Large firms in Britain will be required to publish details of how much they pay men compared to women, under plans launched by Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday.

Cameron will make the announcement in a newspaper article, setting out his ambition to "end the gender pay gap in a generation". On average a woman in Britain earns 0.8 pounds for every one pound earned by a man, according to official data.

"We will make every single company with 250 employees or more publish the gap between average female earnings and average male earnings," Cameron will say according to extracts of his article released in advance by his office.

"That will cast sunlight on the discrepancies and create the pressure we need for change, driving women’s wages up."

The government, which had previously said it wanted to make publishing such data mandatory, will open a consultation on how to design the new regulations and how to encourage greater and more diverse female participation in the labour market.

Cameron will also announce that a target set in 2011 to have 25 percent of board positions at FTSE 100 companies filled by women has been met.