It’s no news that women earn less than men (the gender pay gap for all staff in the UK was 19.7 per cent in 2013, marginally higher than the previous year). What’s even more disappointing is that women earn less than men even in popular female-dominated jobs (the Institute for Women’s Policy Research crunched the government data for this stat).

I’ve previously discussed mentioning the ‘c’ word (children) in the workplace. But I don’t think the demands of family life and travel are the root of the issue. Women are, after all, brilliant multi-taskers. Research (50 men and 50 women were tasked with finding restaurants on a map, solving simple arithmetic and drawing a plan to find a lost key while they were simultaneously interrupted by telephone calls) by professor Keith Laws from the University of Hertfordshire revealed that women are better at planning and strategy. I have another theory…

Perhaps men simply demand more while women avoid being labeled ‘demanding’. One bright friend, whose work has taken her to Paris, admitted that she puts off talking about salary expectations altogether during interviews. I was shocked, ‘But if you don’t say how much you’re worth how will a company be able to value you?’

Hot Danish is happy for me to organise things as long as he’s in control of the budget. This is simply because I’m terrible with money (something I’ve blogged about before). HD has advised me on my property, tax rebates and compensation claims. However, when I once revealed my salary during an interview he said I should have added 25% to the figure I quoted. Other men agreed while women were surprised by the whopping lie.