Theresa May commits to tackling 'burning injustice' of gender pay gap as deadline to reveal figures looms

Theresa May - Image credit: Scott Heppell/PA

Theresa May has promised to tackle the “burning injustice” of gender pay inequality as the deadline for big firms to publish their salary figures looms.

The Prime Minister said the gender pay gaps among businesses would make for “uncomfortable reading” but argued society would remain “poorer” if practices of the past go unchallenged.

However, her own party was left red faced as it emerged the Tories would fail to publish their figures – although on a voluntary basis – until a day after the deadline.

Firms with more than 250 employees have until midnight tonight to publish their average gap between the pay of men and women.

May said it was time to junk “outdated gender stereotypes and accept that everyone brings his or her own experiences to bear in the workplace”.

In an article for The Telegraph, she went on: "A hundred years ago, some women first won the right to vote.

“But for all the welcome progress in the decades since, major injustices still hold too many women

“When I became Prime Minister, I committed myself to tackling the burning injustices which mar our society. One such is the gender pay gap.

"The difference in the median hourly wages earned by men and women in Britain currently stands at 18 per cent.

“This is a historic low, but progress in shrinking it remains far too slow. We need to act if we are to close the gap for good within a generation."

By Tuesday night some 9,000 businesses had already published their gender pay data – with some showing men paid up to 50 per cent more and a handful showing a pay gap in favour of women.

The Conservative party does not have to publish its own data as it employed fewer than 200 staff last year, but it has vowed to do so tomorrow on a voluntary basis.

One senior Tory MP told the Guardian:  “I’m pleased that the party is reporting its gender pay gap figures even when it doesn’t have to.

“It’s important that we’re seen to be leading from the front. But it’s a shame that we didn’t decide to do it a bit earlier.”