And although the figures are an improvement on last year, the pay gap between men and women in the region is the biggest anywhere in the UK.
The Office of National Statistics' Survey of Hours and Earnings has found women earn 24.9 per cent less th
an men on average in the south east – a reduction of 0.3 per cent on 2008.
The figures compare badly to London, where the gap is 17.6 per cent, down 1.8 per cent on last year, and even the east Midlands, where a 0.9 per cent increase still left the difference smaller than the south-east's, at 23.5 per cent.
Harriet Harman, Minister for Women and Equality, said: 'It's encouraging women in the south east are gaining ground on men, but it's disappointing the region is so far behind others. We believe our Equality Bill will help women in the south east make more progress by shining a spotlight on gender pay discrimination, workplace by workplace, so problems can be identified and action taken.'
The ONS figures, released on Monday, also show that the private sector lags behind the public sector.
The gender pay gap narrowed in the public sector by one per cent, to 21 per cent, while the private sector has widened 0.7 per cent, with men paid on average 28.8 per cent more.
The government's Equality Bill hopes to narrow the gap by:
- Bringing inequality to light by requiring reporting on the gender pay gap by private employers with 250 or more employees.
- Requiring public bodies with more than 150 employees to report on gender pay to allow similar authorities to be compared and share best practice.
- Creating more quality part-time posts, as almost four out of five part-time workers are women, and part-time work is concentrated in low-paying sectors and junior grades.
