November 16, 2014

Would you work for free until December 31st 2014?

Girls. Imagine going into work first thing on a Monday morning- not a nice thought right? Well, imagine going into work first thing on a Monday morning and not getting paid. Horrific thought, right? You just wouldn’t do it.

Except, you are. In fact, this year you will end up going to work unpaid, a grand total of 57 times- 3 days more than you will have done last year. That’s right, it happened last year too. And the year before that. It will continue to happen year after year after year until it is decided that women and men can receive equal pay.

The increase in days of ‘unpaid’ work is down to an unfair and rather large increase in the gender pay gap this year. Currently, women earn roughly £2.33 less than their male colleagues. For every £1 a male earns, a female will earn 81 pence. But is this as unfair as it appears, or is there method to this madness?

Ultimately, pay should depend on the type of work you are doing teamed with the level at which you are doing it- you would expect the manager of a retail store to earn more than a sales assistant, and this is understandable and acceptable. What’s not acceptable is a male and female working at the same level yet with the male earning up to £2.00 more. What is it about a male that makes them more deserving of an extra £2.00 than you? Most likely, they aren’t more deserving at all- they just possess an extra appendage that provides them with a lot of advantages in life. You know what I mean.

As there is in any debate however, there are two sides to explore. Whilst everyone who works at the same level should be paid the same, what if there were some genuine exceptions? A male colleague worked a lot more hours, put a lot more into his work than you? He went above and beyond for the business? Took less holiday? Would he be deserving of the extra money then? I believe so, yes, just as any female who did all of those things would also be deserving of the extra cash.

It’s really quite a tricky situation. Should pay be equal and exactly the same for everyone, or should it be dependent on how hard/much you work, which then leads to the risk of being blamed for discrimination? In my opinion, if you’re working on the same level as someone, you should be paid the same amount as them, regardless of gender. It is too tricky to raise someones pay because they ‘work better’, because what if they only work better half the time? It raises so many more issues. To me, if you work at the same level, you should be paid the same amount. No exceptions.

Written by Florence Matthews

Follow Flo on Twitter @flomatthews_