Equal Pay Day highlights difference between male and female salaries

Equal Pay Day today came three days earlier than in 2013, when it fell on November 7 meaning women will effectively ‘work for free’ for the next 57 days.

FROM TODAY only men will effectively be paid for their work until New Year due to the difference between male and female salaries.

Purna Sen, Prospective Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Brighton Pavilion, said: “We have over four and half thousand single working mothers in Brighton and Hove.

“The fact that women continue to earn less than men on average is no longer acceptable. That the gender pay gap is increasing is scandalous and needs to be corrected. Equal pay is not only right in itself but essential in a time when so many women are supporting themselves and their families

 “A Labour Government will ask big companies (those with more than 250 staff) to publish their average hourly pay gap each year to expose whether men and women are being paid differently for doing the same work, and whether too few women occupy senior positions.”

Nancy Platts Prospective Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven, added: “I find it shocking that women need to work an extra three days for free this year because the pay gap is back on the rise. For the next 57 days women are effectively working for free. We can’t wait another 50 years for Equal Pay which is why Labour will be calling a vote in Parliament to get big companies to publish their pay gap. It’s simple if David Cameron’s Government doesn’t act, then back Labour so we can make the change that people need.”

Gloria De Piero MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities said: “Women are working an extra three days for free this year because the pay gap is back on the rise.

“Women shouldn’t have to wait another 50 years for equal pay, which is why Labour will be calling a vote in Parliament to get big companies to publish their pay gap.

“If David Cameron’s Government doesn’t act, a Labour Government will.”

The news comes as it was revealed, last week, that the UK has fallen out of the top 20 countries globally for gender equality dropping from 18th to 26th.