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LONDON -- Women from all over the UK have just downed tools and left their workplaces in an act of protest against the gender pay gap.

At precisely 3:34 p.m. women from across the nation staged a mass exodus from their jobs to mark the moment when women effectively start working for free -- because, on average, they earn less than men.

According to the Fawcett Society, the gender pay gap in the UK currently stands at 13.9 percent; which equates to women in the UK working for free from today until 2017.The #EqualPayDay walkout -- organised by Stylist Magazine -- is intended to be a "symbolic gesture" to highlight the contribution of women and raise awareness of "one of the most important economic issues of the day"."Closing the gender pay gap could add £150 billion to the UK’s GDP alone. Not to mention the benefit to both sexes of ensuring your work is equally valued," reads an article about the initiative published by the magazine.

On Thursday afternoon, people left their offices and workplaces to take part in the symbolic event.

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Some companies chose to mark the event with a company conversation about equal pay.

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Meanwhile, women took to the streets in Shoreditch, east London, to march for pay equality.

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Sam Smethers -- chief executive of the Fawcett Society -- commended the initiative. "A root cause of the gender pay gap is that we don’t value the work done by women," Smethers said in a statement emailed to Mashable.

"We won’t finally close the gender pay gap until we end pay discrimination, address the unequal impact of caring roles, tackle occupational segregation and routinely open up senior roles to women," Smethers continued.

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The Women's Equality Party -- a political party devoted to championing gender equality -- also stated that it was in support of the initiative, but that not all women would be able to participate in the event."We support any action that draws attention to the ongoing gender pay gap," said Sophie Walker, leader of the Women's Equality Party in a statement.

"However, many women will be unable to join this protest as they are stuck in precarious, low-paid jobs or on zero-hours contracts," Walker continued.

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