Wimbledon pays women equally - but will Gordon Brown? (25/06/07)

The Wimbledon Championships beginning today (25/07/06) will be the first to pay the women’s and men’s champions equally.

Fawcett today issues a challenge to the new prime minister to be the first to ensure that women and men in the UK are equally rewarded for their work.

Although equal pay legislation has been in force for more than 30 years, there's still a pay gap women working full-time still earn on average 17% less per hour than men working full-time, and women working part-time earn 38% less.

Dr Katherine Rake “Women tennis players are finally enjoying equal pay at Wimbledon – it’s time for Gordon Brown to give all women a sporting chance and finally end the pay gap. The ball’s in his court.”

Practical steps to end the pay gap

As the leading campaign for equality between women and men, Fawcett has set out the practical measures that Government could take to end the pay gap. These include:

Safeguards: Compulsory pay audits for all organisations
Bold ambitions: The Government to set dates for finally closing the pay gap
Tackle long hours: Full sign-up to the EU’s Working Time Directive and other steps to tackle our long hours working culture, which limits the ability of women with caring responsibilities to compete on an equal basis with men.
Include men: Government and employers to encourage men - not just women - to engage with work-life balance issues.
New rights: a right to work flexibly for all employees, unless there is a strong business case against it

Background

The Fawcett Society last year campaigned alongside the Sony Ericsson Women’s Tennis Association Tour for the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTCC) to award equal rewards to women tennis players at Wimbledon.