Thirty years ago the UK passed the Equal Pay Act, which legislated equal pay for equal work regardless of gender. Despite the passage of the Act, today there is still a large gender pay gap and the government has launched an inquiry to suggest solutions to fix the inequality. Critics want to strengthen the law to reduce the amount of time it takes to settle pay inequity cases and unions have recommended implementing pay audits.
See "Women Still Paid Less Than Men", Marcia Hughes, BBC News Online, August 12, 2001