Why, even now, do we think a woman’s work is worth less?

Striking female machinists from the Ford plant in Dagenham attend a women’s conference on equal rights in London in 1968. Photograph: Bob Aylott/Getty Images

There has been another baby step forward in the long-running equal pay case brought by more than 40,000 female employees at Asda.

It is one of a slew of battles being fought across the retail sector, including at Next, where female staff recently won the right to take their case to its final stage.