LONDON (CWNews.com) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair's wife, Cherie Booth, last night called for legal rights given to unmarried heterosexual unions to be extended to same-sex couples.

    Speaking to fellow lawyers at King's College, London, Booth, a Catholic and a top-ranking employment lawyer, said: "The courts for some time have been indicating that legislators need to revisit this area. I do not think this issue is going to go away."

    She told the seminar homosexual people are not protected under the Rent Act of 1977 which recognizes unmarried heterosexual couples as "spouses" but not homosexual couples. She also asked if such discrimination was socially desirable.

    Booth also called for changes in the law to improve the burden on women in the workplace, and called on employers to find ways of implementing family-friendly practices, such as flexible working hours, job-share schemes, term-time working for parents, and improved child-care.

    "Women are not on an equal footing with men," she said. "This is confounded by the legal system which has not developed quickly enough to deal effectively with this type of discrimination. That is the situation now but one I believe will change in the future, because of necessity."

    Booth said she believes homosexuals will have greater job security when the Human Rights Act comes into effect later this year.