Thank you, Llywydd. This Friday is Equal Pay Day. For the rest of this year, women are effectively working for nothing because of the shortfall on what they should be earning compared to men. Barbara Castle's Equal Pay Act 1970 was inspired by the strike of Ford Dagenham sewing machinists. They were fed up that their highly skilled work earned them less than men sweeping the factory floor around them. Inspired by the Dagenham women—Ford Bridgend didn't exist at the time—women at the Hoover factory in Merthyr decided to test this new Equal Pay Act in 1970. The Hoover management were willing, but the backlash from the male workforce, supported by their male-dominated trade union leaders, as at Ford, illustrates why it has taken so long to achieve equal pay.

Twice as many women have lost their jobs during the pandemic, as both men and employers assumed that women would take on most of the additional home schooling, housework and childcare during lockdown, and that's exactly what's happened. The latest pay battle is on the football pitch. The Welsh women's football squad is demanding pay parity with the men's team. Women who represent England internationally are already paid the same as their male counterparts, but the Football Association of Wales has yet to pronounce on the merits of equal pay for the Welsh women's team.