Female accountants could be set to benefit from new proposals to publish gender pay gaps. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has laid out voluntary measures that could grant limited immunity from investigation to companies that publicly report their gender pay gaps in a bid to drive gender equality in the workplace through transparency measures. Research shows that 40 years since the Equal Pay Act, women are still earning on average 20.2% less per hour than their male counterparts, with this gap being wider in the private sector (25.6%) than in the public (18.8%). A survey in April 2009 by Robert Half recruitment consultants and the ICAEW put the pay gap between male and female accountants at nearly 50%, with male chartered accountants earning an average of £88,200 compared to £60,500 for their female counterparts. The Commission's figures reveal that half of all employers view reducing pay discrimination as a high priority, with 57% analysing or planning to analyse their gender pay gap. But only 9% of employers currently report pay gap information to staff outside of the human resource team. Chair of the EHRC Trevor Phillips, said: 'Transparency is really the first step to addressing the gender pay gap. If an employer doesn't look at their own gender pay gap, how do they address it? By understanding that they have a gender pay gap problem they can start to take steps to address it. And, of course, it must make good business sense to be rewarding talented staff on merit and results rather than gender. 'Those that take up these measures will receive some immunity from our investigative powers. I hope this incentive combined with the goodwill and commitment shown by our partners so far means that we can deliver high levels of participation on a purely voluntary basis, ensuring that gender pay transparency will become normal business practice.'