Gender pay gap

Is discrimination the primary cause of the gender pay gap?

Yes, historical discrimination has been the reason for gender and racial pay gap. However, I think two different issues have been mixed together. They are pay gap and pay discrimination.

Pay discrimination is when two people are paid different wages for doing the exact same job. For example, a black bus driver with the same experience and hours is paid £80 per hour while his white colleague is paid £100.

Pay gap is the average wage difference between groups. For example, the average pay for male bankers could be £150,000 while the average for female bankers could be £135,000 in the same bank.

People often argue about pay gap in a poor form to mean pay discrimination. Pay gap does exist whether it is across races, gender or ethnicities.

The solution is to promote more relevant women and ethnic minorities.

No. The primary cause is the desire of women to have career gaps in order to have children and look after them, and to limit their ambitions in favour of giving themselves scope to enjoy their families.

But what about the women who dont have children?

But what about the women who dont have children?

There isn't a rule that women with children must earn less or women without must earn more. However, those without have a greater opportunity to progress unhindered by children and childcare matters.

And out of those average salaries are you sure it's only because of gender? People have found that men are tougher in salary negotiations, they ask for pay rises more often etc. I don't think if you control for every other factor, you will find a pay gap between men and women.

The funny thing about that situation was that her performance feedback came back to show that she was performing better than the other men, but received less pay than them. Nobody did anything about it.

There isn't a rule that women with children must earn less or women without must earn more. However, those without have a greater opportunity to progress unhindered by children and childcare matters.

That serves only to demonstrate poor skills in managing her own salary discussions, and being happy to be fobbed off with useless praise but no tangible reward.

Do you think that if there were better provisions for children such as better childcare services and shared parental leave, then we may have a better system?

The clear issue is that women have historically been left with the kid while the men go to work. If the roles were switched, I strongly doubt many men esp millenials will do as good as they would without the burden of childcare.

This. It's always fine if a woman earns more. But if a guy does then it's sexism.

But how could she have known that she was being discriminated against? She may have assumed that her salary was the same as her colleagues.

A transparent process will reduce such issues, as everyone on the same grade knows the salary range of their grade and where they stand.

Do you think that if there were better provisions for children such as better childcare services and shared parental leave, then we may have a better system?

The clear issue is that women have historically been left with the kid while the men go to work. If the roles were switched, I strongly doubt many men esp millenials will do as good as they would without the burden of childcare.

Well, each family makes its own decisions on this, and parental leave is not very relevant, as the period of childcare lasts for decades. I suggest you look after the children in your family and take the long-term salary hit, leaving your wife to strike a blow for identity politics.

She wasn't being discriminated against in any other sense than her skills let her down. A man with the same level of skills would have been treated in the same way.

Publishing salaries is generally very much a no-no in the private sector. Obviously, the BBC will be making sure its employees carry their salaries around on lapel badges very soon.