ABSTRACT
Although predecessors or successors may be used, the comparator must be a real person. This is a major limitation on the potential effectiveness of the Act. There is a close correlation between low pay and the proportion of female employees in a firm; in many of the lowest paying firms, the workforce is 100% female. In such firms, claims under the EqPA 1970 can effectively never be brought; therefore, the Act cannot be viewed as the spearhead of an attack against poverty and low pay generally. For this, minimum wage legislation is a far more direct and immediate weapon. In 1988, the Government calculated that the proposed minimum wage rate of £3.60 would benefit 1.4 million women and 1.3 million part-time workers.46
