Last year Equal Pay Day, the day that marks how many extra days from the end of the financial year a woman on average would have to work to earn the same as a man, was August 28. I hate to break it to you, but the gender pay gap is very, very real. Sorry if that was shocking for you to hear.

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We've all heard the statistic, that women make 70c to a man's dollar, but, however accurate it is, this is a slightly disingenuous figure and doesn't go a long way to backing the argument that women are discriminated against in the workforce.

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While it is the case that in numerous positions men do earn more than women for the same job, the more interesting take has a bit more nuance. Right wing online trolls like to remind us that the gender pay gap shows the average salary of all women as compared to the average salary of all men and it's just a fact that women do more part time work and are generally employed in lower paid industries like early childhood education and nursing.

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For once, the right wing trolls are right.

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However, unfortunately for them, as usual they fail to see the nuance in this; fail to see why it is a failing of out society that more women are locked out of promotions and full time work. Women take on a disproportionate amount of unpaid housework, childcare and are generally the ones expected to sacrifice career progression in order to raise children and the gap is even greater for women of colour and other minorities.

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Even just the short amount of time that a woman would take for maternity leave is enough to set careers back, with women who take longer maternity leaves less likely to be promoted into management or leadership positions according to the Harvard Business Review. And to top it all off, employers aren't even obligated to make superannuation contributions while you're on maternity leave.

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It is all of this and much, much more that needs to be addressed when we talk about the gender pay gap. We need to have broader policy discussion about why women, and especially women of colour are being left behind in the workforce. Why we aren't being promoted when we are asking for promotions at the same rates as male colleagues and why women are retiring with on average 47% less super than men!

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That's why things like the Andrews Labor Government's new superannuation proposal that will potentially lead to higher super contributions for women is something to be very excited about.

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This fight needs to be a coalition of progressive and fair legislation with the much broader social movement. We have to change the culture around women in the workplace and at home. We need to make it acceptable in society for men to stay at home raising children; make it acceptable for women to just not have children at all!

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Until that happens we have to keep up the fight. Incredible union and Labor women have been waging this fight for years before us and it's up to us to continue it, and if the men have a problem with us breaking up their boys clubs and taking away their high powered positions then tough. I've never felt the need to ask for a man's permission anyway.