Equality around pay is to remain a murky topic for many, as it has emerged over here in the UK that large businesses will not be forced by the government to disclose gender pay gap information.

Inequality within society is endemic, and the inequality of pay between men and women is just another example. The Equal Pay Act was introduced in 1970 – some 40 years ago, and yet in the 2010 EHRC Triannual review, it was reported that there is still on average a 16% pay gap. While this is left unchallenged, it implies it is OK to value the worth of women as being less than men.

But women need to help themselves too. Women can’t wait around for society to change – at the current of change it is estimated it will take another 200 years before there is true equality.

To bring about change quicker, women need to break through their own glass ceilings. If we are brought up in a society that consciously and subconsciously sends signals that men have more worth than women, that is what will play out in practice if women do not address their own limiting thinking. Research carried out about the differences between male and female graduates starting a new position within firms found that men are more likely to negotiate a higher salary from the beginning, while women will accept the salary offered.

This means already there is a pay gap, which becomes wider as the years progress.

Women need to focus their thinking on their worth.

Others will not recognise their value unless women do so themselves.