Harriet Harman announces Equality Bill

Equalities minister Harriet Harman said measures in the Equality Bill “represent a radical shift in our approach to fighting unfairness and breathes fresh life into our equality agenda”.

The proposed Bill is due later this year and will be adopted in England, Wales and Scotland. The plans would also bring together all previous discrimination law into a single piece of legislation which she said would cut red tape for business. It is expected that the bill will give women the right to breastfeed in public places.

Prior to the debate on the Bill, David Kidney MP requested more information on the bill to better inform the debate on issues such as outlawing age discrimination and enabling mothers to breastfeed their babies in public. Harriet Harman confirmed that the Government intended to make it clear in the Bill that it is not acceptable for women who are breastfeeding their babies to be shooed out of restaurants, public galleries or other public places. She also said that it was important that the Government encourage and support women who are breastfeeding their children, so the law should make it clear that it is not possible to exclude a woman on that basis.

Other measures included in the Bill include allowing firms to choose a woman over a man of equal ability or vice versa and forcing public sector employers to disclose the gender pay gap in their organisation.

Harman also raised concerns over homophobic bullying and ageism, and pointed out that men working full-time still earned 40 per cent more per hour than women working part-time.

She said that disabled people were 2.5 times more likely to be out of work, with black or Asian people earning below the level of their qualifications. Harman also said the government would extend permission for all women shortlists for parliamentary representation to 2030 to continue women’s representation in the House.