THE EQUALITY IMPLICATIONS OF BEING A MIGRANT IN BRITAIN
countries of origin and the discrimination that may be faced in the UK workplace. The evidence provided in the EIA amply demonstrates the gender pay gap, whereby in 2005 the average hourly wage for women was £11.67 and £14.08 for men; a gap of 17.1 per cent and a form of indirect discrimination. We should note that globally the gender gap averages about 16 per cent and is often higher in wealthy countries such as the United States and Canada (International Trade Union Confederation, 2008). In addition, in the UK, the gender gap increases with educational level and is higher in female-dominated occupations (over 20 per cent in education and health and social work), exactly the kind of employment covered by tier 2. UKBA outlines further evidence of the gender gap in the UK. Forty-two per cent of women are employed part time, compared to nine per cent of men. Women take more responsibility for their family and take time out for having children, hence making it more difficult for them to match the salaries achieved by comparable men. UKBA sees tier 2 as a route where the traditional skills and rewards achieved by women can be recognised, unlike the patterns prevailing amongst the highly skilled in tier 1. It adds that those who cannot enter through the RLMT route may be able to do so through the shortage list. As already noted, this may not be sufficient for those occupations where the skills themselves are inadequately recognised and remunerated, as with carers and lower-grade nurses. As feminists have for long argued, care is fundamental to the maintenance and wellbeing of society, as much as the financial and technological skills rewarded through tier 1, but it is not sufficiently recognised. The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants suggested that points should be awarded for ‘essential skills’ rather than by placing greater value on certain skills or sectors of work that are highly valued by society (UKBA, 2008b). Disability: The main concern in relation to disability is with accessibility, and specifically the on-line application system. Accessibility will be addressed by building the new IT system to comply with the industry standard W3C ‘Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0’. It is argued that following these guidelines will make content accessible to people with a wide range of disabilities, including blindness and low vision, deafness and hearing loss, learning disabilities, cognitive limitations, limited movement, speech difficulties, photosensitivity and combinations of these. Stakeholders raised general concerns that the English requirements did not take into account applicants who might have learning difficulties.
Gender identity: Stakeholders expressed serious concerns over data collection in this area. UKBA’s response was that it may be inappropriate to collect quantitative 36