Equal Pay, the Women’s Employment Federation, and the Royal Commission

Ann Mumford*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

This chapter offers a look back at the interaction between the Royal Commission on Equal Pay and the Women’s Employment Federation (WEF) in the 1940s, with the aim of elucidating the difficulties today of achieving equal pay and redressing the unfairness of unequally shared unpaid labour. This retrospective consideration aims to uncover the values underpinning the Equal Pay Act 1970 and thus to offer some reasons as to why women’s disadvantage in the workplace persists. During this period, the protection of male financial responsibility was prioritised at the expense of allocating rights to women. Nonetheless, the Royal Commission did consider the problem of equal pay from a number of different legal perspectives, which is admirable in retrospect. The chapter argues that, to make progress today, it is important to consider law collectively, rather like the Royal Commission did, but working to protect different values. The pragmatism of the WEF Registers is singled for praise in retrospect.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Evolution of the Gender Pay Gap
Subtitle of host publicationa Comparative Perspective
PublisherTaylor and Francis AS
Pages39-54
Number of pages16
ISBN (Electronic)9781000991574
ISBN (Print)9781032368160
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2023

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