Fact Service June 2020

Issue 22

50 years after Equal Pay Act, inequality remains

On the 50th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act 1970 the TUC has warned that many women are still in low-paid and insecure jobs. The pandemic has shown, the TUC states, how they are much more likely than men to be key workers and, when they are, are more likely to be on low pay.

Of an estimated 9.8 million key workers, nearly two-thirds are women, 2.6 million of whom earn less than £10 an hour.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady commented: “As we emerge from this crisis, we need a reckoning on how we value and reward women’s work. Without proper change it will take decades to close the gender pay gap.”

https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/coronavirus-shows-working-women-are-still-underpaid-and-undervalued-says-tuc