A woman with GCSE-level qualifications will suffer an earnings loss of �241,000 over her lifetime

Cabinet Office report

A new report warns that the remaining 20% pay gap between men and women might not be closed for another 30 years, despite decades of equal pay laws.

The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) said companies should be made to carry out pay audits if they did not monitor their wage systems.

"After 30 years of equal pay legislation it is hard to believe that women are still so consistently undervalued in the workplace," said EOC chairwoman Julie Mellor.

In 1999

The average full-time weekly wage for women was �326.50 and for men was �442.40. The average male graduate earned �14,619, while the average females earned �12,201 Women have been the main beneficiaries of the minimum wage, with 12% affected as opposed to 4% of men.

A recent report from the Women's Unit at the Cabinet Office found that on average a woman with GCSE-level qualifications is estimated to suffer an earnings loss of �241,000 over her lifetime in comparison with an equivalently qualified man.

Women with children continue to suffer from particular wage discrimination.

The TUC, which is holding a conference in London to celebrate the anniversary of the Equal Pay Act, said the 20% pay gap widens to 40% for part-time workers.

The union organisation called for reform of equal pay and sex discrimination laws. "Women workers have put up with poor pay because of institutionalised discrimination and the fact that society has traditionally undervalued the kind of work they do," said general secretary John Monks.