Sarah Silverman stars in a provocative new video on the gender pay gap that sees her taking drastic measures to stand up to the 'vagina tax' - the money women are paid less than men in the same jobs - by having a sex change operation.

"Women make up half the working population, yet we typically earn just 78 cents to every dollar a man makes in almost every profession, like doctors, lawyers, teachers, miners," says Silverman, 43.

“Every year, the average woman loses $11,000 (£6,807) to the wage gap. Over the course of the working years of her life that's almost 500,000. That's a $500,000 (£308,574) vagina tax.

"That's why I'm taking matters into my own hands," declares the comedian, whilst sitting on a hospital bed. She says having a sex change operation will cost her less than having a vagina.

The satirical video is part of the Equal Payback Project, a campaign to raise awareness for a decades-old issue and crowdfund money for National Women’s Law Center, a non-profit group fighting for equal pay through legislation, education and advocacy.

The fundraising goal is $29,811,746,430,000, a ludicrous amount that highlights the real number of what women have lost out on in a difference of salaries to men. The figure was calculated by multiplying $435,049 (£268,986), the amount a typical woman loses to the wage gap over the course of her career (assuming she works full time, year round for 40 years) by 69 million, the estimate number of working women in America.

In the UK, the gender pay gap stands at 19.7 per cent, according to the Financial Times last month. In effect, this means that women in the country will stop earning anything in relation to men on Tuesday 4 November.

Sarah Silverman won an Emmy Award this year for her work on Sarah Silverman: We Are Miracles, a stand up show recorded in front of an intimate audience of 39 fans in Los Angeles. Alongside a string of comedy roles on TV and in film, she was the voice of Vanellope in Disney's hit animation Wreck-It Ralph and acted alongside Michelle Williams in 2011 film Take This Waltz. Watch the talented star's video on the gender pay gap below.

Sarah Silverman stands up to the "vagina tax" in a provocative new video on the gender pay gap