How would you feel if you were a constant victim of abuse while trying to do your job? Nonetheless, for no other reason than that you are of a certain gender or race. How would you feel if you were told to change your natural hair, because your boss told you it was 'unprofessional' despite your colleague wearing theirs in extreme colours and cuts? How would you feel if your ability to complete work was consistently doubted, despite clearly having more skills than another person in your line of work? What about if that person got promoted instead of you?

If any of these circumstances come as a shock to you, you're probably not a working black woman, who face such incidents on the daily, and can do nothing but to accept that 'it's just the way it is.' Such occurrences are not rare at all for black women and, luckily, millions took to twitter to share their experiences, and promote the importance of diversity and equality in the workplace.

Throughout the past few days, #BlackWomenAtWork has taken over social platforms such as Twitter after news host Bill O'Reilly ridiculed black congresswoman Maxine Waters' hair while presenting. Following the event, Waters tweeted: 'I am a strong black woman. I cannot be intimidated, and I'm not going anywhere. #BlackWomenAtWork' which intensified the already extremely popular social network subject, and Waters received an immense amount of support. Upon the mistreatment of Maxine Waters, huge amounts of black women took to social media to share stories of their experiences in the workplace. One prominent issue talked about on Twitter was the significant pay gap that black women are the victims of. Tora Shae (@BlackMajiik on Twitter) said '#BlackWomenAtWork are paid less, asked to do more, are constantly antagonised and then called angry/abrasive for setting boundaries.' O'Reilly apologised for the comment, which he characterised as a joke, though many also asked for Bill O'Reilly to be fired from Fox News for his unreasonably prejudiced and abusive behaviour.

Despite the fact that the hashtag has only reached popularity over the past few days, black women have been subjected to abusive behaviour for a long time – nor is it a rare occurrence. In fact, in 2015, black women were paid 63% of what white men were. That, therefore, means it takes a black woman twenty months to earn the same amount as a white man does in just twelve months. And, even if they have years more experience, black women are less likely to receive promotions in their line of work, or be employed in a high position purely due to the colour of their skin, and the fact that they are female. Employers are often extremely prejudiced, having no other reason to demote them other than the fact that they, rudely, think they're too 'intimidating' to work within their business. Ridiculous, right?

Activist Brittany Packnett had this to say: 'It isn't new. It is the daily experience of black women in the workplace – at all levels – laid bare for the public to finally see with naked eyes. These women at least deserve respect as humans, let alone as professionals. They received neither. It is absolutely unacceptable. They deserve the respect that their humanity, their accomplishments, and their work demands. Every day we are told that our body language is wrong, that both our silence and our speaking are 'combative,' that our mere presence is intimidating, that our looks matter more than our work, that our natural hair is 'unprofessional,' that we couldn't possibly have attained our station by our merits, are looked over and ignored, or endure a worse pay gap than our white women counterparts. Black women have been at work since the dawn of this nation and have worked ourselves to the bone. We deserve dignity and respect. We have earned no less. No matter what, we will show it to ourselves and each other.'

From reading this, you may be wondering what you could do to help stop the mistreatment of black women in the workplace in the future. In many ways, you can help the cause by just retweeting the hashtag online. The more the message is spread, the better. You can also share facts about the pay gaps in whichever way you see best. Online, on an article, in a speech, wherever. The gap is no myth, and the more people that are informed about it with correct data, we become closer to closing the gap for good. You could even join women in protesting about the gap in an attempt to urge the government to raise minimum wage, which would help black women hugely, as they make such a low amount for the work they do.