New figures show that men living in Bury will effectively work more than six days for free due to the gender pay gap.

This contrasts the trend across the UK.

Although this trend seems to be positive for women, the women’s rights charity the Fawcett Society said progress in reducing the gender pay gap is too slow.

They have called on the government to introduce measures to help women into higher paying work, especially during this cost of living crisis.

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) estimates that full-time female workers in Bury earned an average of £18.24 per hour excluding overtime as of April.

Their male peers earned £17.92 per hour, a gap of 1.8 per cent.

Across the UK, the full-time workforce is paid an average hourly rate of £18.09, 11.3 per cent less than the £20.04 hourly wage earned by men.

Equal Pay Day will be marked on November 20 by the Fawcett Society, who said the rising cost of living means raising awareness of the pay gap is vital for women across the country.

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."

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

For part-time workers across the country, the gender pay gap was 0.2 per cent last year, while in Bury, men earned 17.3 per cent more than women in part-time roles.

The Fawcett Society have also called on the government to make flexible working available to all to help more women and mothers into work.

It said employers should also stop asking "discriminatory" wage history questions and publish salary bands on job adverts.

The government's Equality Hub said the overall trend of the national gender pay gap has decreased over time since 1997.

A spokesperson added that the government has introduced legislation for the right to flexible working, shared parental leave and pay, and doubling free childcare.

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