As if having boobs and periods and all those other things us ladies have to deal with wasn't enough to be going on with, try this on for size: today (November 10th)marks the point that effectively sees all us women working for free until the end of the year. So while men are all getting paid, women are effectively doing the same jobs for absolutely nothing.

Sound unfair? That's probably because it isand it's this measurement that's being used to illustrate just how much of an issue the gender pay gap still is.

If you thought that men and women were pretty much equal in the UKthen we hate to break it to you but there are still major disparities. Disparities that will see men paid £1 to every £85.05 earnt by women.

That in itself might not see a huge difference but if you look at a whole year, it means that in comparison to men, women effectively stop getting paid on November 10th and basically work for free until the end of the year.

Even worse, despite the fact that the Equal Pay Act came into force a full 46 years ago, at this rate it will take until the year 2069 before the two sexeshave economic parity and another 160 years until women and men are actually paid equally.

Sam Smethers, chief exec of women's rights group The Fawcett Society has a few thoughts on why this is still such and issue and speaking to the Independent, she expains: “A root cause of the gender pay gap is that we don’t value the work done by women.

“Equal value goes to the heart of the fight for pay equality, because the reality is that if it is a sector dominated by women the pay will be lower.”

PREACH.

Of course this is a complicated issue and many things have an impact on the disparity, including but not limited to history, sexism and opportunitity. But do you really want to live in a society where the work of men is valued more than that of women? We know that we don't.

While it might be tricky to get your boss to understand why you should take the rest of the year off, there are positive things both women and men can do to bring attention to the gender pay gap. The first thing is to make noise; make this a topic of conversation in your work placeand have your say online.

And what if you're aware that a man doing the same job as you is being paid more? Well you might well have the right to make an equal pay claim so do your research, get your proof and take it to your boss.

Know your worth!