UNISON has welcomed a Court of Session judgment in favour of female members equal pay claims against Edinburgh City Council.

The Prime Minister has welcomed the steps forward shown in the Women on Boards six month progress report, commending the companies who have pledged to increase the number of women in senior positions, and challenging more businesses to follow suit.

Despite a legal framework requiring equal pay for equal work between men and women there is still a significant gender pay gap: women who work full time in the public sector are paid on average 10% less than men and that figure rises to 19.8% in the private sector.

New figures released by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) show that female executives are earning as much as their male counterparts for the first time since its records began, albeit only at junior executive level.