Women and Equalities Committee

CommonsSelectest. 03 Jun 2015Email ↗● Actively Monitored
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Sessions analysed59
Commitments83
Positions149
Recommendations257

Latest Signals

02 Sept 2026Employers distrust disabled workers' flexibilityPosition
“[Speaker: Professor Chung] We anticipate—again, drawing from our work on mothers and also ethnic minority workers—that employers inevitably will have a perhaps unconscious bias towards disabled workers and a bit of a distrust as to whether they will be able to efficiently carry out their work when they are working flexibly. That is probably one of the big reasons.”
02 Sept 2026Mixed view on tougher statutory rules versus informal flexibilityDisagreement
02 Sept 2026Flexible working can narrow the disability gapPosition
02 Sept 2026Remote and hybrid work still misses many disabled workersConcern
02 Sept 2026Reasonable adjustments are often delayed or refusedConcern
02 Sept 2026Enforcement of reasonable adjustments is too weakConcern
02 Sept 2026Equality Act definition does not fit all disabled peopleConcern
02 Sept 2026Access to Work delays and bureaucracy deter claimsConcern

Recent Sessions

View all (59)
02 Sept 2026Flexible working and disability at work
2 pos5 concern7 rec1 disag
15 Jul 2026Flexible working, disability and reasonable adjustments
4 pos4 concern4 rec1 disag
08 Jul 2026Women in sport science: pathways and barriers
12 concern6 rec
01 Jul 2026FGM reconstructive surgery evidence and funding
2 commit3 pos3 concern1 disag
24 Jun 2026Women and Equalities: equality code and VAWG
9 commit5 pos2 concern1 rec
17 Jun 2026Routes into sport officiating for girls and women
4 pos7 concern4 rec

Recent Commitments

View all (83)

Recent Recommendations

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Frequent Witnesses

NHS England5× · 24 insights
Department of Health and Social Care4× · 23 insights
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)4× · 13 insights
Equality and Human Rights Commission3× · 56 insights
University College London3× · 12 insights
UK Government2× · 28 insights

About this committee

Scrutiny of government policy and public bodies on women's rights, gender equality, and discrimination across all protected characteristics falls within the remit of this House of Commons select committee. The committee takes oral evidence from ministers, officials, experts and affected individuals across multiple inquiry sessions held throughout the parliamentary year. Members investigate equality and diversity initiatives, examining their effectiveness through expert panels and stakeholder testimony. Recent work has examined women's representation and funding in live comedy, hearing from performers and industry witnesses about barriers to progression. The committee has investigated female entrepreneurship through the Invest in Women Taskforce, exploring support mechanisms for women-led businesses. Separate inquiries have scrutinised the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority's regulation of egg donation and freezing, as well as online misogyny in the manosphere and its amplification through media platforms.