'If you walk out at 3.34pm you'd get fired':  £750,000-a-film actress Gemma Arterton faces online backlash after urging women to leave work early on Equal Pay Day 

  • The actress spoke out against an '18% pay gap' between men and women
  • She suggested that women leave at 3.34pm - the point of their 'free labour'
  • Since starring in the musical Made In Dagenham she has campaigned on the matter and protested at Westminster

By Sebastian Shakespeare for the Daily Mail

Published: 17:52 EST, 10 November 2016 | Updated: 03:49 EST, 11 November 2016

Gemma Arterton's latest attempt to promote her feminist agenda has backfired

Since starring in the West End musical Made In Dagenham — about the 1968 strike by female Ford factory workers — actress Gemma Arterton has been a passionate advocate of equal pay.

But the former Bond Girl’s latest attempt to promote her feminist agenda has backfired.

The 30-year-old was attacked yesterday for deciding to speak up on social media about the gender pay gap in Britain as part of national Equal Pay Day, a campaign backed by charity The Fawcett Society.

The day marks the point from which women in Britain effectively work for free until the end of the year, as a result of the difference between what men and women are paid.

The date varies according to the actual pay gap each year.

‘Today is Equal Pay Day,’ Arterton told her 162,000 social media fans. ‘Women are still paid 18.1 per cent less than their male equivalents at work. Not good enough!’

Gemma Arterton's Instagram post urged women to leave work early as a point of principle, but many followers said it was a foolish move that could lead dismissal

In 2014 Arterton (centre) joined fellow cast members from the musical Made in Dagenham at Westminster to campaign for equal pay legislation

Referring to the precise start time of women’s relative free labour, she added: ‘If you work a 9-5pm job, you could leave work at 3.34pm to make a point.’

But her comments received short shrift from critics who argued the Kent-born beauty was out of touch with the reality of most people’s working lives.

‘You could leave work at 3.34pm to get fired, that’s what happens in the real world,’ wrote one, with another adding: ‘Sadly, most people would lose their jobs if they left whenever they liked, even for one day.’

The 30-year-old was attacked yesterday for deciding to speak up on social media about the gender pay gap in Britain as part of national Equal Pay Day

Others demanded the actress back up her figures. ‘Stop spreading false statistics,’ fumed one, while two male followers observed: ‘I don’t know a single woman doing the same job as a man who gets paid any less. Complete feminist myth’ and: ‘There is no wage gap. There is a lifetime earnings gap, but that is a result of personal choices.’

Arterton's Instagram post caused a backlash from many followers but there were some who praised her for highlighting the issue 

Arterton’s championing of the cause began two years ago when she played Made In Dagenham’s lead role of Rita, a working woman and mother who becomes the union leader.

Her public support has included protesting outside the Houses of Parliament to raise awareness of the issue that still affects women 46 years after the Equal Pay Act was passed.

GEMMA ARTERTON: THE WELDER'S DAUGHTER WHO HAS SPENT A DECADE AT THE TOP  

Arterton, right, as Rita in Made in Dagenham at the Adelphi Theatre alongside Sophie Stanton (left) playing Beryl

Gemma Arterton has been a vocal supporter of the campaign for equal pay - protesting at Westminster and using her high-profile position to champion the cause.

The 30-year-old actress lives in a flat in Highgate and is worth around £6 million. It is believed she earned around £750,000 for her most recent film 100 Streets. 

Arterton got her first big break in the 2007 remake of classic comedy caper St. Trinians. Born in Gravesend to Sally-Anne and Barry Arterton, the welder’s daughter then secured her first Hollywood role in 2008’s 007 offering, Quantum of Solace. An Empire Award for Best Newcomer followed her stint opposite Daniel Craig

She then went on to star in the likes of Clash of The Titans and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (both released in 2010). 

Gemma’s next big roles were in the animated re-boot of Watership Down alongside the likes of John Boyega and Nicholas Hoult, the Made in Dagenham musical and The Escape opposite Dominic Cooper.

In a piece for the Guardian, Arterton said she had never been paid millions per film like some of her contemporaries,  but is now 'financially secure enough that she doesn't have to do s*** films anymore'. 

Arterton in 2008's Quantum of Solace alongside Daniel Craig 

 

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