Equal rights should be equal rights. It can never be right to put in a law that says women and black people can sue a company if they dont get a job while a white man can't. You can't average a company's pay & make comparisons, men & women choose different jobs, & it depends on the type of company.

andy evan, oxford, great (perhaps not) britain

Can we have a law that says equal pay for short balding men to match those of taller men with good hair? The stats prove theres descrimination...why can't I have a law!

andy, oxford, great (perhaps not) britain

What rubbish - and she was hopeless on 5live this morning.

Women will often take time off to have families, and so returning to work will be a number of years behind male colleagues in experience, even if they are the same age. Salary relates to experience, so the woman may well be paid less

Andrew, Cambridge,

Harriet Harman is supposed to represent all of her constituents not just the women and minorities. I guess New Labour hasn't chased enough real Brits out of Britain yet to find employment elsewhere. Once again feminism and racism rear their ugly heads. UKIP and the BNP are looking better.

Douglas Cochrane, Halifax,

Harman is just creating a false sense of female victimhood.

If women don't do much to negotiate climbing pay scales or the career ladder, that's their problem.

Women must learn to take responsibility for their own choices, and stop playing the victim card.

Kash, London,

How entertaining. The equal pay legislation came into being in 1970. Council workers are still waiting for it to make any difference. 38 years and still massive discrimination.

judy, Liverpool, England

Nicholas from London - the aims of Hariet harmon is not to "pay women on average more than men". Why should we get paid more than men - it's about EQUALITY. The goal is to reduce the pay gap for the SAME JOB.

Kelly, Belfast,

Please, please, please do this. I am fed up working in the City and routinely being paid much less than men for the same work and the same results. Companies should stop rewarding networkers who are essentially not working.

H, London,

It is dismaying how people seem to fail to realise that anyone receiving a bonus is subject to the higher rate of tax on that bonus - any measure to restrict such bonuses is bound to have an effect on the tax take. Surely not in anyone's interest in a downturn?

Ciaran, London, UK

I think the UK is missing the point. The reason we are no longer competitive in the world is the hoops that the bosses have to jump through before starting work. The workers in Asia must be laughing their heads off.

C Darken, Nantwich, UK

If on average the choice of women is to focus on their roles outside the workplace, and in being less career driven effecting their long term pay opportunities, for the sake of equalising the pay gap - should we concede to pay women on average more than men?

Nicholas, London, United Kingdom

There should be a clause in ANY local/national government contract regarding FULL employment opertunities/terms, not just gender discrimination.

Martin, Poole, UK

Harriet Harman has to be the least talented Governet Minister of all time.
Blair had the sense to sack her , she should have stayed sacked.
Only in the U.K. would someone as average as her rise to the position of goverment minister.
Still the good news is that Labour are out at the next election

James, Singapore, Singapore