Equal Pay Day highlights gender gap

Women are paid half as much as their male counterparts in some areas of England and Wales, according to an organisation that campaigns for greater equality between the sexes.

The Fawcett Society is holding its Equal Pay Day to highlight the gender pay gap, which it says stands at 17.1% for full-time workers.

According to the group, this means that while men are paid all year round, effectively "women work for free after 30 October".

It has released a map which shows how the pay gap for combined part-time and full-time jobs differs across counties in England and Wales. This reveals a disparity ranging from 11.4% in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, to 28.3% in Hampshire. In London the pay gap stands at 25.4%.

And when taken on a more local level, the inequality becomes more pronounced, with West Somerset's 53% pay gap standing out as the greatest discrepancy across the country.

The society backs the Equality Bill, which was published in April and is currently making its way through Parliament, but it says that gender inequality is on the increase. It is calling for the Government to set dates for closing the pay gap for good, to mandate pay audits for all organisations, and to introduce measures to ensure flexible working hours.

Earlier this week a World Economic Forum survey on gender equality found that the UK had continued its steady fall down the rankings. The UK currently stands 15th in the index, having fallen two places each year since it occupied 9th place in 2006.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber praised the Equality Bill as a "huge opportunity to put right the wrongs of the past 40 years".

"Women have waited long enough," he said.

"But only by taking decisive action, some of which will cause discomfort amongst employers who are far too much at ease with women being underpaid, can the Government hope to end the gender pay gap."

IMAGE Thomas Goos/DPA/Press Association Images