The report Closing the Gender Pay Gap, published on the eve of the 2008 TUC Women's Conference, says that adult women in all age groups earn less than men of the same age.

Concentration of women in low-paid jobs

The sharpest increase in the gender pay gap occurs when women reach their 30s. The difference between men's and women's full-time earnings rises from 3.3 per cent for women aged 22-29 to 11.2 per cent for women aged 30-39.

Several causes are cited for the gender pay gap, including the concentration of women in low-paid jobs such as childcare and cleaning, the undervaluing of women's skills and the employment penalty for mothers.

This 'motherhood penalty' partly explains why the gender pay gap increases so rapidly for women in their 30s.

The report also says that women are twice as likely to be poor as men. Over one in four women (27 per cent) are classified as poor, by being in the lowest earning bracket, compared to just 13 per cent of men.

The average weekly disposable income for women is £127, £85 less than men.

Waste of talent 

A lack of quality, well-paid work is cited as one of the main causes of women's poverty, as nearly half of all part-time jobs are low paid. Women working part-time earn nearly 40 per cent less per hour than men working full-time. 

With 7.5 million part-time workers, Britain has one of the highest proportions of this type of work in Europe, and more than three-quarters are female.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said that we all expect our wages to increase as our careers progress, but that women's wages start to stagnate as early as their 30s.

“Many are paying an unacceptable penalty simply for having children. Despite girls outperforming boys at school and at university, too many employers are still failing to make use of women's skills. This waste of talent isn't just hurting their take home pay, it's harming the UK economy too,” Barber added.

He explained that when women earn poverty wages, the whole family suffers and said that if the Government is serious about ending child poverty, it must raise family income by creating better paid, quality part-time work Britain's 7.5 million part-time workers.

Toughter measures 

Minister for Women Harriet Harman said she did not believe women were less committed, less hard-working or less able than men and added that they therefore should not be paid less.

The gender pay gap has fallen from 17 per cent to 12 per cent in the last ten years.

Harman warned that there will be some tough measures in the new Equality Bill which will come out later this year, to cut it even further.

Campaigns officer at the Fawcett Society Kat Banyard called the gender pay gap “a national scandal”.

“At every level in UK workplaces women are being paid less than men. The paucity of senior flexible roles and long working hours culture shuts women out of the boardroom and forces then into lower paid, lower status jobs when they have children,” she said.

Banyard said the Government had an historic opportunity to end pay discrimination with preventative and remedial measures in the Single Equality Act.

As a basic first step to rooting out inequality, the TUC wants all companies to be required to conduct pay audits.

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Related links

• TUC
• Closing the Gender Pay Gap: An update report for TUC Women's Conference 2008