All things being equal

British employment legislation is anachronistic and out of sync with 21^st century parenting, says Jude Browne, Frankopan Director of the University of Cambridge Centre for Gender Studies.

She is interested in how philosophical principles of inequality which underpin our laws translate into legislative practice, with a particular focus on gender equality.

Her talk at the Guardian Hay Festival will focus on the principle of equal treatment, which is a bedrock of EU equality policies. Investigating the principle throws up several interesting practicalities, such as how to think about the ways in which people should be treated more equally. Browne is interested in how current UK law seems to act against equality by forcing men and women into particular roles and denying them a full range of choice over how they conduct their family life.

She highlights legislation around maternity and paternity leave as a case in point. The inequality between women having months off work and men only having two weeks out of the workplace “herds people into traditional roles,” she says. “People have no choice unless they are very rich.”

This leads to all sorts of inequalities and potential discrimination in the workplace, with women of childbearing age viewed by some employers as a risky, expensive option, compared with men.

Browne says that the law should be about giving people the choice over how they wish to operate as a family unit, adding that the majority of households are now dual-earning. In many cases, both couples work full time and men want to be more involved in parenting.

She has little time for people who use generalisations to defend conservative legislation: “There is no single minded category,” she says. “I am very sceptical of assuming what people want. Men and women make decisions based on all sorts of factors. There are a whole range of scenarios.”

“The law at present is very prescriptive about what men and women should be doing as parents and traps people into social norms despite the fact that attitudes have changed so much.”

Maternity legislation has undergone several changes in recent years; for instance, it was recently extended to one year in length. Browne says this is all very well and good if women want to take a year out, but in the absence of legislation allowing men to take similar time out for parenting duties, it might make a return to work for women more difficult and hence increase inequality in the workplace.

“There has to be a holistic approach to this issue,” says Browne. “The legislation has to be properly thought through as it has a huge impact on the way people are able to organise their lives.”

Her talk fits with the multidisciplinary ethos of the University of Cambridge Centre for Gender Studies. The idea is to bring together research and innovation on everything from law and philosophy to reproductive science and literature. One way the Centre is doing this is through a collaboration with the Guardian newspaper at the beginning of next term. They will jointly play host to three lectures on gender and the biomedical advances in the 21st century at the Guardian's offices in King's Place, London.

The talks, which will be given by leading researchers aim to provide an open dialogue with the public so that they can understand the potential impact of scientific advances on society and their implications for gender.

Dr. Jude Browne will be speaking at the Hay Festival on June 6^th at 1pm.