Tackling the snail’s pace progress in addressing sexism in the City

Emmanuelle Ries looks at some of the recommendations of the recent Treasury Committee report into Sexism in the City and argues it will take more than new rules and legislation to move the dial.

The recent Treasury Committee report into Sexism in the City, published on International Women’s Day, sadly found that not much has changed since their predecessor Committee reviewed the topic 5 years ago. The report was wide ranging and detailed, covering amongst other areas the levels of representation of women in senior positions, the barriers facing women and the prevalence of sexual harassment experienced by women in City firms. 

The report suggests various steps to help bring about change, including several legislative measures which I discuss below. However, overall, I agree with the report authors that these are no magic bullets to really solve the problem. Whether or not these recommendations are enacted, it will only be cultural change that can address the issue that exists.

The authors recommended:

1. Legislation to ban the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in sexual harassment cases.

Legislation to ensure that NDAs cannot prevent disclosures to the police, health, legal or care professionals so as to make it harder to bury unacceptable behaviour is necessary to clarify the use and scope of NDAs. NDAs have been the focus of much debate for years, including amongst regulators of the legal profession. The Solicitors’ Regulation Authority produced a warning notice about NDAs in 2020; the Law Society produced a practice note in 2019 for solicitors on the use of NDAs; and in February, the Legal Services Board published a summary of its findings on its call for evidence on the misuse of non-disclosure agreements. Solicitors typically include multiple caveats on NDAs, including in relation to disclosure to police, health and legal professionals and in respect of whistleblowing. Banning the use of NDAs would certainly make it harder to keep sexual harassment confidential but it is questionable whether legislating in respect of caveats to NDAs would take us any further given solicitors’ current practice.  A ban would, however, mean that negotiated settlements in the interests of both parties might be harder to achieve. Often, the complainant is also very concerned about confidentiality and wants assurance that the matter will not be made public.

2. Legislation to mandate the inclusion of salary band information in job adverts and to ban inclusion of the candidate’s salary history as part of the job application process. 

This would be a positive step forward in reducing the perpetuating of the gender pay gap at recruitment. However, in a sector where bonuses form a substantial, and often the more substantial, part of the remuneration package, its impact as a driver for reducing the gender pay gap may be limited.

3. Legislation to strengthen the Gender Pay Gap Regulations with the requirement for firms to explain what actions they will be taking to reduce the gender pay gap and also to make the reporting applicable to firms of 50 plus employees (compared to the current 250 employees) in the financial services sector.This would help in providing data on pay transparency.

4. Legislation to strengthen whistleblowing laws to provide greater protection and support to whistle-blowers in sexual harassment cases.

Currently, whistle blowing legislation does not specifically cover sexual harassment reporting (although sexual harassment may fall under the heading of matters that tend to show that a “criminal offence” has/may have been committed and therefore satisfy one of the hurdles to qualify for protection). Whistle blowing rights and protection are complex to assert, so this places barriers to reporting non-financial misconduct internally or to the FCA. Tied with the legislation on ensuring that NDAs are not allowed to extend to reports to a regulator and a greater awareness campaign by the FCA on reporting allegations of non-financial misconduct, simplifying whistle-blowers’ protection could make a real difference to tackling sexual harassment in the sector.  

Conclusion

Whilst these are all important steps to be considered at a Government level and which would enhance the legal framework City firms operate in, what is really required to tackle the sexism that persists in the City, as the authors point out, is cultural change. That means a shift in the culture of long working hours and presenteeism, the equalisation of paid parental leave options for men and women and encouraging men to take parental leave, and flexible leave and support for parents with childcaring responsibilities.

The FCA is seeking to drive change from a regulatory perspective. But responsibility lies with firms’ senior managers to promote a positive culture and to ensure discrimination in all its guises is eliminated - policies, promotions but importantly also expectations of staff. Equally, every HR director also has an important job to do to champion, promote, influence and help bring about that change.  From my work I can see that the City remains an outlier compared to the rest of the economy in terms of how women fare in the workplace and the Treasury Committee's recommendations of legislative changes that could be enacted, won’t be enough to alter this.

First published in People Management on 21^st March. 

FURTHER INFORMATION 

If you have any questions or concerns about the topics raised in this blog, please contact Emmanuelle Ries. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Emmanuelle Ries is recognised as a specialist of employment issues arising in cross border situations.  She provides support to corporate clients with day-to-day employment law advice from recruitment, contractual and secondment documentation to issues arising at the end of the employment relationship. Emmanuelle is bilingual in English and French.