Research proposal

To what extent is this common statement about the law reflected in practice

Introduction

In the recent era of globalisation, the law and society are interrelated where it is the responsibility of the government and the society as well as policy makers to enforce the system and law in practice so that in real life also, the individuals can use the law in practice (Blau, 2016). The aim of the study is to understand the law and the society where human being are following and enforcing the law and legislations in the organisation. Through this report, it I also posisbel to demonstrate the importance of law and its practice in real life so that the issue of discrimination can be resolved. The social group in the UK society face the issue of discrimination on gender where gender inequality exist as the women are paid lesser as compared to the payment structure of the men in the organisations. Through this report, it is posisbel to understand the trend of such discrimination as well as laws and practice which needs it be enforced in the UK payment system so that the issue of unequal payment in the basis of the gender of the human being will be resolved. The study focuses on the laws in practice, whether the organisational leaders are concerned about equal payment and the issue of discrimination in payment system or not as it is a serious issue in the recent years which raises the problem of gender pay gap.

Background of the research topic

It is a serious challenge of the economy of the UK where the gender pay gap is rising throughout different companies across the UK which needs to resolved for recognising long term commitment of the companies, where it is an offence to exist discrimination in the organisations where the female members in the company pay lesser as compared to the male members though the females are working at the same positive like the male members. The gender pay gap mainly refers to the different payment structure in the organisations as per the gender of the human being where the leaders and the managers face the issue of gender payment gap as they prefer male members in the top positions of the company and they provide higher salary structure to the men as compared to the female members at the organisation (Graf, Brown, and Patten, 2018).

Addressing the topic through data collection:

According to the report of the UK statistics, the gender gap can be calculated on the median and it has been stated that there exists average mean hourly gender pay gap in all the industries across the 1739 UK organisations which is 12.4%. As per the report, they disclosed that, there is 16.2% average mean gender bonus gap and it refers that the female members are discriminated due to their gender and the leaders and the managers prefer male members in the organisation and they pay higher to the male members as compared to the female members (Office for National Statistics, 2019).

As per the figure above it can be stated that, there exists the issue of gender gap payment for full time employees by their gender, where it is clear that, the female members are paid less as compared to the male members which raises discrimination on gender in the organisations. There is discrimination in practice for which the female members are paid less and there are several reasons for which the discrimination arises ibn the organisations across different sectors on the UK. Cost of childcare and maternity period is one of the main reasons, where the leaders and the managers prefer the male members in the organisations as compared to the female workers. Skill differences and lack of knowledge and technical skill among the women is another reason for such di8scrimination where According to National Statistics, the women prefer to work lower salaries than men. Due to fear of getting sack and organisational politics leads the women towards lesser wag payment which also another reason for such discrimination. Anti-social working culture and lack of safety and security for the female and male dominated graduate schemes are also the cause of rising gender payment gap for which the female members are paid less than the male members in the sae organisations (Fortin, Bell, and Böhm, 2017).

Law enforcement

There are several laws and legislations through which the above-mentioned issue can be resolved well where the laws and legislations need to be reinforced in the system so that the issue of discrimination according to their gender can be resolved. The Equality Act 2010 is effective where it is a legal framework where all the human being is treated fairly and the rights of all the individuals are maximised. Advanced equality of opportunity and Race Relations Act 1976 as well as Discrimination Act are effective for resolving such issue of gender payment gap. Equal Pay Act 1970 provides the framework where the leaders and the managers should provide equal payment structure to all the employees irrespective of their gender (O’Reilly et al., 2015). Sex Discrimination Act 1975 is also effective where the female and male members are treated equally, and they have equal opportunity in the organisation, and it is effective in practice which provides a scope to mitigate the issue of sex discrimination and inequality on payment system on the basis of gender of the human being.

Practice

The above-mentioned law and legislations are necessary to be enforced in the organisational practice and real life also so that the issue of gender payment gap in the UK can be resolved well. For tacking the discrimination on the basis of gender is necessary through enforcing the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and apart from that, the Equality Act 2010 also needs to be enforced in the organisation, where all the employees are treated well including male and female members. However, due to lack of enforcement of the UK laws and legislation on practice makes the situation worse where the gender pay gap still exist in the companies across different industries of the UK (Ebrahim, 2016). It is necessary to imporve other factors for resolving the issue of gender pay gap so that the female members are valued well in the organisations and they get proper payment structure like the male members. The equal payment act and the practice of minimum wage payment are effective in the UK to resolve the issue and prefer the female members also int he organisations.

There are other practices such as managing transparency and accountability as well as equal treatment in the organisational workplace are helpful to handle the issue of gender pay gap in the UK. It is important to implement Gender Neutral policy and support the female members by Female Aspiring Talent in Europe (FATE) programme, which improves the skill and abilities of the female and they can get better position and payment in the organisations. The leaders and the managers also treat the women equally and they need to provide proper training and development progr4am to the female members for enhancing their kill and knowledge to perform better and get effective statured payment. These factors are involved in the practice where the organisations need to be concerned about the issue of gender pay gap and take active initiatives for mitigating the issue by treating all the employees fairly and creating values for all of them irrespective of their gender.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that, due to improper enforcement of the laws ad legislations as well as negligence of developing organisational policies and practice arise he issue of gender pay gap in the UK where the organisations provide unequal payment to the female and male members in which the females are paid less as compared to the male members in the workplace. Proper enforcement of the Equality Act 2010, Race Relations Act 1976, Equal Pay Act 1970 and Sex Discrimination Act 1975 as well as the policies and practice of fair and equal treatment to all the employees irrespective of their gender, manging transparency and accountability and respecting all the employees will be effective for resolving the issue of gender pay gap in the UK.

Reference List

• Azmat, G., 2015. Gender Gaps in the UK Labour Market: jobs, pay and family-friendly policies. Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics, Election Economics, Paper EA027.
• Blau, F.D., 2016. Gender, inequality, and wages. OUP Catalogue.
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• Fortin, N.M., Bell, B. And Böhm, M., 2017. Top earnings inequality and the gender pay gap: Canada, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Labour Economics, 47, pp.107-123.
• Graf, N., Brown, A. And Patten, E., 2018. The narrowing, but persistent, gender gap in pay. Pew Research Center, April 9.
• O’Reilly, J., Smith, M., Deakin, S. And Burchell, B., 2015. Equal pay as a moving target: International perspectives on forty-years of addressing the gender pay gap. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 39(2), pp.299-317.
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