Women and Employment in Public Policy: Learning from the UK Women and Work Commission (2004-2009)

In the UK, women’s economic empowerment through employment is a success story of the last three decades.
And yet women are over-represented in low-paid, insecure jobs, are under-represented in top jobs, and earn less than men on average, with a marked income gap over the lifecourse. When Labour took office in 1997, a new wave of women MPs entered parliament in record numbers, and women gained access to ministerial roles, including a newly-created minister for women. However, policy on women and employment remained an area of conflict. New rights were secured, particularly for mothers, but when Labour left office a sizeable policy agenda remained unfinished.

Using documentary evidence and interviews from leading policy actors from the period, Women and Employment in Public Policy takes as its starting point the Women and Work Commission, which was convened in 2004 to examine causes of the gender pay gap. The commission was unable to defuse conflicts over equal pay but it set out an agenda for change at the level of government, private-sector work organizations, and public-sector organizations. Milner examines why the commission could not resolve key conflicts, and why its broad-based recommendations were only partially taken up. She traces the subsequent development of policy, observing well-established preferences for ’light-touch’ regulation which can raise awareness but leave entrenched practices unchallenged, and weaken individual women’s access to redress. Detailed study of the working of the commission provides lessons on the policy process, particularly for those seeking to influence policy. It also shows that within the wider policy space, opportunities for action to effect change are possible - based on appeals to instrumental logic or political exchange - but are constrained by party leadership.

Susan Milner, Professor of European Politics and Society, University of Bath

Susan Milner is Professor of European Politics and Society and has taught at the University of Bath for more than thirty years. Prior to that, she completed her PhD and worked as lecturer in French politics at the University of Aston. During her time at the University of Bath, she has taught on undergraduate and postgraduate courses on European politics, and supervised doctoral research. Susan is a member of the national charity Working Families’ academic advisory group. Her research spans employment policy and employment relations and she is particularly interested in policy and practice aimed at promoting equality at work.