It’s Equal Pay Day, and this Twitter bot is slamming companies that pay men more than women

Mark A. Tomlin March 15, 2022 Google scholar Comments Off on It’s Equal Pay Day, and this Twitter bot is slamming companies that pay men more than women 12 Views

Organizations around the world took to social media last week to show their support for International Women’s Day. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, for many companies, attaching a concise #IWD2022 or #BreakTheBias hashtag to a carefully curated Instagram post or tweet is the start and end point of their commitment to women.


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In the United States and elsewhere, the gender pay gap persists. Today, March 15, is Equal Pay Day in the United States – so chosen, according to the National Committee on Pay Equity, because “this date symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what the men earned the year before”. Data from the Pew Research Center reveals that in 2020, women earned 84% of what men earned, and that gap widens even more for some women of color.

A British couple decided to call out organizations that literally don’t put their money where they say it does. Francesca Lawson, a writer and social media manager in Manchester, England, and her partner Ali Fensome, a software consultant, have created a Twitter bot, @PayGapAppthat retweets posts from businesses, schools, and nonprofits with specific International Women’s Day keywords or hashtags, along with a rating revealing women’s pay vs. people within the organization.

Unlike US companies, those in Britain with 250 or more employees have been required to publish information on gender pay differences every year since 2018. The large amount of data, publicly available on a website government searchable, reveals that men who work women full-time in the country earned 7.9% more than women in April 2021.

Naturally, Twitter users and retweeted organizations had a lot to say about the Gender Pay Gap Bot revelations (or at least those who didn’t delete the tweets calling them out did).

Related: How you can close the pay gap on #EqualPayDay

Where women are paid less than men

Message after message from Gender Pay Gap Bot demonstrates the stark disparity between women’s and men’s salaries. At leading management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, women’s hourly wages are 22.3% lower than men’s. The statistic appears above the company’s retweeted post, which reads “Meet Francesca, ‘I believe no mountain is too high to climb!'” and includes a video of a woman stepping on a rocky terrain.

Twitter users didn’t hold back.

“Keep climbing Francesca.. to another company,” one user wrote. Another joked: “Watch your head at the top – there is a glass ceiling up there! Yet another commented: “It’s not like they tell other companies how they should be run or anything. That’s probably fine.” Inevitably, one user tried to claim that the gender pay gap was a myth propagated by different lifestyle choices, but another user was quick to set the record straight: “You can very easily search ‘gender pay gap’ on Google Scholar and find out how it’s actually not a myth.”

Additionally, the message from lingerie company Boux Avenue, which includes an image of a lacy purple bra and reads: “Anyone obsessed with wearing purple atm? The official color of International Health Month We’ve got the perfect set for YOU! Say hello to Mackenna: super cute, comfy and totally seasonal, what’s not to love?”, received particularly pointed remarks when the bot revealed that the organization pays women a 31.4% lower median hourly wage than men.

“I am obsessed with equality and I pay women what they are worth”, commented a user. Another wrote: “Funny how International Women’s Day has become a marketing opportunity for companies that exploit women. “What’s not to like is that you underpay women,” someone else added.

Some organisations, like Save the Children UK, where women’s median hourly earnings are 5% lower than men’s, have opted to block the bot’s account, but that hasn’t stopped the comments from pouring in. “Deleted for 5%? one user wrote. “It’s a very bad look.” Another added: “They didn’t delete but blocked the bot’s account, which makes the tweet disappear from the quote tweets created by the blocked account. If you go to their page, it’s still there. To my humble opinion, it’s even worse.”

Related: Why leadership is central to closing the gender pay gap

On the other side of the coin, some organizations have used the bot retweet as an opportunity to express their commitment to do better. The bot retweeted financial institution GoCardless’ #IWD post highlighting the company’s director of security and privacy risk, noting that women’s median hourly earnings are 19.9% ​​lower than men’s in the organization.

One user wrote: “Oh wow so many ways@GoCardless could do better by highlighting their 19.9% #GenderPayGap. If the statistic is correct, the feedback is truly a gift, and the action on #EquityPayelle #Equal pay #PayParity would be even better to #BreaktheBias. GoCardless responded to the user, admitting, “We need to close this pay gap. We are making progress and our average and median pay gaps show a downward trend since 2019 with a sharply declining median pay gap. We have also increased the proportion of women in our leadership population from 16% to 28% since 2019.”

Similarly, when it was revealed that women’s hourly wages were 3.9% lower than men’s at English Heritage, a charity that runs historic sites like Stonehenge, the organization was quick to express support for transparency. “This is based on April 2020 data,” the English Heritage account wrote. “Since then, we have worked hard to close our pay gap and it is narrowing. But no matter how small, a gap is a gap and the charity is committed to closing it. Read more https: //bit.ly/3KsRNPG.”

Related: The Gender Pay Gap Is Driving More Women to Create Their Own Paycheck

Where the wages of men and women are equal

A much smaller sample of publications featured organizations that have already prioritized equal pay for women and men. For example, hourly wages for men and women are equal at Richmond and Hillcroft Adult Community College – a rare case reported by users. “Honestly one of the first I’ve seen,” one person wrote. Another commented, “Hooray!!”

Where women are paid more than men

Although the majority of posts highlight the higher incomes of men, there are a few surprising points. At Nottinghamshire Healthcare, women’s median hourly earnings are 6.5% higher than men’s, prompting a flurry of enthusiastic responses from Twitter users: “finally a win for women”, “Hey Well, that’s good news. I’ve been waiting for this one!” and “Finally. Is this the only one. Well done Notts Healthcare.”

Similarly, at Marylebone Cricket Club, women’s median hourly wages are 15.5% higher than men’s, prompting positive comments such as “It surprised me given their historical sexism, misogyny, etc. and the most skeptical: “It’s a women’s cricket club.” again for that.”

Finally, at Barnet Council, the median hourly wage for women is 25.5% higher than for men. “I’ll be honest, it wasn’t something I expected,” one user wrote. “Shit yeah! said another.

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