On the social engineering of the gender pay gap
This is about this article Not every woman deserves equal pay By Amanda Platell for The Daily Mail (I know, I know it's the Mail, but let's get beyond petty arguments and to what is really important).
The point of this article is that equal pay is a lost cause, because when a woman has children, she must take a break from her always-upward career path and that just means she will necessarily damage her next chance for promotion and consequently the rest of her career. Platell goes on to say that
I'll start by telling you how my parents brought up my siblings and I. My mother had 3 children. For each of us, she took the 3 months maternity leave plus the holidays she was entitled to and then went back to work. [Note on the side: only 3 months of maternity leave was really very little and I'm glad that mothers now have nearly twice that.] While we're babies and toddlers, we had a full time nanny, but after that we were sent to nursery school and my father took care of us: while my mum went grocery shopping, he got us from school, while she cooked dinner, he bathed us, while she ate dinner, he made sure we finished all our peas, while she cleaned the table and washed the dishes, he dressed us in our pyjamas and put us to bed with a story. Many years after, we're all grown up and my mum took a total of 9 months leave from her career, less than the compulsory military service men had to take at the time.
So, Ms. Platell, what exactly justifies the career gender gap on my parents' generation? Does a maternity leave really make that much of a difference in a woman's career? I don't think so.
What I think is that your statement on 'no amount of social engineering' demonstrates an extraordinary lack of imagination. Because I can just think of a few things that politicians could and should be doing, but they are not because (mostly by being men) they lack the motivation and courage to do them.
Considering that a woman can work through most of her pregnancy (as long a there are no complications) and that a newborn will need (when possible) the exclusive attention of his mother through the first months of his life and no more. We agree that every mother should indeed take the usual maternity leave. After that:
So let us stop talking as if children are only the responsibility and problem of mothers. We should not be tolerating the constant connection between women and family care and housework done in the media, because men should be equally responsible for both. Let us educate children so that the next generation understands this. Let society and politicians understand that this way of thinking is blatant sexism and should be shamed the same way as racism, homophobia and xenophobia are.
How is that for social engineering, Ms. Plattell?
The point of this article is that equal pay is a lost cause, because when a woman has children, she must take a break from her always-upward career path and that just means she will necessarily damage her next chance for promotion and consequently the rest of her career. Platell goes on to say that
In fact, research shows that female graduates and full-time working women in their 30s actually earn more than men — until they have children.I wonder about this research. What country, what sample? But let us suppose this is true. Then, she says:
But the uncomfortable truth is that there is a very good reason for the gender pay gap that no amount of social engineering will change.Hmmm. Is that so? Let me tell you what I think about the social engineering that goes into equal opportunity, Ms. Platell.
As I have witnessed throughout my 35-year career, women are predominantly the ones to step off the career ladder to have children
I'll start by telling you how my parents brought up my siblings and I. My mother had 3 children. For each of us, she took the 3 months maternity leave plus the holidays she was entitled to and then went back to work. [Note on the side: only 3 months of maternity leave was really very little and I'm glad that mothers now have nearly twice that.] While we're babies and toddlers, we had a full time nanny, but after that we were sent to nursery school and my father took care of us: while my mum went grocery shopping, he got us from school, while she cooked dinner, he bathed us, while she ate dinner, he made sure we finished all our peas, while she cleaned the table and washed the dishes, he dressed us in our pyjamas and put us to bed with a story. Many years after, we're all grown up and my mum took a total of 9 months leave from her career, less than the compulsory military service men had to take at the time.
So, Ms. Platell, what exactly justifies the career gender gap on my parents' generation? Does a maternity leave really make that much of a difference in a woman's career? I don't think so.
What I think is that your statement on 'no amount of social engineering' demonstrates an extraordinary lack of imagination. Because I can just think of a few things that politicians could and should be doing, but they are not because (mostly by being men) they lack the motivation and courage to do them.
Considering that a woman can work through most of her pregnancy (as long a there are no complications) and that a newborn will need (when possible) the exclusive attention of his mother through the first months of his life and no more. We agree that every mother should indeed take the usual maternity leave. After that:
- Provide childcare that allows every women to take no more than the standard maternity leave if she chooses to. This means childcare from early age and for the whole working schedule of the parents.
- Compulsory (I know, I hate this word as much as you do, but... read ahead) paternity leave for the same duration as maternity leave. Not necessarily at the same time, families would preferably choose to have a paternity leave just after the maternity leave ends so that children have one parent taking care of them full time for longer.
- Stop talking about women's children vs career dilemma and start talking about men and women's children vs career dilemma.
So let us stop talking as if children are only the responsibility and problem of mothers. We should not be tolerating the constant connection between women and family care and housework done in the media, because men should be equally responsible for both. Let us educate children so that the next generation understands this. Let society and politicians understand that this way of thinking is blatant sexism and should be shamed the same way as racism, homophobia and xenophobia are.
How is that for social engineering, Ms. Plattell?
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