Gender pay gap will take nearly 30 years to close, warns TUC

Commenting on the Fawcett Society’s Equal Pay Day today (Sunday), the day of the year the average woman stops getting paid compared to the average man because of the gender pay gap, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

Frances O’Grady said: “Working women deserve pay parity. But at current rates of progress, it will take nearly 30 more years to close the gender pay gap.

“We can’t consign another generation of women to years of less pay.

“Publishing gender pay gaps isn’t enough. Companies must be required to set out what steps they’ll take to close their pay gaps – and bosses who don’t comply with the law should be fined.

“The last few years have shown us that employers can do more to help women and families balance caring responsibilities and work. Flexible working is an essential way to enable mums to work, but we also need to see investment in childcare and better parental leave and pay so families can share caring responsibilities more equitably.

“All jobs should be advertised with the possible flexible options clearly stated, and all workers must have the legal right to work flexibly from their first day in a job.

“And ministers need to urgently address the UK’s childcare crisis. Childcare should be affordable for all, but too many women are forced out of the labour market because of extortionate costs.”