A Twitter bot is taking the suffragette motto “deeds not words” to a new level.

March 8 is International Women’s Day, and like many awareness months or days of reflection, is often used by companies to make themselves look better than they actually are by posting platitudes about women on social media. 

However, many of these companies talk the talk but don’t walk the walk. Since 2017, employers in the United Kingdom with a staff headcount of 250 or more are required to report their gender pay gap – and the data is publicly available. Now, a Gender Pay Gap Bot on Twitter is highlighting the hypocrisy of companies that are underpaying women while celebrating International Women's Day 2022.

The Gender Pay Gap Bot quote-tweets companies, universities, organizations, and public employers’ International Women’s Day tweets with their women's median hourly pay compared to men's on their payroll. Some pay men and women equally. Many, the bot has revealed, don’t. In fact, many companies caught out have either deleted their tweets or reposted with different wording and even without the #IWD2022 hashtag.

It goes to show that while many companies would like to appear fair and equal, they continue to underpay women – something that is even more pronounced for women of color, disabled women, and LGBTQ+ women. Like the companies that slap on a rainbow flag during LGBTQ+ history month but don't tackle inequality or update their policies from within, it's meaningless unless meaningful action is taken alongside it.