Men vs. women

We've had plumbers in installing central heating so I wasn't able to get online yesterday to give my rant about the pay gap between genders in the UK. This is a personal favorite topic of mine as I always argue with my mother about it.

Don't get me wrong, I fully oppose any company that pays anybody less than someone else for doing the exact same job simply because of their gender, race etc.

However despite how this article paints the picture, the hard end of the statistic behind the story says that all the men working full time in the UK earn more than all the women working full time in the UK (The figure quoted was 17%). The study does not say that on average women in the same job as men earn less than them which is where the article has gone with this.

Legislation was brought in during the 1970's making it illegal for any company to pay women less than men for the same job.

All but one company I have worked for (13 to date) has had structured pay scales and has not paid anyone less money simply because of their gender. On one occasion I was earning more money than everyone of the same grade but that was because I had transferred from elsewhere in the country where they paid more because they couldn't attract the workforce (Male or Female).

The reality of this report is that women are paid less on average than men because they tend to do less well paid jobs.

Women (on average) tend to have no-one else to blame but themselves. When I was at University (which probably wasn't as often as it should have been) I always noticed that the percentage of women on courses that lead to well paid or in-demand careers such as engineering, information technology etc. was very low (Less than 5%) whereas those that lead to lower paid or less in-demand careers such as socialogy or psychology were very high (90%+). No-one puts a gun to their head forcing them to do a degree.

There are other matters to consider as well:

Firstly, those currently at the top of the employment tree now would have (mostly) entered the workforce in the 1960's and 1970's before these reforms were made. When they are eventually replaced upon retirement, they will be replaced by younger employees. Many of whom will be women that have worked to the top in the new, more equal environment. Those at the top of the earnings tree have the biggest impact on any average.

Secondly as it stands professional womens football does not exist in the UK. The reality of this is that there is little public support (i.e. crowds) to justify this at the moment. However male footballers playing in the premier league earn average salaries in excess of £1m per year. Assuming that each club had 20 players earning that amount (Chelsea can top up Villa's figures) that would amount to £400 million pounds bumping up the male average.

Finally although I am in favour of women having maternity leave and don't complain (too much) about the pathetic two weeks paternity leave that men get in comparison (after all we don't go through the physical ordeal that they do). Can a women really have cause to complain if her male counterpart has been promoted in the 9-18 months she could have been away from work?

I'm all in favour of equality, but I think we have it already. Any further legislation would just descriminate against future generations of the male workforce. I don't see why I should have to suffer for the actions of my predecessors.