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Issue 231, Friday 25 July 2008 - 23 Rajab 1423 Level playing field of opportunities In the new Equalities Bill, the Government aims to make Britain a fairer place where people have the opportunity to succeed whatever their race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief. To achieve this, it appears to be tackling head on existing inequalities and has thus set out plans to extend positive discrimination in favour of female and ethnic minority job candidates. The bill also forces public sector employers to disclose the gender pay gap in their organisation and ban all age discrimination. The measures, which combine nine major pieces of legislation and around 100 other laws, form a package of Government proposals to improve equality. It is ambitious and is to be welcomed even though it stops short of being extended to the private sector. Fairness and an absence of discrimination are the hallmarks of providing a level playing field for all British citizens. But as the original Equal Pay Act of nearly 40 years ago has shown, law on its own is simply not enough. Equalities Minister, Harriet Harman, has acknowledged that the Government needs to engage employers to take positive action and draw on all talents. Like in all anti-discrimination measures, what is also needed is a whole culture change to ensure no one is left with any grievances of being short changed by the devious manipulation loopholes. We await the reaction from the 70 per cent of companies in the private sector to the tone and spirit of the new law once it is enacted.
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