WOMEN living in Copeland will effectively work more than one week for free this year due to the gender pay gap, figures suggest.

Women's rights charity, the Fawcett Society said "progress in reducing the gender pay gap is too slow", and have called on the Government to introduce measures to help women into higher-paying work, especially during the cost-of-living crisis.

Office for National Statistics estimates show full-time female workers in Copeland earned an average of £18.99 per hour excluding overtime as of April, while their male peers earned £19.46 – a gap of 2.5 per cent.

It means that by the end of the year, women will have effectively worked without pay since December 22.

November 20 marks Equal Pay Day as organised by the society after which women across the country effectively stop earning relative to men. Jemima Olchawski, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said:

"Progress on tackling the gender pay gap is too slow and evidence continues to stack up that women want to see more being done."

"In the context of labour market shortages and the cost-of-living crisis, we really can’t afford not to act. We urgently need action from both the Government and employers."

It is important to note that the gender pay gap is the estimated difference between the average hourly wage for men and women across all jobs and is entirely different from the concept of equal pay, which means men and women doing the same job must be paid the same.

The gender pay gap can be combatted through methods such as transparency over pay, reassess promotions, bonuses and benefits, increase female salaries, encourage men to take parental leave, offer some help with childcare and encourage remote working.

For part-time workers across the country, the gender pay gap was 0.2 per cent last year, while in Copeland, men earned 2.2 per cent more than women in part-time roles.

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