A new law to name and shame companies with a poor record of equal pay for female staff has been introduced by the Government, five years after being asked to do so by the European Commission.

The legislation aims to provide more transparency on the extent of the gender pay gap in firms with over 250 employees.

Businesses should be examining gender balance in their workplace now in advance of the Gender Pay Gap Information Bill eventually comes into force, advises Patrick Robertson, managing director of Performance Reward Consulting.

I grew up in what you might consider a fairly traditional family. My father worked, my mother stayed at home with me and my sister.

Women are effectively working for free from tomorrow until the end of the year.

A Government bill on the gender pay gap may actually slow progress in the area, it has been claimed.

The Cabinet has approved measures aimed at tackling the gender pay gap.

It may soon be law for companies to report pay gaps between male and female staff, says Bernard Harbor.

Companies will be expected to reveal differences in pay between men and women under new plans.

Companies with more than 250 employees will be forced to reveal their gender pay gap under new laws.

Nearly eight out of 10 British companies and public sector bodies pay men more than women as the deadline passed for organisations to report their gender pay gaps.

At 11.59pm on Wednesday the deadline passes for UK companies to report their gender pay gap details to the government.

At 11.59pm on Wednesday, the deadline will pass for an estimated 9,000 UK employers to submit details of their gender pay gap to the government - but what happens to those that break the law and miss it?

It says the disparity is because of the number of UK pilots it employs - 546 are male and only eight are female.

Channel 5 has announced it has a median gender pay gap of 2%, the lowest of all the broadcasters.

The disclosure comes ahead of a full report into gender pay disparity at the broadcaster, which will be released later today.

HSBC has unveiled a yawning gender pay gap among its UK staff with female workers earning nearly 60% less than men.

ITN has revealed it has a 19.6% gender pay gap and has also announced a bonus gap of 77.2%.

Paid parental leave is crucial to ensuring a level playing field for women in work, a Government minister has said.

The average hourly pay for women at companies such as Virgin Money and easyJet is more than 33% lower than for male staff, new figures show.

Men are significantly more likely than women to try to evade paying tax, researchers say.

SIPTU is calling on the Government to take action to minimise differences in pay between men and women in Ireland.

Men are being paid up to 54% more than women in cities in the North and the UK with the lowest figure found in Belfast, new research reveals.

A report on pay rates at RTÉ has found there is an average 4% pay gap in the organisation.

Increasing the minimum wage to €10 an hour would help close the gender pay gap for low-paid workers, Sinn Féin has said.