YOU may have noticed the Twitter hashtag #WSW2015 being used to mark the inaugural Women's Sport Week which runs until Sunday.

Why do we need a Women's Sport Week? Let me share some stark statistics. At present, only seven per cent of sports media coverage is devoted to women and a mere 0.4 per cent of commercial investment.

A recent BBC Sport study into prize money found 30 per cent of sports reward men more highly than women. But that's only the tip of the iceberg. It does not include wages, bonuses or sponsorship. Some sports don't pay women at all.

Three years have passed since Britain's female athletes lit up the London 2012 Olympics in what was dubbed the most gender-equal Games in history (albeit with 30 fewer medals available for women to win than men). Rower Katherine Grainger, heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill and boxer Nicola Adams were among the nation's raft of golden girls.

The 2014 Commonwealth Games last summer further stoked the flames of change. Who can forget that heroic run by Scotland's Lynsey Sharp to capture silver in the women's 800m or the unwavering self-belief of gold medal-winning Coatbridge sisters Kimberley and Louise Renicks on the judo mat?

Yet, while there is little denying the public appetite to celebrate and be inspired by the success of women in a sporting arena, complete parity in coverage and financial reward remains sadly lacking.

Granted, there are some heartening signs of progress: the Women's Boat Race between Cambridge and Oxford was held on the same course and same day as the men for the first time in April. Last July, meanwhile, saw the inception of La Course, a one-day women's cycle race in Paris, which ran alongside the final stage of the men's Tour de France.

Neither, however, came about without a fight. It took the vision of Helena Morrissey, CEO of Newton Investment Management who sponsors the women's boat race, to help turn the tide.

World and Olympic medallists Marianne Vos, Emma Pooley and Chrissie Wellington, meanwhile, spearheaded an online petition lobbying Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme to allow women to compete in the world's most famous bike race.

It garnered almost 100,000 signatures, succeeding in the creation of La Course and seeing a field of 120 women race on the hallowed cobbles of the Champs-Elysees.

These, though, are but tiny baby steps. This year, the winner of the men's La Fleche Wallonne - one of cycling's historic spring classics - collected €16,000 (£11540) while the first women across the line in Fleche Wallonne Femmes, held the same day, took home just €1,128 (£813).

Perhaps more galling is the prize for the seventh place finisher in the men's race: €1,200 - yes, that's €72 more than the women's winner for not even making it onto the podium.

The BBC will broadcast every match in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, which begins in Canada this weekend. While undoubtedly cheering news, it is worth noting the vast disparities which persist between men and women in football. For winning the World Cup last year, Germany received £22m while the women's equivalent is £1.2m (despite having doubled from £630,000 in 2011).

Tennis was the first sport to pay equal prize money when the US Open started doing so in 1973 after campaigning from Billie Jean King and other female tennis players. Wimbledon followed suit eight years ago. Without fail, however, comes a perennial debate and wearying vitriol that women are undeserving because they play three sets in Grand Slam tournaments while men contest five.

The number of sets is dictated by tennis organisers - not the players. King, among others, has been arguing for more than 40 years that women should be allowed the opportunity to decide their matches over more than three sets.

Imagine walking into an office and being told that women can only work 21 hours a week, while men clock up 35 hours. Why? It was decided more than 100 years ago that women, the poor things, are too feeble to do the same graft. Oh, and that means they have no choice but to earn less.

Last time I checked there wasn't a special women's discount on plane tickets, hotel rooms or sporting equipment. Food? It costs the same. Clothing? It actually costs more according to some research (ditto the patronising pinked-up packaged razor blades for women and don't get me started on the 5 per cent tax on sanitary products).

A recent estimate by the World Economic Forum found it will take 79 years and 11 months until companies and governments will be equally led by women and men. Isn't that depressing? Let's use Women's Sport Week as a catalyst to hit fast forward.