Average pay tells you nothing if there is a descrepancy between pay for exactly the same job thats a problem but less women take carers in high paying jobs note how more men go for stuff like law, plumbing, finance ect of couse mens average pay will be higher men go for higher paying jobs

Edward smith, Birkenhead, UK

Personally, I'm sick to the back teeth of hearing how badly women are treated: it's not my experience. For example, how old did a woman have to be in comparison with a man before she could draw a pension?

Robert, Hull, East Yorkshire

The system should really be based on meritocracy. Not all men are sexist/racist, and for those people this will be an unfair and discriminatory system. The way forward is to equal the balances, not tip them strongly the other way.

Sam, Exeter, England

The Equal Opportunities Commission payed for a whole series of research pieces which looked at women and work. What this found was that differences in pay reflected job and sector and the time "off" mothers had and subsequent part time work. Hence they focussed on child care and job choices.

Nigel Johnson, Manchester,

This is a difficult call. For a woman to get to the same point in her career as a man, she will have had to work harder and battle sexism all the way, so if there is a tie-break, the odds are she is in fact the better candidate. But not every time so I can see why men would feel this is unfair.

Alison, London,

This makes me incredibly angry - as a white male without disability I already feel that I am discriminated against & of less value.This work at making sure others have more rights than I do just alienates me & eventually will prejudice me further against those whom I feel are given unfair advantages

M Ross, Newcastle, UK

Can someone tell me how this BIll fits with the Human Rights Act, Articles 14, 6 and possibly 7 ? The Prohibition of Discrimination, the Right to a Fair Trial and no punishment without law ! If the government wishes to rescind the HRA for white males - then welcome to the Nulabour Nuremberg Laws !!

John Williamson, Birmingham, England

Positive discrimination, is in itself discrimination against those it doesn't favour. Favouritism towards minorities is especially worrying. With most of England decidedly miffed as regards immigration, it seems New Labour is determined to get the BNP into power! I agree with Phil from Warrington.

Dilip Dhokia, Bradford, UK

Peter from Cambridge. I couldn't agree more. This measure is symptomatic of a government that lives in an ideological bubble that bears no relation ot reality. They're completely out of touch with the wider spectrum of society and they've got to go.

Colin, Glasgow, UK

Well done, Harman! I applaud this long-due measure and the introduction of the Single Equality Bill. Those who criticise the measures do not truly grasp the nuances of gender, age, disability, race and orientation discrimination. True equality will attracts hostility; a good sign for the Bill surely

Jennifer, London,

For many years I have been the sole breadwinner in my family and my wife has been a mother and home-maker. I would not be happy to be discriminated against in favour of a woman who might be adding a second income to her family whilst depriving my family of their sole means of support.

Peter, Cambridge,

My god Harriet Harman wants to enshrine institutionalised racism into law.
Goes well with her job title: Minister for Equality.
Not much equality in this idea Harriet. Try again, better still resign let someone else try.

Nick Mackenzie-Rowe, Halesowen, England

Welcome to Stalingrad..

ronnie, bucks, UK

excellant....more British, white, males unable to find work!!

ian e, okotoks,

Has this government lost all sense of reality?
Anybody with half a brain can see that this causes more damage to race relations than anything else.

I'll be glad when these idiots get voted out.

Rich, bristol, uk

Has she considered relocating to Zimbabwe?

ronnie, bucks, UK

It seems that you only show selected items, mine must have been too seditious!!!

Andrew Sherriff, milford haven, wales

Is Harriet just worried that a lot a female & Ethnic Nulabour MP's will be on the job market soon.

Dan, London, England

There is NO gender pay gap between full time childless single women and their male counterparts. To make a lifestyle choice of less work, less responsibility, more leisure (or family) time because you value that more than the money you could otherwise earn is not discrimination, but personal choice.

Paul, Middlesbrough, England

Labour's distorted view of the world which makes male second citizens and white males the bottom of the pile. So does this mean that office assistant working for a company can earn the same wage an office assistant working for an MP £45K pa? Labour are the discriminators and it is illegal!

steve tea, manchester, cheshire

I listened to Ms Harmon this morning on Radio 4. Equality is one thing. but I am very worried about interference when interviewing Quite often candidates have similar qualifications/experience and in the end it comes down to how the applicant will fit in with the other staff and company ethos.

Veronica, Manchester, England

It's funny how this useless government hate white working class males, but it is those same white working class that are in the frontline in Afghanistan & Iraq doing the governments dirty work
Maybe Harriet is just getting things in place so when she is voted out she can get a job in the real world

jim, Surrey, UK

So because I'm a Man, born of British parents in Britain, it's now LEGAL to discriminate against me? Encouraged in fact?

In the real world, there's no such thing as "equal" candidates. One will be better in one way or another. Race, Sex or Age SHOULDN'T be a factor in the decision.

John, London, UK

So if an educated black woman wrote to Gordon Brown an applied for the job of equality minsterm surely Brown would need to sack Harmna now? yes? Give the so called equality minster a spoon of her own medicine. Lough!

This is just silly and shows once more that Labour totally lost the plot.

Marek, London,

1. Ms Harman knows perfectly well that it's not a question of equal pay, but of equal remuneration (incl. non-pecuniary & "allowances"). How will that be published for Cabinet Ministers and MP's?

2. Positive discrimination acts solely to breed mistrust and to promote creative decision making.

Nikki, Southampton, UK

As a minority male in a team at my place of work, being told to discriminate in favour females is going to increase the imbalance. Is this general or job-specific - Nursing/Hair Dressing, Veterinary Science where women are in the majority?

Paul, Wimborne,

BNP BNP BNP BNP BNP BNP BNP BNP BNP BNP BNP BNP BNP BNP BNP BNP BNP BNP

I am now convinced that this is the ONLY way forward for this country! There is more discrimination under Labour than there would ever be under the BNP.

John, London, ENGLAND

Well done Labour, that's probably the final nail in the coffin of your re-election chances.

When will politicians try and see this kind of divisive, racist, sexist, politically correct legislation from the voter's point of view?

To Labour it seems, white men are sexist, racist bigots.

Jim Pooley, Brentford, UK

Don't worry, my fellow white British friends, the army will still take you!

John, London, ENGLAND

The government are telling companies to employ women and ethnic minorties, They're demanding through law, that women can have maternity pay, time off for child care, flexible hours for schools etc, all very well, but what employer will employ a women of child bearing age now ? esp in top
mangment

james, bristol,

This is racist not equal and will only bring resentment towards people from ethnic backgrounds.

As an British Male of Asian origin i would benefit from decisions like this but i feel that any position that i get would be undermined now as the perception would be colour got me the job not ability

Rishi Ruparelia, Edgware, UK

Whatever happened to our "meritocracy"?
Racism and sexism have now gone full circle.

Natalie, Dover,

There is already a requirement for equal pay when men and women do exactly the same work. The solution is enforcement of the existing law, not the introduction of a new piece of sexist and racist legislation.

Mike Hart, London, England

Harriet Harman lost it long ago. Who on earth, with an IQ in excess of 5, can see the rationale behind her proposals

Women are virtually unemployable at the best of times. They get paid a fortune in maternity leave and more prone to taking time off due to sickness. Let's chuck more money away.

George, London, UK

This is outrageous. Harman is a disgrace. Why would any woman want to get a job just because she is a woman? If you are black AND female presumably you walk on water?

Janice, London, England

discrimination against white men then i see if fine, way to make people resent labour and the goverment and women and minorites even more, I wounder how many new voters the BMP will pick up thankst to this?

MR W Jones, Liverpool, England

It has been proved time and again that women are not discriminated against on pay.Where men and women are doing the same job the rates are exactly the same.It is illegal in this country for it to be otherwise.What this will do to UK employers does not bear thinking about .

mike savell, eastbourne, UK

So, us white males are to be turned into second class citizens by Labour. After the next general election when Labour have been thrown out, the Conservatives are going to have to put a lot of effort into clearing up Labour's mess.

Michael Cawood, Wrexham, Wales, UK

This is infantile posturing from an infantile politician. It will hurt "equality". What is a "tiebreak"? Does Harman know anything about employing people? I'm Labour and I want these people out of office as they are hurting the people they claim to represent and the causes they claim to espouse.

david , poole, uk

No mention of Disable People as usual

Eric, Leicester,

This has been going on in the Public sector and Police for a few years now, this is extending quotas to the private sector as well. If you are a straight white male, you are bottom of the pile Im afraid, get used to it-still election coming up!

steve, west midlands, great britain

Positive discrimination, an oxymoron if there ever was one.

Paul, Andover,

As a hard working white male I'm glad that I'm emigrating in a month's time and will no londer be paying the salary of Harriet Harman and her (I'm sure extensive) entourage to dream up laws that discriminate against me.

Andy, Bristol,

1984 finally got here, somewhat late

All people are equal - its just that some are more equal than others

Charles, Walsall, England

This proposal is crazy from an ethnic minority stand point.
Companies always have to look out for the best candidates regardless of their colour. However, companies should go into ethnic communities and give encouragement to meet the required standards and opportunities will be given.

Peter, London,

This is one of the most offensive pieces of proposed legislation I have ever heard. It is at best political suicide and at worse extremely dangerous - not just fanning the flames of race hate but pouring petrol on them.

The government may as well start canvassing for the BNP.

Mike Richards, Maidstone, Kent

I do not want "favours", only equal rights. I want the same pay for employees with the same job responsibilities in the company. It would be much more helpful if salaries are reviewed during company audit and if unlawful, high fines and name and shame policies are enforced.

Carmen, Dorset,

Paradoxically, I'll be quite glad to be a white male if this system comes in. This will probably only have a small effect on my employment opportunities, but at least I won't have co-workers resenting me and whispering behind my back that I only got the job through being a non-white woman.

Richard, Cambridge,

Yet another government policy that would have been better left in a 1980's student union. Can we have some serious adult government in this country for a change instead stuff spouted by Rick from the Young Ones?

John, Falkirk, UK

What happens when you have a white woman and an ethnic minority man competing for the job?

How do you prove you were discriminated against?

Looks like more work for the lawyers to me!

phil, Worcester,

As an owner of a small engineering company I am taking the position of equality very seriously. I am moving the business to Denmark and everyone in the UK will equally have no job.

Dave Cave, Shirley,

This is just PC'ness gone insane!

Right person for the job I say!

Arthur, Newcastle,

Don't worry Jonny of Brighton, you will soon be highly sought after ...... ..... .... ... by museums of extinct british culture.

Matt, Antibes, France

So everytime a woman or ethnic minority doesn't get a job they applied for who will check whether the employer had a tiebreak decision to make? What right-minded employer would own up to making a choice based on gender or religious nuttery.

David Smith, Stourbridge, UK

Favouring Women and minorites in a tiebreak...How is that equality?

Dave, Harlow, UK

An absolute disgrace.

As Nick Mackenzie stated, positive discrimination is, still, discrimination. I cannot, in any way, conceive how this can be viewed as furthering equality. Although discrimination against these groups is detestable, this ill-advised proposal simply victimises another group.

Alan Campbell, Canterbury,

A disgrace. Again.

Dave, Devon,

“Public sector equality rights are fast becoming an ivory tower that private sector employees can only dream of"

And private sector efficiency is an ivory tower that the public sector can only dream of; perhaps they should start to examine an applicant’s suitability rather than their sex or race.

Russ Harrison, London,

As a woman in the workplace, I'm obviously all in favour of equality. However, I think it'll be a real shame that if I get a job based on merit and qualifications etc, people could assume that I've only succeeded because of 'positive discrimination'.

Laura, Staffs,

I am slightly concerned where this is going. As a middle class, white, British, straight, able bodied, privately educated male I wonder who will ever want to employ me!

Jonny, Brighton, UK

Yes dear.

mr smith, hitchin, england

one step forward two steps back.

This isn't equality it's PC gone mad, I'd rather be judged on my merits and suitability for the job than the fact I'm a woman.

It's not right

Eleanor, Winchester,

Is it not discriminatory for there to be a Minister for Women but not a Minister for Men?

Andrew Pittman, Bristol, UK

"Positive" discrimination hurts everybody - a white male of a working class background can be overlooked in favour of a privately educated minority ethnic female; it also means that all talented non-white/female staff will have people assuming they only got there via their gender/race.

Dire.

Ben, London, UK

I voted Labour in '97 because I thought a Labour victory would bring about more equality, yet after all these years there is more division than ever because they've followed a partisan agenda -it's as though there are too many people in the party with a grudge. Positive discrimination is wrong.

Matt Richardson, London, UK

Harriet Harman, equalities minister
Government say firms must favour women and minorities
Am I the only one that sees a contradiction here?

Steven, Derby, Derbyshire

role in the south african quota system. Surely instead of trying to ensure that female directors earn the same 6 figure salaries as their male counterparts shouldent we be trying to increase equality and oppertunity between clases by reducing the gap between the top salaries and the national average

grant, london,

What success will approaching discrimination with further discrimination truly have? This will surely create yet further divides in communities all over the country. Completely counter-productive and grossly unfair!

mark, london, uk

White males have nothing to worry about. Any marginalisation they feel is put there by their own actions, such as binge-drinking and brawling at football matches.

John, London,

This is a fairly predictable response from Labour. Very down in the polls, with funding now mostly from unions they are moving left. This is increasingly looking like the dying days of the Major government. Expect a very "progressive" budget next and caving on pay demands over the summer.

Tom, London, UK

So the indiginous white male suffers yet again at the hands of NuLabour.
Well done, I feel a vote for BNP is the last vestage of hope for the white English male!

Pete, St Albans, England

Surely the Government are creating discrimination here in the name of equality?! Madness!!!!!

Scott Allan, Glasgow,

"Government say firms must favour women and minorities"..........

How disgracefully discriminatory!

judy, Liverpool, England

Promoting women and minorities for the sake of it instead of the best man/woman for the job has caused no end of problems to industry. Just look at the state of the public sector services to prove the point.
I am not a male chauvinist pig or a racist. I just think the best man/woman/minority for the job should get it.

Phil, Warrington, England

This isn't "a bit a of a push forward" its blatant anti-male discrimination. The best candidate for the job should get it - enough said. Observing any workplace I've been in, anyone who still thinks this kind of measure is needed lives in a 1970s fantasy land. Will Labours nannies never grow-up?

Clive , Chesterfield, UK

The Government was today outlining plans to promote equality at work, including plans to favour female and ethnic minority candidates if there is a tiebreak for a job vacancy.

This is equality funny I thought positive discrimination was still discrimination

Nick Mackenzie-Rowe, Halesowen, England

equality or 'positive discrimination'!?

Every company I have worked had had women in high ranking positions and on equal standing with their male peers. As a white man, Im outraged at such a proposal.

Dave, London, UK

There should be only one determinant for job promotions which is "who can do the job best". Neither gender, age or ethnicity should be relevant.

Positive discrimination will undermine the person because he/she will never know whether the job was awarded on merit or on political correctness

John Goode, Welwyn Garden City, UK

What happened best person fot the job - I think it's time to leave the country......

Trever , swindon ,

Well the Labour government has certainly pioneered positive discrimination in favour of women over the last eleven years and the result has been the likes of Harman, Morris, Kelly, Jowell, Hewitt etc etc being promoted beyond their capabilities. You couldn't have said that about Barbara Castle.

Ian, Chelmsford, UK

'encourages companies to favour female and ethnic minorities candidates if there is tiebreak for a job vacancy."

What has this got to do with fair pay? I'm all for treating people equally, but with a measure like this in the 'Equality Act' it seems to be a bit of an oxymoron!

Sam Guillen, Fareham, UK

The numbers she's comparing are averages taken over all jobs. And she knows it.

She's comparing cleaners with software engineers, not women with men. In the few areas where women and men do the same work, they get paid the same.

And she knows it.

Lew Boiley, Luxembourg,