women in london

30th October is Equal Pay Day

On Equal Pay Day individuals and groups across the country will be taking action to mark the day that women effectively receive their last pay cheque of the year. This is because the 17.1% full-time gender pay gap is equivalent to men being paid all year round while women work for free after 30th October. Equal Pay Day 2009 is calling on the Government to get tough on pay inequality in the UK.

Take action to end the gender pay gap on Equal Pay Day

If you’ve got 30 minutes to spare:
* Collect signatures for the Equal Pay petition – download and print out our petition sheet (Appendix 1 below) and invite people to sign, or forward our online petition link to friends and colleagues
* Write to your local newspaper – download our template letter (Appendix 2 below), customise it and send it to the letters section of your local paper
* Write to your MP – download our template letter (Appendix 4 below), customise it and send it to your MP
Distribute Equal Pay Day materials: Download or order leaflets, posters and stickers from our Equal Pay Day materials page

If you’ve got 3 hours to spare:
* Visit your MP: Appendix 5 (below) is a briefing on meeting your MP, including how to make an appointment and prepare for the meeting.
* Distribute Equal Pay Day materials: Download or order leaflets, posters and stickers from our Equal Pay Day materials page

If you’ve got one day or more to spare:
* Hold an event for Equal Pay Day: Our guide ‘Take action on Equal Pay Day’ from the links on the right has lots of information on holding an event on Equal Pay Day.

Sign our petition for equal pay
Online petition to the Prime Minister to close the gender pay gap. http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/equalpaynow

More information:

The guide and all the appendices can be downloaded using the link at the end of this section or to request hard copies or if you need the information in a different format, please call the office on 020 7253 2598.

Take action on Equal Pay Day
Download our guide to how you can take action to help close the gender pay gap.

Appendix 1 – Petition
A downloadable petition asking the Prime Minister to end the gender pay gap for you to print out copies and invite people to sign.

Appendix 2 – Fawcett Society and UNISON template letter to local newspaper
Download and customise this template letter calling for equal pay reforms, and send it to the letters page of your local newspaper

Appendix 3 – Regional pay gap figures
Download a list of regional pay gap figures for the UK.

Appendix 4 – Fawcett Society and UNISON template letter to local MP
Download and customise this template letter and ask your MP to urge the Government to strengthen reforms to equal pay law.

Appendix 5 – Meeting your MP
A briefing on meeting your MP including how to make an appointment and prepare for the meeting.

Appendix 6 – Gender Pay Gap Information Sheet
Download our information sheet on the gender pay gap covering frequently asked questions.

Download these from http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/index.asp?Pageid=728

Keep up-to-date with EPD activities across the country on our Equal Pay Day blog http://equalpayday.wordpress.com/ and our Twitter feed http://twitter.com/fawcettsociety