Women and Brexit
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EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT Women and Brexit Assessing the Impact of Brexit on Women and Gender Equality in the UK Mary Honeyball MEP and Hannah Manzur September 2019 1 Women and Brexit Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................3 Executive Summary ................................................................................................................4 1. Women’s Rights and Equality Law Post-Brexit............................................. 8 The Protection Floor .................................................................................................................... 12 a. Evaluating the Government’s approach ............................................................................13 The Government’s Reaction to Equality Law and Women’s Rights Concerns and Proposals .... 15 Concerns arising from the UK’s Record on Equality Law: EU and Domestic ............................ 20 b. The Loss of Legal Protections and Safeguards for Equality Law Post-Brexit....................21 Loss of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights ........................................................................... 21 The European Court of Justice and EU Case Law....................................................................... 23 Women’s Employment Rights and Protections: EU Directives at Risk........................................ 24 c. Missing Out on Future Rights and Protections ..................................................................31 The Work-Life Balance Directive................................................................................................. 32 The Women on Boards Directive.................................................................................................. 33 2. The Socio-Economic Impact of Brexit on Women....................................... 34 a. Austerity, Trade and the Gender Pay Gap........................................................................36 Austerity Measures, Public Spending Cuts and Female & Family Poverty................................. 37 Post-Brexit Trade Policies and Agreements................................................................................. 40 Widening the Gender Pay and Pension Gap................................................................................ 41 b. The Socio-economic Impact of Brexit on Women as Workers, Consumers, Public Service Users and Carers ............................................................................................................................43 The Socio-economic Impact of Brexit on Women as Workers...................................................... 44 The Socio-economic Impact of Brexit on Women as Consumers ................................................. 46 The Socio-economic Impact of Brexit on Women as Public Service Users.................................. 48 The Socio-economic Impact of Brexit on Women as Carers ........................................................ 51 3. Where are the Women? – The Representation of Women’s Voices and Gendered Perspectives within Brexit ............................................................................... 54 a. Representing Women within the Brexit Campaign............................................................55 The Representation of Women in the Media................................................................................. 55 The Gender Gap in Voting patterns and Opinion Polls ............................................................... 56 Brexit Campaigns and Activism before and after the Referendum............................................... 58 b. Representation of Women within the Brexit Process .........................................................62 2 Women and Brexit Representation of Women within Parliamentary Debates on Brexit............................................ 63 Representation of Women within Decision-making Positions in the Brexit Process ................... 63 4. The Impact of Brexit on Women’s Organizations and Vulnerable Groups... 67 a. Women’s Rights Organizations and Support Services.......................................................68 The Impact of Brexit on Women’s Organizations: Policy Influence and Collaboration.............. 68 Defunding Women’s Organization and Support Services ............................................................ 70 b. Intersectional Brexit: Examining the Impact on Marginal and Vulnerable Groups of Women ..............................................................................................................................................72 Female Victims of Sexual and Domestic Violence ....................................................................... 73 Migrant Women: Settled Status and ‘Productive Man’................................................................ 75 Minority Religious and Ethnic Women......................................................................................... 79 Minority and Vulnerable Groups ................................................................................................. 82 Regional Effects on Women.......................................................................................................... 85 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................89 3 Women and Brexit Introduction This report challenges the notion of a ‘gender-neutral Brexit’ by illustrating the gendered impacts of both mainstream and marginalised aspects of the Brexit process and its consequences for women in the UK. It will analyse the legal, economic, and social impact of Brexit on women, paying particular attention to areas where women are specifically and/or disproportionately affected. These areas have been largely excluded from media coverage and public debate on Brexit, and have received little to no responsive action by the Government. Brexit constitutes a ‘critical juncture’ in the UK1. Decisions made and actions taken throughout the Brexit process “will establish political structures that will have a long lasting impact on gender equality policies and politics”2. Discourses, policies and processes currently being undertaken by political figures and institutions will determine the post-Brexit structural landscape of British politics, law, and society. The issue of ‘Brexit’ functions as a filter for contemporary political, social and economic issues, assigning value and contextual meaning to narratives and policies on immigration, trade, employment, public services, the economy and democracy. This filtering process also serves to exclude issues which do not conform to mainstream notions of what ‘Brexit’ means for the UK, taking oxygen from discussions on social and structural problems and inequalities, including the issue of women’s interests and gender equality. At present, the gender-blind approach of the Government towards Brexit and the exclusion of women’s voices and interests in media and political debates and discussions of Brexit is contributing towards the increasing disadvantage of women within this process. Similarly to Government austerity policies in response to the 2008 financial crisis, the persistently gender-blind approach towards the Brexit crisis will result in the systematic disadvantage of women’s rights and interests. This threat is largely the result of the lack of visibility concerning women’s labour, the expectation that they will shoulder the burden for families and the most vulnerable, and the silencing of their voices and interests. The depth and breadth of these issues, as evidenced in this report, and the absence of media and political attention towards them is jarring. Based on the findings of this report, it is unsurprising that experts have argued that “Brexit poses the greatest modern day threat to women’s rights and gender equality policies in the UK”3. If we are to improve, or even maintain, the current levels of equality, protections and prosperity that EU membership directly or indirectly grants women in the UK, we must take decisive, proactive steps to address the very real threats to the future of women and gender equality in the UK. A multitude of voices from academia, NGO and charity sectors, politics and governance have raised these issues and suggested necessary actions needed to address them. These include key reports by the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee (Women’s Committee)4, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) 5, 1 Guerrina, R. Murphy, H. 2016. ‘Strategic Silences in the Brexit Debate: Gender, Marginality and Governance’. Journal of Contemporary European Research. 12:2. See also: Hozic, A. and True, J. 2017. ‘Brexit as Scandal: Gender and Global Trumpism’. Review of International Political Economy. 24:2. 2 https://www.equallyours.org.uk/edf-gendering-brexit-blog-series-dont-worry-womens-rights-and-equality-are- already-embedded-within-our-legal-framework/#more-50448 See also: Hozic and True, ‘Brexit as Scandal’ 3 Statement made by Professor Roberta Guerrina, Head of Politics at the University of Surrey and leading expert on gender and Brexit. Available at: https://www.surrey.ac.uk/mediacentre/press/2018/brexit-one-greatest-threats- women%E2%80%99s-rights 4 House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee. February 2017. Ensuring Strong Equalities Legislation after the EU Exit. Available at: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmwomeq/799/799.pdf.