Equal Pay For Women

[dave50]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-45941552
How can equal pay be agreed if the men and women are doing different jobs? Surely it's only cut and dried if they are doing the same job. Otherwise it's just a grey area.

[spathiphyllum]

I don't hate women at all, i mostly prefer their company and prefer their emotional devotion to discussion. They're magnificent creatures that lighten our world.

However, i do not think anyone is "out to get" women especially on a grand scale. They do tend to feel victimised a lot.

[bainbrig]

My answer about most men being woman-haters got removed, so I’ll rephrase it.

After living with/working with/being a man for many decades I stAnd by my assertion. Many men do either hate women or at best are scared of them.

The reactions on this thread do little to convince me otherwise.

(Perhaps it was my allusion to s£x that got my answer expunged?)

[moggymay]

Most men are misogynists or scared of women? Maybe you are describing yourself but I prefer to think most men appreciate and treat women as equals.

[kvalidir]

To be fair my experience has mostly been that most, not all by any means but most, men like women and go out of their way to be helpful to us. I've found if I need help with anything generally men are far more warm and helpful than some women.

[New Judge]

"Many men do either hate women or at best are scared of them."

None that I know of do either. I certainly don't know of any men that hate women. Some I know - and I think I fit into this category - are not fond of some individual women (as they are not fond of some individual men) but I don't know any that hate all women regardless.

Anyway, back to the question. I haven't read all the answers so forgive me if it's been covered, but in the question of equal pay it is not necessarily so that the work done must be identical. The first big test of this came when sewing machinists working for the Ford Motor Company making car seat covers had their skills downgraded in a regrading exercise in 1968. They were considered "less skilled" than their male counterparts working in other areas of production (e.g. blokes screwing doors onto cars or fitting windows). They went on strike (causing production to grind to a halt) and the intervention of Barbara Castle, MP, saw them restored to parity in two stages. However a court case later failed to find in their favour and the issue staggered on until 1984 when a second strike saw them restored to full parity. The issue demonstrated that work does not have to be identical for equal pay to be warranted.

I can clearly remember adverts on London buses for bus conductors (where the work was indeed absolutely identical) where the rates offered to men were a tidy bit more than the rates for women. The accompanying advert for drivers was for men only as women were not recruited as drivers at that that time. The first female bus driver in London - Jill Viner - started work in 1974.

[bainbrig]

I’m glad you’ve had such positive experiences, Kvladi. From the other side of the fence, I’ve seen much duplicity, but perhaps it’s me that’s been unlucky.

BillB