Britain announce major drive to end gender pay divide

The biggest ever drive to combat gender pay division in Britain was announced on Sunday by Prime Minister David Cameron.

New measures will see employers being forced to publish information about bonuses paid to men and women employees, and plans being extended for gender pay gap reporting. Cameron also said he will work with businesses to eliminate all-male boards in companies listed in the FTSE 350, Xinhua news agency reported.

The announcements by Cameron and Equalities Minister Nicky Morgan were aimed at eradicating gender inequality in the work place and remove barriers to women's success.

It is part of wider plans to help women and black and minority ethnic (BME) groups across Britain as part of a drive to extend opportunity to all Britons.

Downing Street said the prime minister's new pledges aim to build on his announcement in July to "end the gender pay gap in a generation."

Gender pay gap reporting will also be extended beyond private and voluntary sector employers to include the public sector.

New legal regulations setting out how new gender rules will work in practice will be set out soon by the government.

The number of small and medium sized enterprises in Britain led by women has increased since 2010 by 170,000 to one million, a fifth of all small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in Britain.

Last year 223,000 women started in apprenticeships as part of the program to tackle the workplace gender gap.