Gender pay gap: women earn £300,000 less than men over working life

Analysis finds gap of 5,732 or 24% in average annual salaries in UK, prompting calls for more to be done to tackle problem

Women are likely to earn 300,000 less than men over their working lives, according to a new analysis that has sparked fresh calls for more shared parental leave to close the UK's stubborn gender pay gap.

Before International Women's Day on Tuesday, figures show a gap of 5,732, or 24%, in average full-time annual salaries between women and men - more than four decades after the Equal Pay Act of 1970 was introduced.

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