After ten years of working as a chef for a large catering company, I found out I was being paid much less than a male colleague - even though we did the exact same job. He was paid £22k - I was being paid £6K less.

I was shocked and distraught.

I raised this with my line manager - who provided false information to our employer, stating I was being paid less because I didn’t do the same job as the male colleague. I was more qualified and more experienced than him. So why was he being paid so much more for doing the same job? 

That’s why I’m calling for women to have the legal 'Right to Know' if they are being paid less than a male colleague for doing equal work. 

My employer, Compass, is one of the largest catering companies in the world. I took them to court for pay discrimination. And I won. But the process cost me a lot of money and confidence - and had a severe impact on my health and my family. 

So I’ve joined forces with The Fawcett Society, the UK’s leading charity campaigning for women’s rights, to campaign for change. If women have the #RightToKnow, fewer of us will have to go through what I had to.

I thought the legal right to equal pay would mean I was being paid fairly. For years, I went to work each day without knowing I was being paid less than those I was working alongside. I am not an isolated case. So many women don’t even realise they are experiencing pay discrimination and employers can get away with it because there’s no transparency. 

50 years on from the Equal Pay Act, it’s time to make it fit for purpose. We want the incoming Prime Minister to change the law so that women who suspect they are experiencing pay discrimination can find out if they are earning less than their male colleagues doing equal work. 

Please sign my petition and encourage all your friends, family and colleagues to do so too. There’s strength in numbers – together we will end pay discrimination!