I have often been asked if I am a feminist and it’s a question I hesitate to answer.

Bra-burning “we hate blokes” radicalism is not my bag. Equal rights for women, however, most certainly is. So that probably makes me a moderate feminist.

But equal pay is one of the issues that could tip me into the dungaree-wearing, placard-brandishing type, because nothing is changing in this situation and the only reason I can possibly think for why women are still earning up to £15,000 a year less than men is because it’s the boys who are paying the wages.

Consequently, as most companies don’t publish pay scales and few people discuss their earnings, they’re getting away with it and will continue to do so until somebody influential really puts their weight behind the issue.

The fact that there are only three women in the Cabinet compared to 22 men clearly has an influence, or lack of it. But those three women should have pay equality at the top of every political agenda.

And for any bloke out there who’s yawning their way through this, let’s see who can come up with a defence for the following facts provided by the TUC.

FACT: Women are paid 15 per cent less per hour than men working full-time. But in certain professions the gender pay gap is much wider, FACT: Female health professionals have the biggest pay gap at 31 per cent, which works out at £16,000 a year.

Top male professionals in health earn nearly £50 an hour, twice as much as top-earning women who earn £24.67 an hour.

FACT: Women working in culture, media and sport experience the next biggest pay gap at 27.5 per cent while women working in manufacturing occupations earn nearly 24 per cent less than men.

FACT: Women earn less than men in 32 of the 35 major occupations classified by the Office for National Statistics.

The major occupations where women earn more than men — transport drivers, electricians and agricultural workers — are all male dominated. Fewer than 50,000 women are employed in these sectors, compared to 1.5 million men.

As Hyndburn and Haslingden MP Graham Jones has pointed out, we are in an age where girls are outperforming boys at school, going to university in greater numbers and running FTSE 100 companies. So how is this scandal being allowed to carry on?

If women want parity then they should be demanding it from their political representative.

This injustice needs to be stopped once and for all. Wages should never be determined by the sex of the earner. Sort it out!