Discrimination 'costs women £300k'

Less lolly: Women are paid £300k less over the course of a lifetime, it is claimed

- Search: Equal pay
- Careers and work

Women miss out on more than £300,000 in the course of their working life due to the gender pay gap, the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) has said.

On the back of official figures showing that pay between the sexes differs by more than 17%, the Commission has called for a shake-up in the law to address the inequality.

It estimates that the average woman working full-time will lose out on around £330,000 over her working life.

This translates to 19 down payments on a house, 15 new cars or 10,500 nights out, the EOC added.

A governmental review is currently looking at all anti-discrimination legislation, with a Green Paper expected early next year.

The EOC is calling on ministers use the review as an opportunity to modernise the law so that it can be more effective in helping close the pay gap.

Jenny Watson, chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission, said: "In the generation since the Sex Discrimination Acts and the Equal Pay Acts came into force, women have made great strides in the workplace.

"But the remaining pay gap suggests that our three decade-old laws, which rely heavily on women bringing costly individual legal cases to challenge inequality, have reached the limits of their usefulness.

"We need a new generation of laws placing a more active responsibility on employers to deliver equality for tomorrow's generation, before they too miss out on much-needed income."