THIRTY years after the first equal pay legislation, women in the North-East still earn almost £100 per week less than men.

A survey by the GMB union showed that the region's 482,000 female employees earn an average of £332.11 per week - only 75.6 per cent of a male employee's pay.

Nationally, the average weekly wage for women is £383.40, which is £97.28 less per week than the average male employee.

Karen Constantine, GMB head of equal rights, said: "Cheating women out of almost £100 per week is not only a drain on personal pay packets, it is also a drain on the economy with four per cent of GDP being held back.

"Women can't be totally equal while they continue to be discriminated against at work."

Women make up 49.5 per cent of employees in the North-East and 48.9 per cent in Britain as a whole. In the North-East, the highest percentage of female workers are in Middlesbrough, where women make up 55 per cent of employees and outnumber men in six out of 12 of the region's local authority areas.

The biggest discrepancy in pay is in Gateshead, where the average wage for women is a mere 75.5 per cent of men's.

Kevin Curran, GMB general secretary, said: "It is incredible that in the birthplace of the equal rights movement, we are continuing to discriminate against women in the workplace by paying them less.

"Despite employer rhetoric on equal pay, they have continued to pay women less.

"The only way to rectify the situation is to force companies to conduct equal pay audits."

The research, which was released by the GMB at the TUC Conference in Brighton, was carried out by the National Manpower Information System at the University of Durham.