Women still earn less than men
Women are still being paid much less than men for doing the same jobs, research reveals today.
The study by the Conservative Party found that women typically earned 20 per cent less than men, but the pay gap was even larger for women doing part-time jobs - they earn 60p for every £1 earned by men in full-time posts for similar work. Shadow women's minister Caroline Spelman accused bosses of underpaying women compared with men doing similar work.
"The pay gap is really quite astonishing between men and women and is at its worst in
low-paid work," she said. "Among all professions it averages 20 per cent but for women in low-paid part-time work the gap is around 40 per cent.
"We are looking into ways to tackle it, including asking how to change the culture in which jobs seen as women's work tend to be markedly less well paid."
She is using a speech tonight to charge industry with using the boom in part-time jobs to conceal a policy of unfair pay which would be unlawful in full-time posts.
Although the Tories are not currently proposing new anti-discrimination
laws, shadow ministers hope the focus on women and low-paid manual workers will broaden their appeal.
They point out that the Thatcher government passed the Equal Pay for Work and Equal Value Act some 20 years ago to strengthen laws against unfair pay.
Research suggests inequality is worst in lowskilled and part-time work, which attracts many women having to juggle work with parenthood.
Mrs Spelman said ideas include publishing more detailed figures on how much men and women earn in similar jobs, to encourage women to negotiate better rates for themselves. But she did not go as far as to support trade union calls for statutory pay "audits" which would force companies to publish details of their pay structure.
"Legislation is not a cure-all for unequal pay and it is more important to challenge the social issues which seem to put a low value on women's jobs," she said. "This is an area where Labour has done very little to improve women's lot."
She pointed out that the Conservatives also passed the Equal Pay Act in 1970, which outlawed outright pay discrimination, and the Equal Value amendment in 1984 which said pay should be the same for work involving similar amounts of effort or responsibility.
