‘Gender pay gap bot’ targets law firms tweeting about International Women’s Day

Awkward

A Twitter bot is targeting big firms on International Women’s Day with details of their gender pay gap.

The account @PayGapApp is retweeting law firm and other employers’ tweets commemorating the global day with an auto response detailing their median hourly pay gap using data from a UK government website.

“Stop posting platitudes,” the account’s banner reads. “Start fixing the problem.”

This year’s IWD theme is ‘#BreakTheBias’ and so a lot of the firms’ tweets describe how they’re committed to breaking gender inequality and calling out bias.

It’s all very awkward, and here are some of the law firms targeted so far:

Bevan Brittan

In this organisation, women's median hourly pay is 26.2% lower than men's. https://t.co/LAVerXGz1V

— Gender Pay Gap Bot (@PayGapApp) March 8, 2022

Birketts

In this organisation, women's median hourly pay is 20.2% lower than men's. https://t.co/i1CWg8mbs8

— Gender Pay Gap Bot (@PayGapApp) March 8, 2022

Blake Morgan

In this organisation, women's median hourly pay is 40.8% lower than men's. https://t.co/8Y8nit9WTJ

— Gender Pay Gap Bot (@PayGapApp) March 7, 2022

Browne Jacobson

In this organisation, women's median hourly pay is 24% lower than men's. https://t.co/VrwUZw80wy

— Gender Pay Gap Bot (@PayGapApp) March 8, 2022

Digby Brown

In this organisation, women's median hourly pay is 18.2% lower than men's. https://t.co/q8AW3Lk0IK

— Gender Pay Gap Bot (@PayGapApp) March 8, 2022

DLA Piper

In this organisation, women's median hourly pay is 16.8% lower than men's. https://t.co/59aCUjreVm

— Gender Pay Gap Bot (@PayGapApp) March 8, 2022

DWF

In this organisation, women's median hourly pay is 24% lower than men's. https://t.co/6BnfHbysKu

— Gender Pay Gap Bot (@PayGapApp) March 8, 2022

Forsters

In this organisation, women's median hourly pay is 26.9% lower than men's. https://t.co/6unhcCfC9b

— Gender Pay Gap Bot (@PayGapApp) March 8, 2022

Mishcon de Reya

In this organisation, women's median hourly pay is 27.8% lower than men's. https://t.co/yeERvmPNcB

— Gender Pay Gap Bot (@PayGapApp) March 8, 2022

The Law Society

In this organisation, women's median hourly pay is 11.3% lower than men's. https://t.co/Y1HJIKac0Y

— Gender Pay Gap Bot (@PayGapApp) March 7, 2022

Simmons & Simmons

In this organisation, women's median hourly pay is 31.6% lower than men's. https://t.co/iqqBjDpZKq

— Gender Pay Gap Bot (@PayGapApp) March 8, 2022

Shearman & Sterling

In this organisation, women's median hourly pay is 52% lower than men's. https://t.co/Bg3BhY1vp5

— Gender Pay Gap Bot (@PayGapApp) March 8, 2022

TLT

In this organisation, women's median hourly pay is 31.9% lower than men's. https://t.co/aTFAChxmrP

— Gender Pay Gap Bot (@PayGapApp) March 8, 2022

Watson Farley & Williams

In this organisation, women's median hourly pay is 17% lower than men's. https://t.co/QkfyFSjove

— Gender Pay Gap Bot (@PayGapApp) March 8, 2022

Weightmans

In this organisation, women's median hourly pay is 22.6% lower than men's. https://t.co/JRdpYQBMBq

— Gender Pay Gap Bot (@PayGapApp) March 8, 2022

White & Case

In this organisation, women's median hourly pay is 26.4% lower than men's. https://t.co/ntJTt0y4nL

— Gender Pay Gap Bot (@PayGapApp) March 8, 2022

Winckworth Sherwood

In this organisation, women's median hourly pay is 17.1% lower than men's. https://t.co/BnWtst1nUV

— Gender Pay Gap Bot (@PayGapApp) March 8, 2022

Womble Bond Dickinson

In this organisation, women's median hourly pay is 31.6% lower than men's. https://t.co/HjpbyEDw3A

— Gender Pay Gap Bot (@PayGapApp) March 8, 2022

The celebratory tweets posted by some firms like Harper Macleod, Thorntons Law and Ward Hadaway appear to be no longer visible.

All employers with 250 or more employees are required by law to publish their gender pay gap figures each year. These can all be searched for and compared using the government’s official ‘gender pay gap service’ which is understood to be the bot’s point of reference.