Women are effectively working for free for the rest of the year due to the disparages between men and women’s wages.
Equal Pay Day marks the day that women will work for free because on average they earn less than men. The day is calculated using the mean full time gender pay gap, which currently stands at 14.1 per cent.
According to statistics, for every pound a man earns, a woman on average earns just 86p.
Equal Pay Day has not shifted in the calendar for the past three years, demonstrating the lack of progress there has been in closing the pay gap.
In terms of progress, it was also recently reported that global gender gap will take 100 years to close at its current rate.
According to The World Economic Forum, the global gender pay gap will take a century to close, compared to 83 last year.
The report also estimated that the workplace gender gap will now not be closed for 217 years.
A number of campaign groups are now calling for women to leave the office this afternoon.
The Women’s Organisation is marking Equal Pay Day with the campaign, ‘3:34 – we’re out the door’ in a bid to raise awareness of the gender pay gap.
The Women’s Equality Party are also urging women to go ‘out of office’ in protest to the pay disparity.
