The gap seems to be widening, however, between the minimum demands of the latter (who are now holding a meeting in Jerusalem that is almost an alternative to the Lambeth show) and the maximum concessions that liberals could offer.
On the lower rungs, adult women are still the majority of minimum wage earners and the majority of clerical support workers, and the pay gap between women and men working full time and year-round is just under 20%.
Big rises in the minimum wage, an increase in formal jobs and entry into fields long dominated by men all mean the gap between the pay of poorly educated women and that of their male peers has started to shrink.