Equal Pay @50: Making equal and fair pay a reality

This event will engage with issues relevant to making equal and fair pay a reality.

Register for the event

May 2020 will mark 50 years of the UK’s Equal Pay Act. Forty-five years ago the European Community enacted the Equal Pay Directive which enshrined the principle of equal value and 100 years ago the International Labour Organization (ILO) first stated the principle of equal remuneration for women and men. Yet the gender pay gap has been resilient in the UK and the gap between those who run organisations and the average pay of their workers has got increasingly wider.

While we now understand a range of explanations for unfair pay, including gender and ethnic segregation; human capital; workplace practices and processes; the limitations of the law and of course discrimination, many of these explanations remain as relevant today as they were 50 years ago. It is still the case that these reasons are as relevant today as 50 years ago and that they continue to fundamentally challenge genuine and sustained reform.

This event will engage with these and other issues relevant to making equal and fair pay a reality. Speakers and contributors from academia, law, business, unions and equality organisations will provide insight into the context of unequal pay, strategies that have been successful and strategies that have failed, and the barriers navigated to progress equal pay. It will also provide the opportunity to share ideas on how change might take place in multiple arenas in order to affect fair and equal pay and built a strategic way forward. It will also be an opportunity to share and transfer ideas across sectors and contexts.

Who should attend?

Academics, diversity specialists, lawyers, policy makers, employers, trade unions, consultants, shareholders, third sector groups working on gender and intersectional pay gaps, living wage and students interested in reward in their careers.

The diversity of participant roles will ensure that this is a lively, interactive event committed to moving forward with respect to pay equality and provide an ideal opportunity for delegates to network and work together for change.
Organised by the Centre for Employment Relations Innovation and Change at the University of Leeds Business School and in partnership with The Equality Trust and sponsored by DLA Piper, Global Law firm.

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