Female graduates earn 19% less than male colleagues

For Julie Bower, 35, it was a nightmare for which not even £1.4m compensation could make amends. The mother of one claimed she was driven out of her £120,000-a-year job at investment bank Schroder Securities in 1999 – after receiving an "insultingly low" bonus 60 times lower than that of her male colleagues.

Ms Bower, an Oxford graduate who was fighting ovarian cancer at the time, sued her former employers – but not in time to save her house or career. "No amount of money will compensate for the loss of my career," says Ms Bower. "I don't have any income now. I hope no one else ever has to go through this kind of thing again."

Sadly, according to a new report, professional women are finding themselves in a similar position every day. A report by the Equal Opportunities Commission, published tomorrow, will show that female graduates earn almost 19 per cent less than their male counterparts, exploding the myth that the pay gap is caused by women's failure to get a good education. It will also show that women's pensions are worth only half of men's.

While men dominate the five best-paid professions, a disproportionately large number of women work in the five worst-paid sectors of society.

The news is much worse for single women. Though the gender pay gap is bigger for married women compared to married men, single women are paid less an hour than those who are in a partnership.

"Britain is stuck in a rut and has the worst record in Europe. We won't shift, though, until we recognise that the jobs women do are undervalued," commented Julie Mellor, chair of the EOC.

Male graduates working full time are paid on average £16.55 an hour, while female graduates are getting £13.42 an hour – almost 19 per cent less.

"A lot of people have argued in the past that the pay gap is all to do with women's education. The fact that the gap still exists, fundamentally exploding the myth about women's educational achievement, will enable us to control the pay gap," Ms Mellor said.

The EOC is every bit as concerned about the gap at the lower end of the pay scale. There is evidence that in the same organisations cooks are paid less than carpenters and school dinner ladies are paid less than groundsmen.

In addition, women make up between just 30 per cent and 40 per cent of the highest-paid occupations – lawyers, general managers, administrators, health professionals, specialist managers and finance workers. But they form the bulk of the lowest-paid occupations – 89 per cent of hairdressers, 62 per cent of catering, 73 per cent of sales and check-out operators.

On retirement, women continue to be less well off than men: the average female pension amounts to just 55 per cent of a man's pension.