Blair in equality for women call

12 April 2012

Prime Minister Tony Blair said that Britain has come a long way in addressing equality for women but added more work still needs to be done.

Mr Blair said issues such as equal pay had to be looked at to ensure women were treated fairly in the future.

But he said Britain had made changes in areas such as maternity pay and childcare that it could be proud of.

Mr Blair was addressing a group of 40 women from across the UK at a breakfast meeting in Downing Street to mark International Women's Day.

He said: "There's been a large amount of change in this country - many changes in the past decade on maternity pay, maternity leave, the minimum wage, childcare and tax credits.

"However, this is a time to reflect on what's still left to do. There's still a major pay gap that's got to be addressed."

Speaking of his own experiences in Government, he said: "When I first came in to the House of Commons there were very few women MPs, now there are many more but still not enough."

Mr Blair told the group that while the situation in Britain had improved, in other countries women were still not treated as equals to men.

He said: "Things are not so great in many countries for all sorts of reasons - cultural, traditional and historic. There are real problems for women in getting equality and to fulfil their potential in the way they wish to do so.

"This is a time we reflect on the position of women in our world, what we've done, how far we've come and how far we've still got to go - particularly how far we've got to go. That's the thought we've got to keep in our minds today."

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