Sex bias in Commons 'will take 200 years to tackle'

Sex discrimination is so rife in the Commons that it will take almost 200 years to tackle, equality campaigners warned today.

The Equal Opportunities Commission stressed that only 20 per cent of MPs are women and challenged Prime Minister Gordon Brown to tackle the problem.

In a final report, before it becomes part of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights, the EOC said it would take 195 years for this imbalance of the sexes in Parliament to be rectified.

The commission's chairwoman Jenny Watson said: "Today, most women work and many men no longer define themselves as breadwinners. Despite many advances, Britain's institutions have not caught up.

"This is a challenge that Gordon Brown urgently needs to address."

The gender gap in the boardrooms of the FTSE 100 companies would take 65 years to close, the "pensions gap", meaning retired women are left with 40 per cent less income than men, may take almost half a century, while the "pay gap" would take around 23 years.

The EOC also stressed that women working part-time are paid 38 per cent less than men and 17 when full-time.

The EOC published its report on 22 benchmarks to try to influence its successor organisation, which will be chaired by Trevor Phillips, former chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality.

The commission set five goals of closing the income gap, sharing power equally, equal access to justice and safety, better support for families and modernising public services.