"Women are angry - and rightly so," says Jane*, reflecting on the mood in her office following last week, when her employer, the Telegraph Media Group, revealed a gender pay gap of 35% in favour of men. "The day after we found out, we said to each other: 'Right we've worked 65% of the day now, it should be time to go home'."
When the news hit her inbox - an internal email broke the news to staff before they found out elsewhere - Jane says she felt sick. And while the revelations didn't stop female staff from working in the following days, they certainly didn't hide how they felt about the news. One Telegraph employee, referencing suffragette Emily Davison, wrote on Twitter: "Suddenly have an overwhelming desire to throw myself under a horse."
Any UK company with more than 250 employees will have to publish its gender pay gap by 4 April, with the likely result that many women around the UK will experience similar frustration. (Find out about your company here.) Jane wasn't surprised to find out there was a substantial difference between the average hourly earnings of men and women in her workplace - "You only had to look at the gender balance of the senior staff," - but it's still different to see the numbers confirmed in black and white.
