Are you working the rest of the year for free?
- Davinia
- Nov 24, 2025
- 4 min read
It’s one of those things I know about, and have thought about, but often forget.
Maybe that’s just wishful thinking.
Saturday just gone - 22 November - was named Equal Pay day by The Fawcett Society - a somewhat misleading name for the day in 2025 that women in the UK would effectively stop being paid.
I know - you’re thinking WTF is she on about.
As a whole, women in the UK are now effectively working for free in the UK until next year -why? Because of the Gender Pay Gap.
The gender pay gap measures the difference between average (median) hourly earnings of men and women, usually shown by the percentage men earn more than women (Freelancer or self-employed? This still matters to you - and I’ll come to that shortly)
Since 2017/18, public and private sector employers with 250 or more employees have been required annually to publish data on the gender pay gap within their organisations.
So here are some facts (source links for stats at the end)
In 2024/25, 78% of reporting employers stated that median hourly pay was higher for men than for women in their organisation.
According to the Office for National Statistics, median hourly pay for full-time employees was 6.9% less for women than for men in April 2025, whilst median pay for all employees was 12.8% less for women than for men in April 2025.
There are differences across age groups and job types, and some would argue ‘justified reasons’ for the gap.
For example: Women working full-time are still more likely to be employed in low-paying occupations and less likely to be employed in high-paying occupations than men working full-time (often due to career breaks and other caring responsibilities without supportive flexible working arrangements).
According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), by the time the first child is aged twenty, mothers have on average been in paid work for three years less than fathers: they have spent ten years less in full-time work, but seven years more in part-time work. The pay gap between mothers and fathers increases by around 21 percentage points between birth of first child and child’s twentieth birthday.
Even if you’re self-employed, this has an impact on you.
If you’re a freelancer or sole-director businesses, the principle is that undervaluing your work (charging less than you should) compounds over years - just as the pay gap compounds across a lifetime.
When building a business, we often think we sacrifice pay for flexibility - but that doesn’t have to be the case. (And often find more efficient ways to do things because of your experience and lack of time - but if you’re doing the same value in fewer hours, then your rate needs to reflect that value, not simply hourly parity.
The pay gap has been stubborn for decades (although it is SLOWLY narrowing), so your potential pricing undervaluation in business is something that needs shaping NOW, rather than waiting.
Questions to ask yourself:
Are you giving away value by charging too little?
Are you “working for free” after a point because the rate doesn’t match the value you deliver?
What would it mean if you boosted your average fee by just half of the pay gap - 5%? What could you invest in? What growth would it enable?
So what do you do about it?
Action you can take right now: Have a look at your own numbers, and track them.
Knowledge is power.
Just as employers report their gender pay gap data, as a business owner you can track your average fee, conversion rate, margin, and growth - so you’re not unknowingly sliding into low-value work. Are you earning as much as you thought? If you worked it out to be an hourly rate for the time you spend - how does it compare to minimum wage? To industry averages for someone with your experience?
If you don’t know where to start, or want to set up a regular tracker but don’t know where to begin? I can help.
I offer 1 to 1 sense check sessions to help you get on top of your numbers, so you have clarity over where you are and where you want to get to. Message me for more details.
I’m also launching a DIY financial ritual next month so you can keep track of key numbers for your business in less than 30 minutes a month.
Join the waitlist here: subscribepage.io/T3Xv56
NOTES:
The “equal pay day” figure is symbolic and based on averages (mean pay gap) across the economy — it does not mean every woman in every job is earning 10.9% less than every man in the equivalent role. It doesn’t account for job type, hours worked, sector etc. (As the briefing notes, the gender pay gap is different to equal pay.
The gap has narrowed over time, but progress is slow. (Too slow)
For business owners: your context may differ (self-employed vs employee, sector, hours, etc). But the principle still holds: if you undervalue your work, you reduce both your income and possible reinvestment/growth.
Sources for stats and further reading:
House Of Commons Library, The Gender Pay Gap Report, 17 November 2025 https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN07068/SN07068.pdf
Office for National Statistics: Gender Pay Gap 2025
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