Let’s be clear: Kemi Badenoch’s proposal to scrap the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) is anything but “common sense.”
The duty requires public bodies – from schools and local authorities to the NHS – to actively consider how they promote equal opportunity and fair pay. These are employers who hire high numbers of young women.
For young women, removing PSED would have real and immediate consequences. We already know that discrimination and sexual harassment remain widespread. Progress on closing pay gaps remains slow; insecure work continues to limit young women’s choices and stability; and caring responsibilities limit women’s ability to build and sustain careers. These are not isolated challenges – they are structural barriers that shape life chances.
Remove PSED and inequality doesn’t disappear – it simply becomes invisible and easier to ignore. Decisions that disadvantage young women and other groups both inside the workplace and out will still be made – but they will be harder to challenge, harder to scrutinise, and easier to overlook. Accountability won’t just weaken – it will disappear.
To scrap the PSED is to accept a future where inequality goes unexamined and unchallenged. That is not a future we should be willing to offer the next generation.