Bid for pay equality 'grinding to a halt'

A major study by the Equality and Human Rights Commission found that some equality gaps had closed over the past generation, but other problems remained and there were fears that racial and religious prejudice was on the increase.

The conviction rates for rape was “stubbornly low”, obesity was on the rise, boys were performing less well than girls at school as early as from the age of five and the new phenomenon was joining homophobic bullying as a “serious issue”, the research revealed.

One of the main findings was that the gender pay gap had fallen for the past 30 years, but progress seemed to have “halted”, with full-time women workers earning 16.4 per cent less than men. The gender pay gap was lowest for the under 30s, rising more than five-fold by the time worked reached 40, with a “pernicious earnings penalty” affecting some ethnic minority and disabled people.

Women with no qualifications faced a 58 per cent loss in earnings over their lifetime if they had children, while all women aged 40 earned 27 per cent less than men of the same age, said the commission.

Disabled men earned 11 per cent less than other male workers, while the gap was 22 per cent for women. Black graduates faced a pay penalty of up to 24 per cent, the study suggested.

“Evidence suggests that the workplace remains a stressful and difficult place for some groups, specifically transgender people and irregular migrant workers,” said the report.

An analysis of living standards showed that income poverty still affected some groups of women, ethnic minority groups and families with disabled members.