Thesis

How can UK corporate governance law enhance LGBT dignity protection?

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Rights statement
Awarding institution
  • University of Strathclyde
Date of award
  • 2024
Thesis identifier
  • T17005
Person Identifier (Local)
  • 201862187
Qualification Level
Qualification Name
Department, School or Faculty
Abstract
  • LGBT people are equally entitled to human dignity as others are entitled to in human community/society. To respect LGBT people’s dignity, the law plays a role in substantiating and protecting LGBT people’s interests in all aspects of life: LGBT people’s ‘full membership’. LGBT dignity protection has been developed, inter alia, in human rights law, the law of employment and service provision, family law, immigration law and equality law in the UK jurisdiction. This thesis aims at introducing corporate governance to contribute to LGBT dignity protection in the UK. It will answer the question how UK Corporate Governance law can be changed to enhance LGBT dignity protection. The focused problem in this thesis is that LGBT people can experience expressive harm in corporate activities, including service provision and employment areas. UK Equality law provides ‘extra protection’ on freely expressing/manifesting beliefs or opinions, which involve objection to LGBT identities and interests, such as objection to same-sex life in Christianity beliefs. Individuals can be allowed by the law to go beyond ‘mere disapproval’ and (intentionally or unintentionally) to deliver heterosexual and cisgender superiority implications through service provision and employment areas. The expressions/manifestations can ‘pull’ LGBT people from the ‘equal high rank’ among human community, but those speakers are not legally required with any responsibility for this LGBT expressive harm. I contend that corporate directors and managers are not mandated with duties to address this expressive harm to LGBT people in the UK jurisdiction. In Equality law, the UK proportionate approach is focused on merely dealing with material harm (e.g. discrimination) and does not provide much legal guidance on tackling expressive harm. More importantly, UK Corporate Governance law does not impose legal obligations for directors to tackle expressive harm to LGBT people in corporate activities. S.172 (1) of the Companies Act 2006, as a key source of UK Corporate Governance law, mandates directors to promote the success of the company for the ultimate purpose of shareholders’ interests. The statutory principle imposes little obligation on directors to seriously protect stakeholders’ interests, including but not limited to employees, customers and people in the local society in the UK. From the perspective of directors’ duties, UK Corporate Governance law allows directors to disappoint LGBT stakeholders/people, leaving them in the expressive harm sufferings through companies. In order to enhance LGBT dignity protection in corporate world, this thesis adopts the transformative corporate social responsibility (CSR) theoretical approach and promotes changes in UK Corporate Governance law. Corporate purpose is about more than mere profitmaking and shareholders’ wealth objectives. Protecting stakeholders’ interests should be a substantive objective. The transformative CSR approach intends to widen directors’ duties and presents that directors should sacrifice profit-making and shareholder wealth creation for the purpose of stakeholder protection. It will embody substantive stakeholder protection in corporate purpose. The transformative CSR approach marks a shift from profit-maximisation to profit-sacrificing social responsibilities in corporate governance. To bridge corporate responsibility and LGBT dignity protection, this thesis adopts the radical feminist ‘care and compassion’ principle to strengthen the role of transformative CSR in challenging corporate heterosexual (and cisgender) superiority culture. The radical feminist perspectives demonstrate that the ‘care and compassion’ to LGBT stakeholders/people means protecting LGBT stakeholders’ human rights and interests in corporate life. It also demonstrates that directors should exercise power to overturn LGBT subordination, encouraging to integrate LGBT dignity protection ‘lessons’ (UK Equality law) into UK Corporate Governance law. Following from the theoretical discussions, this thesis proposes an independent LGBT due diligence process in the UK Corporate Governance law in order to address the LGBT expressive harm. In this process, there would be a central mandatory duty – LGBT due diligence duty – for directors to identify, prevent and mitigate expressions and manifestations which involve objections to LGBT interests in corporate activities, for the purpose of respecting LGBT dignity. This duty echoes the transformative CSR approach, widening directors’ duties; also, this duty echoes the radical feminist ‘care and compassion’ principle, intending to overturn LGBT subordination. To strengthen the central duty, this thesis proposes to create two supportive CSR-related mechanisms, including the mandatory LGBT due diligence reporting and the LGBT stakeholder engagement (soft-law), to enhance scrutinisation. The main findings are that the proposed LGBT due diligence process can weaken shareholder primacy but also strengthen UK Corporate Governance law to enhance LGBT tolerance through companies. Furthermore, the proposed governance change in corporate entities can set an example for the law of other organisations or entities, such as partnerships, financial sectors, charities and public authorities, to learn how to enhance LGBT dignity protection in the relevant service and provision areas. Nevertheless, the LGBT due diligence process, as an initial proposal, may not completely overturn shareholder primacy in UK Corporate Governance law; it can encounter other challenges and limitations. To strengthen this proposal as a more LGBT-affirmative mechanism, this research implies more radical changes on corporate purpose and responsibility in the UK corporate legal framework and more changes in UK Equality law that can provide direct ‘legal guidance’ on corporate governance.
Advisor / supervisor
  • Norrie, Kenneth McK. (Kenneth McKenzie), 1959-
  • Kenny, Mel B.
Resource Type
DOI
Date Created
  • 2023

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