“It’s hard not to be really disconcerted by this piece of information: what is going on and why is nobody doing anything about a situation that is, apart from anything else, surely incredibly embarrassing for a Labour government?”

It’s not hard if your job doesn’t depend on whipping up a media storm on the subject. If the price wasn’t right the market wouldn’t allow it. Besides Labour ARE doing something about it. They are already allowing women to have walk-in-walk-out anonymous IVF (even though the relevant legislation is still only at the preparation stage). And what about the increased parental leave already forced on employers

The Left have spent years dumbing down exams and education and now they are trying to do the same to employment. The public sector is years ahead of the private sector in this regard.

Women are becoming a danger to have in the work place – Everyone has to mind their Ps and Qs in case they are prosecuted on some trumped up sexism charge.

Edwin Thornber, Bucharest,

Perhaps you could for one moment, turn your mind to linking the equal pay act to the breakdown of society and failure of education that we see today. My father, a wise old bird, used to watch the sharp suited women pass his window in London from 7am every day and his favorite saying was 'one day they willl be sorry' He is sadly long gone but 'that day' is here.

Victor M., Malaga, Spain

Maybe women are generally rising up the ladder faster “because” they’re generally cheaper?
As far as average pay goes, it’s really hard to measure because of the number of women that work part-time compared to men, etc. If women’s average pay ever equals that of men, it would surely suggest that women were generally being paid more for the work they do.
In the country I live, women’s average pay now equals that of men, which reflects that after women having long-occupied about two-thirds of the higher education places, they have now started to dominate the professions. Young men from working-class families are still the most under-represented group in higher education.
I think it’s men that have fallen behind, and their often crazy attitudes to working more and more hours is a reflection that they think it’s the only way to keep their jobs. Sadly, where I live, women in many spheres seem to have adopted the same ethos.

Nigel, Auckland, NZ

The problem is that if a woman wants to have children someone is going to have to raise them. If you have someone else raise your children, then what is the point of having them in the first place? If a woman wants to have and raise children it is unrealistic to think that she can be as dedicated to her work as a woman who does not have children, or as a man. There is nothing fair about this. It reflects the fact that we all make choices in life and there are costs to most of those choices. I have never married or had children, and there are certainly costs associated to that, but I don't whine about it, blame others, or seek special treatment from the government.

William Jones, Pasadena, California

Women live longer than men. What is the government going to do about this obvious sexism? The discrepancy is unacceptable. Moreover, the number of children to which women give birth is infinitely larger than the number to which men give birth. Sexism! Sexism! Any difference between men and women's lives MUST be a consequence of sexism... it's the number one edict of feminist theory. Except, where the difference is to women's advantage - like the discrepancy in how hard the male and female tennis players have to work for the Wimbledon prize.

Nick, Rotherham, UK

Al is absolutely right. It's not men's fault. I'm just about to go back to work having had a baby in November. My husband was given 2 weeks paternity leave while I was given 6 months so who was going to be looking after our baby? Until the laws in this country are changed along the same lines as in Germany so that parents can choose who takes the leave and when, the situation won't change.

I am better educated, have a better career and am more well paid than my husband but he, my family and society at large assume that I should be the one to go part time. When I suggested that maybe we could both do a 4-day week so that our daughter would only have to go to nursery 3 days a week (and develop a good relationship with her father) he said he wouldn't even dare ask his boss (not that he wouldn't like to do this.) I think this attitude is common. Men need to be be seen as parents with equal responsibility not just breadwinners and them maybe things will change.

Vanessa Kerr, London,

If I get married, I'll be continuing down my chosen career path (doctor) while my husband can quit his job and raise the kids. I'm not putting myself through 13 years of school and then university just to quit my job because my husband refuses to raise children.

Lisa, 16, Glasgow, Scotland

J Norland, it seems to me that you don't actually like women very much - very paranoid, bitter and chippy comments.

Clair, Tidworth, Wilts

How wonderful that we can stage this debate solely in the land of women with "Careers" at Canary Wharf, unable to fly to far off business meetings.
Does this mean that the (presumably) majority of women who have job which never required the wearing of red braces, are for the most part receiving pay equal to their male counterparts?
It would hardly be surprising to a manual worker that if you work fewer hours you receive lower pay. This does not mean you suffer inequality of pay becasue your hourly rates of pay may well be the same.
I assume that we are meant to assume that these lucky women with "Careers" don't get paid overtime except in the form of bonuses.
If so, it should be noted workers of either sex can fall foul of apparently "macho" working practices which equate being in the office late making a lot of noise with valuable contribution to a business. From personal experience a lot of the worst offenders are younger women, keen to move up the ladder.

Ann, Reading,

In the working world, women are constantly put in the position of "make up your mind, career or kids" resulting in the numerous child auto fataities due to having little support and many bills. The nonexistant icon of the perfect mom who can put dinner on the table for 5 after her 9 hour day and the soccer game. puts women in depression because they cannot meet this image.

Hey people, forget the almighty dollar, the corporate image. Forget the the new vidiot games, and the fancy suv, do whats best for the KIDS and treat mums like they MATTER.

dylan tuatha le danaan, franklin , nh

If women really are paid less than men for the same jobs then, presumably, employers will kick out the men in favour of hiring equally-capable women.

After all, they would save a great deal of money.

QUESTION: Why is this not happening?

ANSWER: Because the gender pay 'gap' is nonsense. It is a typical feminist myth.

Men get paid more because they work more.

charles, London,

The hell for women is Basra - the UK has supervised their subjection to hard line Islamic rule and removal of their free western lifestyle - all this India Knight stuff is mere froth compared to the plight of women under this regime and many other around the globe. The complete failure of the feminist sisterhood to protest at all this, including Hirsi Ali's deportation, reveals what a western, wealthy middle class and dishonest phenomenom feminism was and is - only caring for middle class western women. No more of this childish humbug please.

Dot, Witney, UK

So India Knight thinks women work shorter hours than men. Well, OK... but it's a bit unclear if she's arguing that women should have the SAME pay for LESS work. If so, it seems slightly barking. If not, what's the complaint?

But as usual, Ms Knight doesn't actually bother to offer any evidence to support her claim that women managers do, in fact, work shorter hours. It's pure laziness on her part. Does she think we should just take her word for it?

But assuming Ms Knight's speculation is correct, there's also the possibility that many men would love the opportunity to spend more time with their family but are pressurised by employees, society, their own sense of obligation, and indeed their wives, to work very long hours to provide their family with the standard of living they demand. After all, it's hard to imagine why any man would WANT to be stuck in the office in preference to reading his kids a bedtime story. Offices are not generally a lot of fun, after all.

Malcolm , London, UK

Women will never and SHOULD never gain equal pay until they can work a full career without child-rearing interruptions. If a woman wants to interrupt her career whilst rearing a child, it is hardly suprising if her salary lags behind that of her male counterpart.

Tell me, do these women want a pay jump on their return to work or do they just want a pay freeze for the rest of the staff for that period of time?

Perhaps feminists should concentrate on developing the artificial womb to free themselves from this gross 'injustice' ,whereby nature herself is seen to be both discriminatory and damaging (why hasn't there been any litigation against Mother Nature?).

The answer is simple: stay at home and bring the kids up. Yes, that's right let the man in your life (I know SOME of you still have one around to pay the bills) do the work. All the government has to do is make tax allowances transferable in marriage. The market and the resulting skills gap will do the rest.

Edwin Thornber, Bucharest,

Have you considered the possibility that the reason women are getting to higher positions than men but at a younger age, often with less experience but still earn less, is because their employers are essentially saying " I'll promote you even if you are not up to the job because you will except less money". Women then doublecross the employer. Scream the magic word " sexism " and they are now " victims". Clever isn't it. Be fair, the real losers here are men. They generally speaking have families to support and now find themselves being undercut and undermined by women acting in cohorts with the employers, They want their cake and they are going to damn well eat it. If women truly want equality then they must start to respect mens rights as well as their own. Other women also suffer at the hands of these ruthless women. Even so called fair minded women, won't say a word against them. Why ?. Simple, because deep down they are reserving the right to do the same thing one day.

J Nowland, Leeds, United Kingdom

If a man thinks he is not being paid enough he has the right to look for a higher paid job. I think women should also be given the same right.

Bob, London,

Equal pay should be for equal work. In some cases, some people (of either sex) expect unfairly to work less hard but still receive equal pay. Often this is parents who expect special favours at the expense of the unhappily childless and the happily childfree.

But in other cases, women are paid less for doing the same work as men, to the same standard and level of commitment. This can be due to certain employers who treat all women rather patronisingly, as though they were less capable and committed than men, regardless of their real input and abilities. In these cases illegal sex discrimination is at work and should be challenged.

Most women (and men) in the workplace at any one time do not have pre-school children. Any policies and statistics should consider that the workplace consists mainly of people without young children. The pay gap is still affecting many more women than the minority with young children.

Tina, South Wales, UK

Perhaps parents need to have the same expectations about balancing work and wider life as the rest of us.

I am a kid-free woman who is outside paid employment because it does not fit her wider life. It is obvious and logical that I accept some potential trade-offs from that choice.

But so many parents struggle expect only benefits from their choices with the constraints and losses transferred to employers, co-workers, the state and so on.

Vicky, UK,

You could argue that it is rather good for children not to see too much of many parents in their younger years. Parents often have nasty habits! The parents you describe might not know what to do at home anyway! Many of us did leave home very young. I am told this makes us cold and unemotional with little empathy for women. Yet we get over this terrible handicap in life and often thrive. Our mentors still existed and were often good people. And it all depends what you mean by 'family'! I spend a lot of time at the age of 73 with grandchildren and I suspect that bond is closer than I ever had with my own children. If anything is wrong, it is that our society downgrades the extended family, and does not understand what role grandparents should play in society.

Brian Lewis, Manila, Philippines

Quite right, India. I was able to work all hours because my immensely capable wife had given up her career to bring up the children. As a result she has no professional pension. If I had my time all over again I would have worked much less (even at the risk of earning less) so that she could earn her own money and now enjoy a good pension. I hope younger men are taking note of what you say, India. As for me, I say to them, "don't make my mistake; don't follow the (male) herd in believing that work comes first and famiuly second; it doesn't and it shouldn't, and when you are 70 you will realise why, but then it will be too late." If men took the attitude most women take to work and career, employers would be forced to be more family-friendly. But while men go on snapping to attention every time the boss says "I know it's gone 6, but I want the client to get this first thing in the morning, so would you mind...? " the scandalous pay gap will continue, and even Ms Harman won't alter that.

J.Fletcher, Canterbury, UK

I'm just a knuckle-dragging American right-wingnut. I understand the idea that Labour should get right on the job to reverse the shocking widening of the pay gap. I can also understand the idea that there's nothing to admire in women whose children are held up to Canary Wharf. I can also understand that the "men in their lives" need to give their women respect.

Surely at the end of the day in joined-up Britain the solution is more government! Labour should slap around employers for rampant sexism. Women should shame their uber-professional sisters. And respect enforcement officers should issue Insufficient Respect Orders (IROs) to men-in-their-lives that don't respect their women.

So that's all right then.

Christopher Chantrill, Seattle, USA

Have you ever considered the possibility that women are actually acting in cohorts with employers and by complaining about getting less pay than men they are merely using the magic word " sexism " as a means to double cross the employer. If as you say many women are getting to the same or higher positions than men at a younger age, one can only assume that they are knowingly undercutting and undermining men with more experience , using their employers greed and real sexism in order to gain an unfair advantage. Ladies that kind of behaviour is " sexist " . There appears to be a conspiracy of silence from so called "fair minded" women who one can only assume are keeping unusually quiet because they are reserving the right to do the same thing themselves one day. You are slowly but surely becoming the authoresses of your own downfall. Decent women need to stand up and be counted and take these women on. This abuse and trickery is childish and ultimately corrodes away womens credibility.

J Nowland, Leeds, United Kingdom

You suggest that men make the choice in favour of work over family willingly. How many men did you ask before coming to this conclusion? My impresion is that most men are presented with the option of overworking and retaining a nominal family, or losing both. If a man refuses to accept his workload, he becomes unemployable, and if he cant feed his family, he is a burden on his wife.

If she is working in a low paid job, he wont get job-seekers allowance, and they wont be able to make ends meet - they will be unable to survive as a family.

This is how the system destroys marriages and families. Its well documented. Its the resultant breakup of families that has caused the hosing shortage - a broken family needs two homes instead of one.

Both political parties have participated in building the family destroying system, both say they are against it, and both perpetuate it.

The life style of the newspaper reporter is not that of the average working man or woman.

Andrew, London, England

Aren't you missing the commonly "forgotten" fact that men dominate some whole industries with high populations such as IT and engineering where very high salaries are available? I would expect the pay gap to be non-existent or inverted in accountancy and health-care. It's telling that when a survey on pay equality is done it is never or rarely reported how such biases were removed from the data - were they or were they not? If not then it's useless politicking.

You also missing the commonly forgotten truth that there remains both a stigma to house-husband men and a preference by women for higher-earning partners. At least women have some sort of choice - for men it's succeed at work or nothing. A non-earning house-husband is doubly diminished in the eyes of others. Why is the solution never to discuss ways to increase the esteem in which non-earning men are held but always looked at from the female angle? Is it another beast cancer v prostate cancer type bias that men have to bear?

Robert, London,

A recent study indicated that men may be receiving higher pay in these modern times, not necessarily due to discrimination against women, but because men assert themselves and are more likely to ASK for a larger pay raise rather than accept the offer on the table. Men are better at negotiating than women. It's time for women to stop crying and start haggling.

Furthermore, does your male bashing have no limits? I'm not sure what sort of circles you run with, but perhaps you should spend more time interacting with a higher calibre of men. Like women, men are also perfectly capable of "having it all". They can indeed work as well as be excellent fathers to their children. The fact that you're trying to suggest otherwise is beyond sickening.

samantha, Minneapolis, MN

Equal pay for equal work. I agree completely. But when a member of your workforce wants to take off a load of time for what is, essentially, a self-inflicted injury, that's not equal work. Fair's fair, eh?

Richard Campion, Horrabridge, Devon

If you take into account the large proportion of men's pay that goes to supporting women who choose not to work or who only work part time, and how few men get a similar choice, then it could be suggested that financial parity was achieved a long time ago.

Peter A, Seaview, Isle of Wight

With punative higher rate taxation levels plus employers and personal NIC contributions, it makes sense for husband and wife to work just enough to hit around £36 000 per annum each (plus a bit extra for tax free pension contributions) and then share the extra time thus released in jointly raising their children. I know it works in our family, and is value for money given that we could only expect around 44p out of every pound earned beyond that level, much of which would go toward the cost of (questionable) child care anyway.

Arnold Ward, Weybridge, Surrey, UK

A few points:

- You make it sound as if men have a choice and opt for career every time over family. Government and society do not encourage men to be anything other than career focussed following the birth of a child.

- Most couples, having been forced into the position where the man returns to work rather than the women after the birth of a child (6 months paid leave vs 2 weeks means it's a no brainer - the woman deals with child care) will conclude that the person that has spent the most time caring for the child will continue to be the primary carer (again the woman).

- Equal pay for equal work was the mantra of women (quite rightly). However, women in the work place with children expect to work fewer hours, obtain enhanced maternity benifits (in some cases a 6 month paid sabatical offered only on the basis of sex) yet be paid the same and have the same opportunities as men. For equality to exist both men and women should have the same rights on the birth of a child.

Al, london,

As a father who took on substantial parenting responsibilities for my two daughters so that my wife would have more success in her chosen field, I strongly suggest that the women who take the back seat make sure that the men who make the money by not sharing the load adequately recognize them both financially and emotionally . At the very least the parent doing child care should always drive a better car and have full financial rights in the other's success and career prospects. Don't ever be a door mat "for the sake of the children" .
My lovely successful talented wife has always expressed her willingness to treat me properly and wives should demand no less. At the very least you are a role model for your children.,

Men do learn, some are just thicker than others

Vincent Brannigan, Bethesda , Maryland USA

Being in agreement with at least 50% of this article, I am inclined not to comment at all, except for one particular thing that caught my attention: "Very few women can make themselves think that way and I’d say very few want to. There’s little to admire in the ones that do and can"

Why should being the woman getting on the proverbial plane automatically imply that a nanny is the person bringing up the children? Surely there are some fathers out there willing to put in the time to be just that.

Laura, York,