The Fawcett Society is seeking a judicial review of the government’s emergency budget for alleged failure to comply with equality laws
The Society, which filed papers with the High Court on 30 July, says the government should have assessed how its budget proposals would affect equality between women and men.
It claims 72% of cuts will be met from women’s income compared with 28% from men’s, and that women will be disproportionately affected by the proposed public sector cuts.
Samantha Mangwana, solicitor at Russell, Jones & Walker, who is representing the Fawcett Society, said: “Although public authorities have been subject to the gender equality duty for several years now, there is widespread ignorance not only about how strong these laws actually are, but also what specific steps are required to be undertaken.
“However, the case law is crystal clear in spelling this out. Firstly, an equality impact assessment must be conducted before policy decisions are taken.
Secondly, where an assessment reveals a risk of sex discrimination, urgent action must be taken to address those risks. Clearly, if the equality impact is not even assessed as a starting point, a public authority cannot start to consider what steps to take to mitigate any inequality.”
