COMPREHENSIVE EQUAL PAY STRATEGY

That this House notes that on average women earn 17.2 per cent. less than men; further notes that this pay gap has many causes including ongoing discriminatory practices at work, rigid 9 to 5 working practices, lack of affordable childcare, low levels of paternal involvement in childhood upbringing and administrative burdens on employers in relation to women employees who become pregnant; calls for an urgent, robust and comprehensive equal pay strategy from the Government tackling every facet of the pay gap; and recommends that such a strategy should include requirements on all employers to conduct equal pay audits in exchange for a protected period to put things right, extension of the right to request flexible working to all employees, greater access to childcare that is high quality and affordable, enhanced rights to paternity leave and arrangements for payments to be made directly from HM Revenue and Customs to remove administrative burdens on businesses.