We saw an article in The Times this week about a UN report finding the UK to have a sexist culture that is more pervasive than other countries, suggesting that we have a sex discrimination problem.
Apparently we have a sexist portrayal of woman and girls in this country that is the world’s worst.
Britain’s sexist culture – Is it true?
We agree with this and you can pick any area of life and find pretty much the same thing; politics, the boardroom or films (you may be interested to learn about the Bechdel test).
There is a relevance for employers which have instances of sexism leaking through into the workplace. This includes nude calendars, risqé jokes on emails and visible visits to websites such as the topical viral voyeuristic/bullying page about women snapped eating on public transport. Employment tribunal lawyers in a sex discrimination claim will almost certainly pick up on this and use it as evidence, perhaps in a constructive dismissal case.
And with the rule that in a sex discrimination case the employer has to disprove discrimination once there is any suggestion of it, employers who haven’t already done so need to get on top of this, to avoid constructive dismissal and discrimination claims.
