The Gender Pay Gap

The gender pay gap wipes as much as $28 trillion off the global economy, according to some estimates. That's equivalent to 26 per cent of global GDP. Women earn 17.9 per cent less than men on average in the US, while in the UK the difference is 17.5 per cent. The gap gets wider in Asia and the Middle East.

But it could also have a more sinister effect on the everyday lives of women. The risk of women who earn less money than men developing an anxiety disorder is more than four times higher, Columbia University researchers found. The study compares women and men with matching education and work experiences. Women earning less than their male counterparts were 2.5 times more likely to develop depression. But when women's income equaled or exceeded men's, their odds of depression stood at similar levels and they had much less risk of developing an anxiety disorder.