It is generally women more so than men who must deal with discrimination in the workforce.  The United Kingdom has made many strides since the 1970's in trying to eliminate the inequalities that exist, but it is clear that they are still very far behind other countries in the European Union in regard to the pay gap and other workplace inequalities. 

The Pay Gap

In 1971 just before the Equal Pay Act and Sex Discrimination Act were put into action, 38% of the entire workforce was made up of women.  Currently, women makeup 45% of the workforce which shows that progress has been made, but, the United Kingdom is still dealing with a large pay gap in the hourly wages between men and women.  A pay gap of 18% exists between men and women working full-time and a much larger pay gap of 40% for those working part-time.  The UK has been working out different types of plans to help deal with this problem, and here are a few:

• According to the Department of Trade and Industry, the UK is participating in the European project called, "Towards a Closing of the Gender Pay Gap" which is currently being led by Norway.
• The Women and Work Commission have also been working to solve this problem and have proposed ideas and plans including benefits and tax reforms.

Part-time Workers

The majority of the part-time jobs offered in the UK are mainly held by women.  Part-time jobs are often lower status jobs and often require less skill and recieve less pay.  Many of the women who occupy these jobs have the knowledge and intelligence to do more.  Essentially women with children are kept at a distance from the more important full-time jobs becuase of the inflexible working hours.  A 2005 survey conducted by Linda Grant for EOC Working Papers provided the following results which further supports the idea that women are not working up to potential:   

• 44% of women aged 16 and over worked part-time in the UK and women madeup 78% of all part-time workers.
• 53% of women are working 'below their potential' and half of all managers surveyed are unaware of their skills.

Caregiving and Domestic Labor in Regard to Women in the Workforce

One chief problem that has caused women to be forced into part-time jobs with less pay is the lack of attention paid to women concerning their caregiving responsibilities and household tasks.  Government policies and cultural viewpoints encourage for paid work to be a priority, thus neglecting domestic labor efforts.  The inflexible workforce setup, whereby family life is not being taken into account, is not accommodating to the modern working-parent family.  Finally baby steps are being made which include:

• Recent media attention to work-family difficulties altogether
• Media attention to the high demands of work and its negative effects on families which in turn has alerted politicians
• Politicians have started to propose government policies which will support parental rights and family-friendly work schemes