WOMEN in the North-East are paid 13.9 per cent less than men for doing the same or equivalent work, despite the fact that pay discrimination was made illegal nearly 40 years ago.

The Government has pledged to tackle this unjust pay gap through the Equality Bill, currently being debated by MPs.

But its proposals are weak.

Employers still won’t be forced to prevent or act on pay discrimination and women seeking justice will remain hampered in their efforts.

To end the gender pay gap the Bill must include three key measures: 1) A requirement on all employers to conduct pay audits to prevent discrimination; 2) Allow women to point to a “hypothetical comparator” to prove they are being underpaid because they are female where there is no actual man to compare themselves to; 3) Allow women systematically affected by pay discrimination to make a claim as a group – called a “representative action” – not just individually.

Only with these measures will thousands of unfairly paid women finally receive justice.

North-East MPs should urge the Government to include mandatory pay audits, hypothetical comparators, and representative actions in the Equality Bill.

I also urge readers to sign a petition to the Government at petitions.number10.gov.uk/equal paynow/ We have waited long enough.

Laura Jose, Durham.