Plans for a radical overhaul of laws on sex discrimination and equal pay to boost women's rights and close the 20% wages gap between men and women are being unveiled on Wednesday.

The Equal Opportunities Commission proposes a new "super law" to replace present laws, on the grounds that some of them have become outdated or confused.

The EOC wants to make employers responsible for reviewing pay systems in a bid to end the gap between women's and men's wages, and to penalise those who refuse to do so.

Other suggested measures include opening all school sports to boys and girls, improving legal rights for pregnant women and extending employment protection to include cases of sexual orientation or gender reassignment such as trans-sexuals, and covering sexual harassment.

Kamlesh Bahl, the EOC's chairwoman, says there have been dramatic changes in British society since the current sex discrimination and equal pay legislation was introduced over 20 years ago:

"Sex equality is a fundamental human right but we should be moving away from a negative concept of discrimination to a positive conceptive of rights to reflect changing attitudes in society.

"We want equality to be built in, not bolted on, and we should also be strengthening the commission's powers to enable us to tackle discrimination more effectively," says Ms Bahl.

The EOC believes fewer industrial tribunal cases would be occur if the law on sex discrimination was updated and clarified and equal pay claims would be speeded up.

The EOC points to the case of speech therapist Pam Enderby whose legal action to win equal pay took 11 years.

Professor Enderby, who used to work at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol and is now a researcher at Sheffield University, is still waiting for compensation and back pay despite finally winning her claim last summer.

The EOC says it is not seeking to outlaw single sex membership of organisations such as working men's clubs or Women's Institutes, but does want to clamp down on "second class membership" which often discriminated against women at institutions such as golf clubs.

The commission also proposes that excepting women from sections of military duties under the term "combat effectiveness" should end.

A three-month consultation period will be held before firm recommendations are made to the Government.

Equality facts and figures

It has been suggested that its £300,000 legal budget could be boosted if people who successfully take a case with the commission's help, pay a proportion of any compensation back to the EOC.
 

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