SCOTLAND is to become the first part of the UK to legally require that women make up at least half the board members for all public authorities.
MSPs at the Scottish Parliament are due to vote on the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Bill today, which will require colleges, universities and some public bodies including health boards, enterprise agencies, the Scottish Police Authority and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to have an equal balance of men and women in the top jobs.
The move comes as former BBC Scotland health correspondent Eleanor Bradford revealed she was paid "around £10,000" less than some of her male colleagues in similar roles, prompting her to leave the BBC after nearly 15 years.
Ms Bradford is the only person named in a list of 14 cases "of inequality of pay" cited by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee as they publish written evidence ahead of their questioning of the BBC Director-General on Wednesday over the corporation's gender pay gap.
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Speaking ahead of a Holyrood debate, Equalities Secretary Angela Constance said: "Women make up 51 per cent of our population, but they are under-represented in decision-making positions, including in the boardroom. This is not acceptable and in 2018, it quite simply should not be the case.
"The Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Bill seeks to redress the under-representation of women on public boards, ensuring that women's voices are heard where and when it matters and shape the decisions that are made in boardrooms and impact on our services.
"If passed, this bill will make Scotland the only country in the United Kingdom with a statutory gender representation objective for public boards. This is an important step on our journey towards gender equality, towards creating a fairer Scotland, and towards shattering the glass ceiling once and for all."
Campaign group Women 50:50 has backed the legislation, with chair and co-founder Talat Yaqoob stating: "Public boards play a huge role in the delivery of public services, which are disproportionately used by women, as such, it is only right that women should make up a fair share of the decision makers.
"We hope all MSPs see the value of this bill and the need to eradicate institutionalised barriers to women's participation. If this is passed, we will be pushing for it to be implemented in a way that can ensure true representation of the diverse women in Scotland and ensure public boards are held to account on their membership. Without this focus, the progress we seek on gender equality will not be achieved."
Emma Ritch, executive director at Engender, stressed it was also "crucial that our public boards in Scotland include women from different socioeconomic backgrounds, black and minority ethnic women, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender women".
She stated: "We look forward to continuing our work with Scottish Government, and third sector partners to increase the number of women around decision-making tables in Scotland."
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Ms Bradford, who was health correspondent between 2001-2016, said: "I discovered I was one of the lowest-paid correspondents at BBC Scotland, despite regularly appearing on UK wide news and delivering exclusive stories.
"I regularly asked for a pay rise, and eventually cited equal pay legislation. This led to an immediate increase of £5,000 but it was not backdated. I remained around £10,000 below some male colleagues who were doing identical correspondent jobs.
"In one of my annual appraisals I was told I was a 'model correspondent'. I left the BBC."
Another case being looked at by the DCMS is that of a TV news presenter who spoke of a pay rise offered last year.
The presenter says: "It became apparent that for nearly three years I had been sitting next to a man doing an identical job who was being paid tens of thousands of pounds more.
"As we are both BBC staff that means I have not just missed out on pay, but on pensions contributions too. I am told that we are now being at the same rate per day, but there is no transparency."
A national radio presenter, who describes themselves as an "award-winning broadcaster with more than 20 years' experience", spoke about being offered the chance to host what they say is a "flagship arts programme" at the corporation.
They claim they discovered a pay gap, where the existing male presenter was earning 50% more than them per programme, but when they asked for equal pay were reportedly denied.
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