Women should not suffer discrimination and inequality in recession because of "the recklessness of a few male bankers", according to the TUC boss.

Addressing the TUC's Women's Conference, Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, said the Government should offer universal access to childcare and take action to close the gender pay gap. He also advocated mandatory pay audits.

He said: "Unlike the downturns of the early 1980s and 1990s women are [now] affected just as much as men. I urge the Government to redouble its efforts to secure a better deal for women - because the need for fairness has never been greater than now.

"Now perhaps more than ever, we need bold, imaginative action to address both the causes and the effects of this systematic inequality."

Barber argued if the Government can bail out £1.5 trillion to bail out the banks, then it could spend "a fraction" of that on world-class childcare.