Drive to end secrecy on women being paid less
FOUR in 10 people do not know women are entitled to the same pay as men for doing the same or similar jobs.
It has led to campaigners proposing their own Equal Pay Bill to modernise the 50-year-old original Equal Pay Act.
Sam Smethers, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said: “The law to address pay discrimination is still poorly understood and too often ignored.
“Not only are many women still paid less than men for the same job, 40 per cent don’t even realise they have a right to equal pay for work of equal value.
“The culture of secrecy that discourages women from talking about salaries has allowed pay discrimination to persist.Women do not have the information they need to challenge this injustice.”
As many as 46 per cent of men would probably tell a female colleague how much they earned if she asked, a survey of 2,003 workers found. But most women are too be embarrassed to probe male workmates about what they earn.
The new Bill enshrines a “right to know” for any woman to get the figures from their employers upon request.
Baroness Margaret Prosser, who has laid the Bill in the House of Lords, said: “I would never have dreamt that, in 2020, women would still be facing pay discrimination.
“But that is indeed still happening, including at major institutions like the BBC, councils and supermarkets.
“This new Bill is vital for stopping pay discrimination – so that we are not still talking about this in another 50 years.
“Current rights don’t work without transparency. It’s time to make the right to equal pay a reality for all women.”
The Equal Pay Bill 2020 would also require employers to publish an action plan to tackle gender pay gaps.