Many businesses are working from home 100% of the time now, which means there is no need to be location specific when pay is concerned. If anything, with the flexibility around new ways of working as a direct result of the pandemic, surely such flexibility could be awarded to other matters.
The problem of equal pay has been around for years, with equality legislation being produced as a result. With a lot of workforces switching to working from home, where location is not a fundamental element to the job and many people are working under the same title, we should not still be seeing vast differences in what people are being paid. It is common knowledge that London roles are particularly better paid than other cities, but the fact that everyone is now working from home, including those who commute to their London role and are paid a London-centric salary. It seems unfair to have people doing the same role but because their company is based in different cities, they are paid considerably different salaries.
There have been studies that have shown that women are promoted at lower rates than men which shows that the issue of equal pay goes further than merely the rate of pay. It rather stretches to promotion opportunities. If women were easily able to get into more executive positions, it would close the gap on equality even more. There is an unspoken discrimination around gender specific roles, where you see more women in certain professions than men. This also feeds into the gap.
Working from home has shown our workforce as being flexible and open to change, so it seems reasonable to push for more change in terms of equal pay. Creating an inclusive workforce and having diverse management are two key ways of trying to close the gap.