Women in the Workplace

Written submissions are invited by close of business on Friday 5 October 2012. Written evidence should be sent to the Committee, as an MS Word document, by e-mail to biscommem@parliament.uk

A guide for written submissions to Select Committees may be found below:
http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/witnessguide.pdf

Parties submitting evidence are requested to follow these guidelines. Email submissions are strongly preferred. If you wish your evidence to remain confidential, please contact the Committee staff.

Scope of the inquiry

Topics the Committee will consider include:

• Do the Gender Equality Duty and the Equality Act go far enough in tackling inequalities, such as gender pay gap and job segregation, between men and women in the workplace? 
• What steps should be taken to provide greater transparency on pay and other issues, such as workforce composition?
• What has been the impact of the current economic crisis on female employment and wage levels? 
• How should the gender stereotyping prevalent in particular occupations, for example in engineering, banking, construction, and the beauty industry, be tackled?
• What more should be done to promote part-time work at all levels of the workplace and to ensure that both women and men have opportunities to gain senior positions within an organisation while working part time?
• To what extent have the recommendations in Lord Mervyn Davies’ Report "Women on Board" (published in February 2011) been acted upon?
• To what extent should investors take into account the percentage of women on boards, when considering company reporting and appointments to the board?
• Why are there still so few women in senior positions on boards, and what are the benefits of having a greater number?
• How successful is the voluntary code of conduct (a recommendation of the Davies Report) which addresses gender diversity and best practice, covering relevant search criteria and processes relating to FTSE board level appointments?