Do men deserve to earn 18.6 percent more than women? Australia’s gender pay gap is the highest it’s been in 20 years, with men now earning on average $3,000 a year more than women from their very first job.

In real terms that means Cosmo readers are working 65 days each year FOR FREE. Cosmo thinks this is complete BS, and if you agree, we need your help to shake things up!!

Tell the government that you believe in #equalpay by signing our petition to get them to make company wide pay gaps for individual organisations public. This data is already being reported, but it's not made public, so people don't know where companies stand when it comes to pay equality and no one is held accountable.

Why does that matter? We think most Australians would agree that pay should be determined by skill, not genitals. But for some reason, the gender pay gap continues to grow, which means that we need to take a long hard look at our current system. 

So we’re calling for more transparency across Australian companies and will be sending this petition to the government on 27 October.

Why 27 October? That’s the day Australian women will stop getting paid for the year as a result of the gender pay gap. From that day forward, women will work the next 65 days FOR FREE, while their male counterparts continue to earn a salary.

We’re not asking for things to change overnight, all we want is gender pay gaps to be made public so that companies are held accountable and feel pressure to pay women what they're worth. We’re never going to be able to make pay fair for all Australians until we know where we stand.

So sign your name and spread the word. Let’s show the government that we do care about pay equality, and make things different for the next generation. #EQUALPAY