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Employers should address the unethical gender pay gap and provide more flexible working patterns for mothers, one expert has said.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) revealed that women being paid less for doing the same job as men reflects society and the "big lag between cultural expectation and economic realties".

Female students working on their gap years could be interested to hear that the TUC is calling on employers to be fairer and more flexible with women workers, a move that could benefit them.

Sarah Veal, TUC's head of equality and human rights, said women are still being "penalised" for a number of reasons beyond their control such as becoming pregnant.

"You also need to do more to encourage firms to be much more capable of accommodating different types of working patterns and not to assess the person on the basis of their availability," she added.

The Government Equalities Office reported that the mean average gap of full-time pay between the two sexes was 17.2 per cent last year and the median average stood at 12.6 per cent.

For part-timers the mean average gap was 35.6 per cent while the median stood at 39.1 per cent.

A National Statistics report from April found women could lose out on earnings of £330,000 over a lifetime when compared to men.

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