted by racial and ethnic discrimination. Lower pay on the job has life-long ripple effects including lower pensions, diminished access to credit, and limited purchasing power in all domains (Domosh; Seager, 2001: 58). According to Lister (2003: 3), until recently women have struggled to achieve equal rights with men in the civil, political and social spheres, as crucial to their achievement of full citizenship. The law’s force is acknowledged by most as an agent of emancipation as well as oppression. A rights-based citizenship based on political participation and on promoting care should be aimed at, taking into account the domestic constraints that many women may have, disallowing total political participation from them. Domestic constraints include unpaid care work which does not carry access to social rights or counted alongside paid work as citizenship responsibility. Thus citizenship based on duties is needed to give the full picture. Occupational segregation is the key reason for wage gap between men and women: According to Domosh; Seager (2001: 60) equal pay legislation exists in many countries, and in some it is quite aggressively enforced. Perhaps the single most important reason for the persistence of the gender wage gap is the segregation of the labour force. Most women work in jobs where the work force is predominantly female and women work in a far narrower range of occupations than do men. The majority of women do not have men as direct equal “co-workers”. “Equal pay” only protects women who are doing the same job as men in the same work place. Age Discrimination: According to Repa (2005: Illegal Discrimination), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) outlaws workplace discrimination on the basis of age. After several amendments to the law, it now applies only to employees who are at least forty years old. The United Kingdom’s Age Positive campaign promotes the benefits of employing a mixed-age workforce that includes older and younger people. Employers are encourage to make decisions about recruitment, training and retention that do not discriminate against someone because of their age. Publications, research, press, events and awards initiatives are used to get the message across, and to help employers comply with legislation to outlaw age discrimination in employment1. Discrimination Based on Disability: Apart from income, work provides a sense of identity and self-esteem, opportunities for social contacts outside the family home, skill development and creativity, as well as a sense of time, obligation and control. The economic, social and psychological implications for people who are excluded from the workplace is clear. The majority of disabled people have been denied access to the workplace since the industrial revolution (Barnes, 1991: 62). Prior to industrialization, disabled people were able to make an economic contribution to the life of the community because of the nature of the work and the way it was organized. With the coming of the urban factory-based system, a group which had been productive suddenly became economically unproductive and dependent. Disabled people are still denied access to meaningful employment because of their supposed inabilities . Part 2 ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LEGISLATION TO OVERCOME BARRIERS TO EQUALITY IN THE WORK PLACE Barriers to Equality in the Work Place: An artificial barrier to progress and advancement in the work place is the “glass ceiling”. The concept now includes racial minorities as well as women, and its focus has expanded to include all promotional opportunities, not merely those pertaining to senior management positions (Gregory, 2003: 10). In 1995 the Glass Ceiling Commission had been created in 1991 by the congressional leaders who were considering amendments to the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The Commission issued its fact-finding report which affirmed the continuing presence of such barriers. Notions about women that were false stereotypes, such as their being less committed to their careers than men, gave rise to wrong perceptions, states Gregory (2003: 10-11). Until such stereotypes are removed from the work place, such discrimination will continue. Men are not confronted with glass ceilings, they do not encounter artificial barriers to advancement (p.46). According to Gregory (2003: 187), in addition to the statutory obstruction to complete relief and monetary recoveries in successful sex discrimination cases, the courts frequently create barriers of their own. Although judges are required to respect juries’ damages awards, they are not required to accept them, and can reduce the award or order a new trial on damages. The outcome of the case going in favour of the worker claimants will serve as landmark evidence for women to take gender discrimination to court. Barriers to equality on the basis of ethnicity need to be challenged and all minority communities should be brought into the mainstream with equal opportunities. To do so, it would be important to make education compulsory for all children, higher education or vocational training, should also be available, and opportunities for growth and progress should be provided, with special focus on ethnic groups and minority communities. Barriers to people over the age of forty taking up new employment were mainly to do with sufficient govermental funds for continued paying of wages to people for longer working lives. These barriers have been successfully removed with the help of new legislation, due to changing of priorities and re-allocation of funds for wages, in an increasingly ageing population. The barriers to employing disabled people were there due to the demand for jobs being more than the supply; in which case able-bodied persons stood more chances of securing employment. If job opportunities were increased, and selection were on the basis of capability and productivity, discrimination against the disabled can be avoided. Anti-Discrimination Law in Europe: Equality law is in a state of ferment in the UK with a Westminster bill having laid the ground for a single Equality and Human Rights Commission, new European Directives on Equality, a debate in Northern Ireland over the adoption of a Single Equality Act (OFMDFM, 2004) and a stalled debate in Northern Ireland over a Bill of Rights (O’Connell, 2006: 3). The requirement for developments in anti-discriminatory law is because of increases in substantive inequality in most European countries in the last quarter of the twentieth century. This trend was especially marked in the UK and Ireland. Further influences have been: general concern throughout Europe around welfare retrenchment; the development of a politics of recognition; the development of new types of egalitarianism; revival of interest in, and use of, international human rights standards and instruments; and, in the UK, the creation of a new equality enforcement authority (McLaughlin, 2007: 49). Law Against Racial Discrimination: There are principal legal obligations imposed by international law in the area of racial discrimination (MacEwen, 1995: 36) to which a significant number of European Union states are signatories. The right not to be discriminated against on racial grounds is a long-standing right in international law. It falls within the generic description of human rights referred to in Article 1 of the United Nations Charter which has as one of its purposes: promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion. Similarly the 1948 Declaration of Human Rights refers to “All men being born free and equal in dignity and rights” (Article 1), and to everyone being entitled to the rights set forth in the Declaration: “Without distinction of any kind such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status”. The Universal Declaration contains lists of civil and political rights, and economic, social and cultural rights, setting a common standard (MacEwen, 1995: 36). An important step taken by New Labour, in alignment with Prime Minister Blair’s insistence on Education being the key to emancipation from unemployment and related problems, was its commitment to raise educational standards in low socio-economic areas (Hills; Stewart, 2005: 193). This includes over 70% of minority ethnic pupils, who would benefit from the scheme. A key element of the government strategy to improve educational attainment among the minority ethnic groups is the Ethnic Minorities Achievement Grant introduced in 2001/ 2002. Thus by raising the educational status of minority groups, their opportunities for better employment would increase. The ferment of equality legal developments at the end of the twentieth century included the decision to establish a single Human Rights and Equality Commission for Great Britain (The Equality Act 2006) states McLaughlin (2007: 50). The Commission for Equality and Human Rights will bring together the former Equal Opportunities, Disability and Race Relations Commissions and develop yet further the UK’s distinctive ‘single equality approach’. Together with the positive equality duties contained in a number of acts at the turn of the century, many of which were associated with New Labour’s devolution agenda, this leaves the UK at the forefront of international developments in equality law. Legislation Against Gender Discrimination: Schiek (2002: 290) states that according to Article 13 E.C. introduced by the Amsterdam Treaty in 1997, the community may take appropriate action to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation, through unanimous decision of the council after consultation of the European parliament. Since its adoption, the innovatory potential of the provision has been doubted. Four years later, two directives based on Article 13 have found their way into the Official Journal. The revision of Directive 76/207/EEC on the principle of equal treatment of women and men in employment matters is closely linked to these instruments, although not based on Article 13, but on Article 141, para 3, E.C. Treaty. The Commission intends to submit a further directive based on Article 13, extending the principle of equal treatment of women and men beyond employment law. Problems of enforcing equality need to be studied through further research in this area. Legislation Against Age Discrimination: According to U.K. legislation, from 1st October 2006, new laws protect workers from age discrimination. The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations make it illegal for employers to discriminate against employees, trainees or job seekers because of their age and ensure that all workers, regardless of age, have the same rights in terms of training and promotion2. The regulations cover direct and indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation; and include all workers. Those taking part in or applying for employment-related training including further and higher education courses are also covered by the legislation. A national default retirement age of sixty-five means that employers can no longer force someone to retire before then, unless where there is a genuine occupational requirement. All employees will have the right to request to work beyond the age of sixty-five or any other retirement age set by the company, and employers will have a duty to consider, although not to accept, such a request3. Law Against Discrimination on the Basis of Disability: The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) is the prime instrument for tackling social injustice in employment. Its employment provisions came into force in December 1996. This replaced a quota system that had more or less fallen into disuse, and followed a period in which employers were gently encouraged by successive governments to improve their outlook on employing disabled people through good practice guidance. It is unlawful for employers to discriminate unjustifiably against a disabled job applicant or employee by treating them less favourably than a non-disabled person for reasons related to the person’s disability. They have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to physical features of premises, or employment arrangements if these substantially disadvantage a prospective or current disabled employee. A failure to do so, without justification, is an act of discrimination in the eyes of the law. Hence, the focus was on bringing disabled people into the employment main stream, if their job skills and productivity were comparable to that of a non-disabled person (Thornton, 2005: 68). CONCLUSION: This report brings to light that equality in the work place can be brought about with the help of the law and legislation. Since enforcing the law alone will not ensure sustainable results, the answer is for society to make concerted efforts through which marginalized groups will be brought into the mainstream and will be gradually accepted as equal. Change in mind-set through changes in educational curriculum, and religious teaching of inclusiveness, can bring about lasting equality among all, with no discrimination on account of ethnicity, race, class, disability, age or gender. ------------------------------------------------------------------ REFERENCES Barnes, Colin, British Council of Organizations of Disabled People. (1991). Disabled People in Britain and Discrimination: A Case for Anti-Discrimination Legislation. United Kingdom: C.Hurst and Company. Cole, G.D.H. (2007). “Review Article on Citizenship and Social Class and Other Essays by T.H. Marshall”. The Economic Journal, Vol.61, No.242 (June, 1951): pp.420-422. Domosh, Mona; Seager, Joni K. (2001). Putting Women in Place: Feminist Geographers Make Sense of the World. New York: Guilford Press. Gregory, Raymond F. (2003). Women and Work Place Discrimination: Overcoming Barriers to Gender Equality. Rutgers. Hills, John; Stewart, Kitty. (2005). A More Equal Society? New Labour, Poverty, Inequality and Exclusion. Great Britain: Policy Press. Kenny, Etlyn J; Briner, Rob B. (2006). “Ethnicity and Behaviour in Organizations: A Review of British Research”. Department of Organizational Psychology, Birkbeck College, University of London. Lister, Ruth, Professor of Social Policy, Loughborough University. (2003). “Feminist Theory and Practice of Citizenship”. Paper Presented at the Annual Conference of the DVPW (German Political Science Association), Leicestershire. MacEwan, B. Martin. (1995). Tackling Racism in Europe: An Examination of Anti-Discrimination Law in Practice. United Kingdom: Berg Publishers. Marshall, Gordon; Swift, Adam; Roberts, Stephen. (1997). Against the Odds? Social Class and Social Justice in Industrial Societies. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. McLaughlin, Eithne. (2007). “Introduction: Themed Section on Equality”. Social Policy and Society, Vol.6, No.1: pp.49-51. Nelson, Robert L; Nielsen, Laura Beth. (2005). Handbook of Employment Discrimination Research: Rights and Realities. Netherlands: Springer. O’Connell, R. (2006), “Dignity and substantive equality”, Paper presented to the Equality: Developing Alternatives International Conference, Belfast, February 2006. Repa, Barbara Kate. (2005). Your Rights in the Work Place. U.S.A: Nolo Publishers. Schiek, Dagmar. (2002). “A New Framework on Equal Treatment of Persons in EC Law”. European Law Journal, Vol.8, No.2, June 2002: pp.290-314. Stockdale, Margaret S; Crosby, Faye J. (2003). The Psychology and Management of Work Place Diversity. United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing. Stockdale, Margaret S; Crosby, Faye J. (2007). Sex Discrimination in the Work Place: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing. Thornton, Patricia. (2005). “Disabled People, Employment and Social Justice”. Social Policy and Society, Vol.4, No.1: pp.65-73. Read More