Women’s equality in the UK – A health check

3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
Article 3 – The development and advancement of women
The Government has pledged to “set a good example through our domestic implementation
of these conventions and through the periodic reporting system” for the UN CEDAW, CRPD 1
and Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) 2 conventions. 3
However, the monitoring and implementation of equalities obligations has been hampered by a
lack of structures and national machinery to do this.
There is no plan for implementation of the CEDAW Convention that sets out benchmarks for
progress or specific commitments and institutional arrangements for implementation of the
Beijing Platform for Action 4 or the Millennium Development Goals 5 that includes accountability
to NGOs.
National machinery
The national machinery to promote women’s equality has been subject to sustained attack
since the last report. The main UK level government body dealing with women’s equality, the
GEO, previously a dedicated government Department, has been downgraded to become a unit
of the Home Office and more recently moved to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
The GEO does not have jurisdiction across the UK, for example in Northern Ireland, and there
are insufficient mechanisms at government level which take account of devolution and ensure a
coordinated approach to CEDAW across the UK.
The UK Women’s National Commission (WNC), the only UK-wide machinery dedicated to
women’s equality, which was responsible for coordinating the UK’s independent shadow report
to CEDAW, was abolished in 2010. The Welsh Women’s National Commission, which fulfilled
a similar advisory function in Wales, lost its funding from the Wales Assembly and also closed
down in 2010. Although the Welsh Government has shown more of a commitment to gender
equality, funding various organisations and schemes that contribute to women’s equality.
(See Annex 1)
These changes are part of a repeated and disruptive pattern of uprooting, reorganising and
weakening equality machinery, particularly in central government. The GEO has been moved
eight times in the last 16 years, 6 requiring it to realign its objectives and working methods to
new Departments and new Ministers on each occasion, with a consequent loss of continuity
and focus. Most significantly, it is difficult for such a unit to attract the necessary investment of
resources within a department if it is viewed as a temporary addition to their long-term duties.
In May 2010 the WNC was reviewed and a consultation conducted by online questionnaire. 7
The decision was made to abolish the body, taking its tasks ‘back’ into government claiming this
1. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=150
2. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CERD.
aspx
3. Government Equalities office (2010) The Equality Strategy – Building a Fairer Britain. GEO: London http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/
publications/equalities/equality-strategy-publications/equality-strategy/equality-strategy?view=Binary
4. Beijing Platform for Action http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/
5. United Nations Millennium Development Goals http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ Accessed: 18/04/13
6. Department for Education and Employment, 1996; Department of Work and Pensions, 1997; Cabinet Office, 1999; Department of Trade
and Industry, 2002; Department of Communities and Local Government, 2005; Government Equalities Office, 2007; Home Office, 2010.
7. Government Equalities Office (2010) Strengthening Women’s Voices in Government Consultation http://sta.geo.useconnect.co.uk/news/
launch_of_consultation_-_stren.aspx Accessed: 21/03/13
36 Women’s equality in the UK: CEDAW shadow report 2013