Today the online campaign #PayMeToo was launched by Labour MP Stella Creasy to give women tips on how to approach the gender pay gap in the workplace.
A cross-party initiative, the advice offered up on its website includes such guidance as: 'You have the right to discuss these issues at work and with colleagues as well as to raise them with your manager to hold them to account for what they are doing to tackle this gap.'
The campaign launch comes ahead of Wednesday's 'gender pay gap reporting' deadline, whereby all private companies in the UK with more than 250 employees are required – by law – to publish data showing the difference in hourly pay between their male and female employees, and also reveal details of their respective bonuses.
The public sector deadline was last Friday; the results uncovered how nine in 10 public sector employers pay their male staff more than their female staff. That's right, nine in ten.
It also revealed how women earn, on average, 14% less than men.
Unbelievable (and yet, sadly, very believable...).
Supported by MPs across all parties – Labour MPs Jess Phillips and Lucy Powell, Conservative MP Nicky Morgan and Liberal Democrats Jo Swinson for instance – the campaign is designed to help female employees hold their employers to account over discrepancies in
Speaking to The Guardian, Stella Creasy said: 'If we are serious about tackling the gender pay gap then we have to do more than publish data – we have to show we’re watching what happens next.'
Want to know how you can approach the issue? Visit the #PayMeToo website here.
Oh, and if you want to know what the pay gap is in your company (if it has over 250 employees), you can find out the data here.