ABSTRACT
Advocates of sex equality have responded to this marketisation of political rhetoric by seeking to justify existing, and develop further, equal opportunity employment practices in economic terms: the development of the ‘business case’ for sex equality. Notwithstanding the possibility that the business case has invigorated debate, and encouraged the adoption of fairer employment practices amongst those employers hitherto hostile to equal opportunities, the wholesale adoption of market rhetoric to justify sex equality has profound implications. Sex equality becomes dependent on the voluntary actions of employers, obviating governmental responsibility. This ‘privatisation of the sex equality policy’ is at the core of the business case. The adoption of equal opportunities legislation and employment practices are seen as the means by which to achieve the end of profit maximisation: equality is the means by which to achieve the end of improved economic performance.
