http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29753702

That's exactly what happened in the civil service over here, if not the mainland.

I've had a read of that. Looks like it's about shop workers and warehouse workers. They're paid at different rates. IMO if they're different jobs, then there's no reason why the pay shouldn't be different. What matters is if all warehouse workers are male and all shop workers are female. IANAL but if shop workers are mixed, then they should be paid the same rate irrespective of gender. All you would need is a single female as a warehouse worker to be paid the same as male warehouse workers to show there's no gender discrimination.

in retail all staff are trained to be multi skilled being able to do all required roles when given a reasonable management request
be that the till, floor (shelf stacking) or warehouse (breaking down and moving rollers)

i do not know of any retail company that does not train or require all staff to be multi skilled so that the company can move them to different roles as and when required

night shift has always paid more then day shift but i have not before come across differences in pay for the same role in retail
and i have worked within the retail industry for the last 22 years ...

On the argument of warehouse / retail, Amazon workers over here keep striking, because they want to be paid as retail workers, not warehouse staff.

Amazon argues that they are warehouse staff, because they work in a warehouse and that they don't have any shops, so they can't be retail workers. The union argues that Amazon is a retailer QED the workers should be paid as retail.

The reason is that shop workers only have to work until 20:00, after that there are heavy shift bonuses that would have to be paid, because it is not normal for a shop to be open into the night, whereas the night bonus is much less for warehouse staff, because warehouses often work around the clock.

I've no idea about equal pay for men and women at Amazon though.

Edit: I read the article. This Tesco story isn't about equal pay for men and women, in the first instance, this is about equal pay between retail and warehouse staff - just that there are more women in retail than in the warehouse. If the lawyers pull the sex card, then all Asda has to do is show that there are some women working in the warehouse and logistics and that they receive the same pay as the men...

Generally, the warehouse staff need extra training and get bonuses for things like having a forklift driving licence etc. The job is also generally more hazardous than a shop general shop worker, because they are working with heavy machinery and pallets of goods. If a stacked pallet falls lands on your noggin, it will generally do more damage than if a jam jar from the top shelf lands on your noggin.