Gender pay gap ‘still a problem’

Many women are still not getting a fair deal when it comes to pay and this gender pay gap is continuing to be a problem, one sector commentator has claimed – which may mean that discrimination is still a problem in some UK workplaces.

Maxine Benson, co-founder of Everywoman, said that one factor in this may be that female workers could lack the confidence of men in requesting a pay rise.

She added that pay discrimination was no different to other forms of inequality and needed to be brought out into the open and discussed.

"As long as things are hidden and not spoken about, they will never go away, whether we are talking about pay or any form of discrimination," Ms Benson explained.

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She went on to advise that women approach their HR department if they wished to talk about their pay and that they should not be worried about bringing it up.

Her comments come after a report from the Fawcett Society found that 85 per cent of the public support mandatory pay audits being introduced to help close the gender pay gap.