Time to Tackle Inequality in the Workplace - Burt

8.42.19am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 22nd Aug 2006

The Liberal Democrats today called for more to be done to tackle the gender pay gap following the publication of a report that shows a third of employers believe that women outperform men in the workplace.

The CIPD and KPMG report 'Labour Market Outlook' also shows that UK employers prefer "soft skills" such as communication and work ethic to numeracy and literacy.

Liberal Democrat Women and Equality Spokesperson, Lorely Burt MP commented:

"It is not surprising that women workers are highly regarded in the workplace. But if this is the case, why won't employers pay their female staff the same wage as men?

"The UK is one of the worst offenders for unequal pay, lying a pitiful 18th out of the 23 EU countries.

"It is disgusting that women throughout Europe are being ill-rewarded for their work. Here in the UK we pride ourselves on a fair and equal society, yet we patently do not value women's presence in the workplace to the extent that we do men's."

ENDS

Note to Editors

The link below is to a Eurostat table which shows gender pay gaps in EU countries. The latest data available are for 2004. The gender pay gap is expressed as the difference between average gross hourly earnings of male paid employees and of female paid employees as a percentage of average gross hourly earnings of male paid employees. For example the gender pay gap in the UK in 2004 was 22% - this means average female earnings were 78% of average male earnings.

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1996,39140985&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&screen=detailref&language=en&product=Yearlies_new_economy&root=Yearlies_new_economy/B/B2/B22/em030

Please note that these data are based on several data sources, including the European Community Household Panel (ECHP), the EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) and national sources. Historical data have not been adjusted to take into account changes in data sources or methodology.