The Gender Pay Gap Bot Is The Fact Check We Need This International Women's Day

Each year, International Women’s Day marks a chance to celebrate the achievements of women and tackle gender inequality. And naturally, some companies use the day to champion women in their organisation – or so they say.

In 2022, there are hundreds of tweets from companies tweeting about the importance of female empowerment. But do the tweets match up to the actions of these organisations?

Twitter account @PayGapApp doesn’t seem to think so. Their background header reads: “Deeds not words. Stop posting platitudes. Start fixing the problem.” They’re exposing companies who still have a gender pay gap. 

If a company tweets about International Women’s Day, they’ll quote tweet with their gender pay gap. Universities, councils and even charity organisations have had their gender pay gaps exposed by the account. 

The account was set up by social media manager Francesca Lawson and software developer Ali Fensome in 2021, but they’ve gained a new wave of followers this year.

The account highlights pay gap data that’s publicly available via the government website. 

“If we’re not confronting that data and acting on it, then the problems are just going to persist forever,” Lawson told Vice. 

“We created the bot is to make sure that this data isn’t just forgotten about – it’s in the spotlight. By talking about it, we can begin to put pressure on employers to start changing their hiring practices, and paying everyone more.”

It seems like most people on Twitter think they’re doing the Lord’s work. 

Though the account is mainly exposing companies for still having a gender pay gap, they’re also highlighting the organisations who pay men and women equally such as Registers of Scotland and Together Trust.

Other companies like London Fire Brigade, Wigan Council, Helen and Douglas House, JoJo Maman Bebe and Girlguiding pay women more than men. So it’s not all bad news. 

What do you think of the Gender Pay Gap Bot?