Aside from the surprising and outdated comments of a media savvy Alasdair Thompson there has been an interesting discussion on gender pay quality. Being a male I may be on thin ice and live in a different world, however I have managed and worked in a wide range of industries over the years and this topic has never been raised in the workplace. During this time I have probably worked for as many female as male bosses and at times I have been the only male on a management team and never have I seen different pay scales for men or women within a workplace. I am also sure unions do not promote differing pay scales during their negotiations and Sonata Group works with businesses covering a wide range of industries and roles, and again, never have we come across varying pay scales depending on gender.
Dr Judy McGregor still lives in the 1970’s with her drafting a bill which would mean a woman doing the same work as a man would be entitled to know what he was paid. This thinking went out with the ark and I thought it was only the PPTA who wanted any performance component in salaries removed? It is interesting that the NZ Herald Poll next to the article voted 70% in favour of not disclosing pay. Forcing compliance on this issue just adds cost across the 99% of businesses where gender pay is a non-issue.
Focus should be placed on those segments of the workforce that tend to attract more women than men, where as a whole the pay rates are lower. Look at the gender distortion within teaching as an example, my son’s school only has two male teachers. I haven’t met many people that don’t agree that teachers should be paid more, but not without an at risk performance component.
I am sure that if you look hard enough there are businesses out there where gender may be issue, however we do live in a society with choice and who would want to work for an employer where gender determines pay? I am sure these types of workplaces would also pose a number of other negatives. In my opinion, there are far better and productive topics to be discussing at the water cooler.
^DB
