Pressing for progress: women’s rights and gender equality ...

Pressing for progress: women's rights and gender equality in 2018

Full report and recommendations

Pressing for progress: women's rights and gender equality in 2018

Contents

List of abbreviations

4

Introduction

7

Devolution and the scope of this report ........................................................... 8

Role and remit of the Equality and Human Rights Commission ...................... 9

Engagement with civil society........................................................................ 10

1. Enhancing the status of international human rights in domestic law

11

Full implementation and incorporation of CEDAW......................................... 11

Human Rights Act 1998................................................................................. 12

Full implementation of the Equality Act 2010................................................. 13

Implications of leaving the European Union .................................................. 14

2. Participation in political and civic life

17

Political participation ...................................................................................... 17

Public and private appointments.................................................................... 20

3. Gender-based violence, harassment and abuse

22

Background and context

22

Sexual violence ............................................................................................. 24

Domestic violence, abuse and femicide ........................................................ 28

Harmful practices........................................................................................... 35

Hate crime, hate speech and identity-based harassment .............................. 44

4. Access to civil justice

48

Legal aid ........................................................................................................ 48

Employment tribunals .................................................................................... 50

5. Human trafficking and modern slavery

53

Modern slavery .............................................................................................. 53

Strengthening the National Referral Mechanism ........................................... 56

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Pressing for progress: women's rights and gender equality in 2018

6. Detention and asylum

58

Women in prison............................................................................................ 58

Immigration detention .................................................................................... 61

Asylum seekers' access to services .............................................................. 64

7. Adequate standard of living and social security

68

Cumulative impact of welfare and tax changes ............................................. 68

Specific changes to the social security system.............................................. 70

Changes to the state pension age ................................................................. 73

Housing and homelessness........................................................................... 75

8. Just and fair conditions of work

79

Women in work.............................................................................................. 79

Discrimination and harassment in the workplace........................................... 83

Occupational segregation .............................................................................. 86

Pay ................................................................................................................ 88

9. Highest attainable standard of health

92

Mental and physical health ............................................................................ 92

Sexual and reproductive health and rights .................................................... 96

10. Equality in education

100

Bias in subject choices ................................................................................ 100

Personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) and relationships and sex education ..................................................................................................... 102

Bullying and harassment in schools ............................................................ 104

Contacts

108

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Pressing for progress: women's rights and gender equality in 2018

List of abbreviations

AMs BIS CCGs CEDAW

CO CPS CQC DfE DWP EA ECHR EHRC EU FGM FMU HBV HMCPSI HMIC HMICFRS

HMI Prisons HPV

Assembly Members Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Clinical commissioning groups Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women Concluding Observations Crown Prosecution Service Care Quality Commission Department for Education Department for Work and Pensions Equality Act European Convention on Human Rights Equality and Human Rights Commission European Union Female genital mutilation Forced Marriage Unit `Honour-based' violence HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate HM Inspector of Constabulary Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services HM Inspectorate of Prisons Human papilloma virus

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Pressing for progress: women's rights and gender equality in 2018

HRA IRC IVF JCHR LASPO LGBT MSA NHRIs NICs NICE NLW NMW NRM ONS PSHE/PSE RSE SDG SPA SR VAW STEM STI TUC UC UCAS UK UN VAWG

Human Rights Act Immigration Removal Centre In vitro fertilisation Joint Committee on Human Rights Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 Lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans Modern Slavery Act National Human Rights Institutions National Insurance contributions National Institute for Health and Care Excellence National Living Wage National Minimum Wage National Referral Mechanism Office for National Statistics Personal, social, health and economic Relationships and sex education Sustainable Development Goal State pension age Special Rapporteur on violence against women Science, technology, engineering and mathematics Sexually transmitted infection Trades Union Congress Universal Credit Universities and Colleges Admissions Service United Kingdom United Nations Violence against women and girls

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Pressing for progress: women's rights and gender equality in 2018

WASPI WAVE YWT

Women Against State Pension Inequality Women Adding Value to the Economy Young Women's Trust

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Pressing for progress: women's rights and gender equality in 2018

Introduction

This report represents the response of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (the EHRC) to the UK Government's eighth periodic report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The EHRC recognises and commends the progress made in the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) since it was last reviewed in 2013, including: ? criminalising forced marriage (see page 43) ? introducing the Modern Slavery Act (see page 53) ? introducing shared parental leave (see page 82) ? bringing in tougher gender pay gap regulations (see page 89), and ? committing to establish mandatory, age-appropriate relationships and sex

education (see page 103).

Nevertheless, we also focus on areas in which there has been insufficient progress, or are ongoing challenges in the realisation of CEDAW. Our report relates to 73% of the substantive Concluding Observations issued by the CEDAW Committee in 2013, many of which are still outstanding or not fully implemented. Women's rights, gender equality and social norms have been the subject of much national and international debate in recent months. In the UK, a series of incidents have called into question the rigid set of assumptions many still have of women and girls and the significant problems they face, such as sexual harassment in schools and in the workplace (see pages 83-85 and 104-107). This wide-ranging report ? our broadest ever review into women's rights ? seeks to demonstrate the extent to which gender inequality affects the various facets of women's lives. Recognising that women have diverse lived experiences, we have sought to include intersectional analysis where evidence allowed. However, persistent gaps in data disaggregated by protected characteristics remain, making it harder to identify multiple discrimination and disadvantage. The EHRC is clear, however, that CEDAW protects and relates to all women, and our recommendations should be read as applying to all groups of women.

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Pressing for progress: women's rights and gender equality in 2018

This report also highlights the sometimes serious and extreme consequences of women's inequality. EHRC research has found that there is a clear link between commonly held, prejudiced attitudes and unlawful behaviour.1 This aligns with the CEDAW Committee's recent general recommendation on violence against women, which states that `the need to assert male control or power, enforce gender roles, or prevent, discourage or punish what is considered to be unacceptable female behaviour ... contribute to the explicit or implicit social acceptance of gender-based violence against women ... and to the widespread impunity in that regard'.2

Our aim is to encourage the UK and Welsh governments to use the CEDAW reporting process to continue and strengthen their efforts to assess progress and improve compliance with their human rights obligations. To this end, our submission includes specific recommendations, which we believe can support this important task.

Devolution and the scope of this report

The UK comprises four countries ? England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The UK Parliament has devolved various powers to the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly, and it maintains responsibility for matters that have not been devolved (`reserved' matters) and for England. Responsibility for implementing CEDAW therefore lies with the UK and devolved governments.

In addition, there are three separate legal systems in the UK ? England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Supreme Court is the UK's highest court of law. It is the final court of appeal for all UK civil cases. It also decides `devolution issues' about whether the devolved authorities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have acted, or propose to act, within their powers.

This report is presented as a detailed annex to our formal submission, and aims to cover England and Wales for all areas and Scotland for issues that are reserved to

1 Equality and Human Rights Commission. 2016. `Research report 101: Prejudice and unlawful behaviour, exploring levers for change', p. 14. Available at: [accessed: 12 January 2018]. 2 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. 2017. Launch of CEDAW General Recommendation No. 35 on gender-based violence against women, updating General Recommendation No. 19. [ONLINE]. Available at: [accessed: 29 April 2018].

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