Women’s equality in the UK – A health check

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infrequent lap dancing events being made exempt from the new SEV licensing regime. As a
result of lobbying on this issue, an option was put in place to repeal the frequency exemption
if it is shown to be inappropriate. It is vital, therefore, that Local Authorities attempt to monitor
and keep a record of infrequent lap dancing events, and for the Government to take a lead in
reviewing the impact of the frequency exemption.
Recommendation:
Guidance should ensure that objectors are not required to ‘prove’ in tangible,
statistical terms, the negative impact on their lives (i.e. incidents of assault or
anti social behaviour) in order for objections to Sexual Entertainment Venues to
be admitted. This undermines the grounds of refusal on the basis of locality, and
is therefore inconsistent with the content of the Sexual Entertainment Venue
licensing regime
Migrant Domestic Workers
Migrant domestic workers are peculiarly vulnerable to exploitation, trafficking and abuses
of their human rights as recognised by the International Labour Organisation 61 and many
international experts, 62 however this group is not mentioned in the Government’s 7th Periodic
Report. In April 2012 the UK introduced retrogressive immigration measures that will make
domestic workers far more vulnerable to this kind of abuse. Previously, in 1998, the UK granted
migrant domestic workers certain rights for the express purpose of protecting them from
exploitation and abuse. These include the right to change employer, renew their visas if in
domestic work, and eligibility for settlement after five years. This system was working very well
and the UK was cited as international best practice for these provisions. These rights have now
all been removed, contrary to General Recommendation No. 26. 63 Migrant domestic workers
will be tied to one employer, unable to escape abuse without losing their livelihood, their
accommodation and their permission to remain in the UK.
Under the new rules, justice is denied because domestic workers are unable to stay in the UK to
pursue employment claims. Criminal sanctions are wholly inadequate, with only one successful
prosecution of trafficking an adult into domestic servitude thus far. Reports to the police are
likely to drop if domestic workers are insecure about their immigration status.
Statistics from 2010 show that abuse and exploitation of domestic workers is still high. However,
statistics from 1996 show that levels of abuse were far higher when there was no right to change
employer. In terms of abuse, physical abuse dropped from 39% in 1996 to 18% in 2010, sexual
abuse from 12% to 3%, and psychological abuse from 87% to 54%. In 1996 100% of domestic
workers surveyed reported working an average 17 hours per day. In 2010 48% reported working
16 hours or more per day. 64
Evidence shows that trafficking is also higher when there is no right to change employer.
Diplomatic domestic workers have never had the right to change their employer, whereas those
61. International Labour Organisation (2010) Decent Work for Domestic Workers: Report IV(1). International Labour Office: Geneva http://
www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_norm/@relconf/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_104700.pdf
62. See for example Human Rights Council (2010) Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes
and consequences, Gulnara Shahinian http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/slavery/rapporteur/docs/A.HRC.15.20_EN.pdf; and Human
Rights Council (2010) Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Addendum : Mission to the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4c0623e92.html
63. CEDAW General Recommendation No. 26 Women Migrant Workers (forty-second session, 2008) http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/
cedaw/comments.htm
64. Lalani, M. (2011) Ending the Abuse: Policies that work to protect migrant domestic workers. Kalayaan: London http://www.kalayaan.org.uk/
documents/Kalayaan%20Report%20final.pdf
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