Women work 'for free' 59 days every year due to gender pay gap: Study

London, Feb. 28 (ANI): Women workers are spending about 11 weeks and 3 days every year toiling away for free as their male colleagues get paid, a new study has revealed.

According to an analysis for The Huffington Post by Ariane Hegewisch at the Institute for Women's Policy Research, since American women workers make on average 77.4 percent of what their male counterparts make in a year, that means they have to work 22.6 percent more days to make as much money as men.

Hegewisch's analysis assumes American employees work 260 days per year (a full 52 weeks without vacation). In that time, women are working about 59 days for free that their male colleagues are getting paid for.

Ladies' free labour is just one of the many consequences of the gender wage gap, and that earning gap starts within the first year of a woman's career.

According to a fact sheet from the Democratic Policy and Communications Center, women make 434,000 dollars less than men on average over the course of their careers.

Politicians are taking steps to address the gender pay gap, but with female workers only comprising 6.2 percent of top-earning positions, progress may be slow, the report said.

Lawmakers recently introduced the Paycheck Fairness Act, which aims to address the gender wage gap by making it easier for women workers to compare salaries with their male counterparts, among other provisions.

However, at the current rate of progress on the issue, the gender wage gap won't close until 2056, according to an analysis from IWPR, which totals up to 2,537 days of free women's work. (ANI)