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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/10/close-gender-pay-gap-male-women-change
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| It’s time to buckle down and close the gender pay gap. Yes, male colleagues, that means you too | It’s time to buckle down and close the gender pay gap. Yes, male colleagues, that means you too |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| It’s that time of year again. Yesterday marked the day in the calendar when women start working for free. It has become a grim marker of gender inequality and a stark illustration of the fact that women’s labour is effectively treated, beyond a certain point, as slavery. | It’s that time of year again. Yesterday marked the day in the calendar when women start working for free. It has become a grim marker of gender inequality and a stark illustration of the fact that women’s labour is effectively treated, beyond a certain point, as slavery. |
| But even with this stark fact – that the gender pay gap remains so large that were women to refuse to accept it we could down tools in November – we are at risk of becoming acclimatised to it, approaching it with outrage but also resignation. At the rate at which the gap is narrowing (or not: in some cases for women in their 20s, it is now widening) it will take over a century to close. | But even with this stark fact – that the gender pay gap remains so large that were women to refuse to accept it we could down tools in November – we are at risk of becoming acclimatised to it, approaching it with outrage but also resignation. At the rate at which the gap is narrowing (or not: in some cases for women in their 20s, it is now widening) it will take over a century to close. |
| How do we climb out of this mire? Equal pay for equal work. It doesn’t sound unreasonable. But the discount applied to women’s labour is part of a much bigger economic equation – one that factors in childbirth and maternity leave as net drags on women’s contribution. Crucially, the discount is also founded on the notion that a woman’s pay is a woman’s problem, as if women live in a parallel universe. | How do we climb out of this mire? Equal pay for equal work. It doesn’t sound unreasonable. But the discount applied to women’s labour is part of a much bigger economic equation – one that factors in childbirth and maternity leave as net drags on women’s contribution. Crucially, the discount is also founded on the notion that a woman’s pay is a woman’s problem, as if women live in a parallel universe. |
| It is the same attitude that considers maternity leave or flexible hours a sort of indulgence, rather than the necessary arrangements that often allow another partner to go to work. It is overwhelmingly when it comes to equal rights for women and minorities that people lose their imaginations and view disparities and unfairness as immutable facts of biology or economics. | It is the same attitude that considers maternity leave or flexible hours a sort of indulgence, rather than the necessary arrangements that often allow another partner to go to work. It is overwhelmingly when it comes to equal rights for women and minorities that people lose their imaginations and view disparities and unfairness as immutable facts of biology or economics. |
| They simply are not. The same was thought once of votes for women. Unequal pay, in the UK now stuck for the past three years at around 18%, persists because of legislative foot-dragging and cultural complacency. | They simply are not. The same was thought once of votes for women. Unequal pay, in the UK now stuck for the past three years at around 18%, persists because of legislative foot-dragging and cultural complacency. |
| After the BBC’s yawning gender pay gap was revealed, what was shocking wasn’t only that the institution felt it was appropriate in the first place for male presenters to earn so much more than women. It was also the sort of shrugging sheepishness with which some of the men involved (not all) responded. As if to say: well, this is rather awkward, but how is it my fault that I benefit from institutional sexism? Take it up with the man upstairs. Do you really expect us to unilaterally split our pay cheques with women? To walk out in protest? | After the BBC’s yawning gender pay gap was revealed, what was shocking wasn’t only that the institution felt it was appropriate in the first place for male presenters to earn so much more than women. It was also the sort of shrugging sheepishness with which some of the men involved (not all) responded. As if to say: well, this is rather awkward, but how is it my fault that I benefit from institutional sexism? Take it up with the man upstairs. Do you really expect us to unilaterally split our pay cheques with women? To walk out in protest? |
| Well, no. But men can lobby on women’s behalf – and we can all, if they are public figures, take them to task if they fail to be vocal and if things do not change. A grilling by MPs last week resulted in a concession from the BBC director general, Tony Hall, that there will be pay cuts as well as pay rises. | Well, no. But men can lobby on women’s behalf – and we can all, if they are public figures, take them to task if they fail to be vocal and if things do not change. A grilling by MPs last week resulted in a concession from the BBC director general, Tony Hall, that there will be pay cuts as well as pay rises. |
| This is a good example of how public scrutiny can yield results. The way forward is a combination of policy and cultural initiatives, neither of which comes about without some unpleasantness. Unequal pay is like all the other things from which women suffer, such as sexual harassment, or their careers stalling after having children. Exposure and shaming of offenders, and the public application of pressure, are all necessary if action is to match the severity of the problem. | This is a good example of how public scrutiny can yield results. The way forward is a combination of policy and cultural initiatives, neither of which comes about without some unpleasantness. Unequal pay is like all the other things from which women suffer, such as sexual harassment, or their careers stalling after having children. Exposure and shaming of offenders, and the public application of pressure, are all necessary if action is to match the severity of the problem. |
| Legislation that came into force in April, meanwhile, seems more likely to make things worse. In demanding that companies publish general averages of men’s and women’s pay, without a breakdown or any remedial plan, the government’s new rules are shaping up to be another box-ticking pain for companies that will do nothing but entrench the view that hiring women is a reporting headache. | Legislation that came into force in April, meanwhile, seems more likely to make things worse. In demanding that companies publish general averages of men’s and women’s pay, without a breakdown or any remedial plan, the government’s new rules are shaping up to be another box-ticking pain for companies that will do nothing but entrench the view that hiring women is a reporting headache. |
| The gender pay gap is also intersectional, with the data showing that for women from minorities and disabled women it is larger, illustrating how this reflects societal imbalances. People being overpaid for no other reason than their gender, class or race is being dressed up as “experience”. | The gender pay gap is also intersectional, with the data showing that for women from minorities and disabled women it is larger, illustrating how this reflects societal imbalances. People being overpaid for no other reason than their gender, class or race is being dressed up as “experience”. |
| Of course there are challenges that are not all rooted in institutional sexism. It’s always easier to start employees on less than they should accept, than give them a raise or pay them more than they would expect. All the more reason that aggressive corrective measures need to be taken without delay. | Of course there are challenges that are not all rooted in institutional sexism. It’s always easier to start employees on less than they should accept, than give them a raise or pay them more than they would expect. All the more reason that aggressive corrective measures need to be taken without delay. |
| Equal pay | Equal pay |
| Opinion | Opinion |
| Gender | Gender |
| Pay | Pay |
| Work & careers | Work & careers |
| Family finances | Family finances |
| Inequality | Inequality |
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