The 'wage gap' myth rears its ugly head once again

The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) has issued a media release claiming that Australian workplaces discriminate against women because of an average gender wage difference between male and female graduates of $2,000. The source data cited actually found this difference was not due to discrimination but due to the fields of study chosen by males and females, along with other factors such as hours worked and type and location of employer.

Here is a copy of the media release along with our letter to the director of the EOWA in response.

Gail Kelly, Westpac CEO, busts the pay gap myth [YouTube]

On ABC TV's Q & A program on 7th March 2011, Mark Pannowitz, a Westpac employee, asked the following question of his CEO Gail Kelly. "Currently there is a 27 per cent pay difference between males and females in the finance sector. How is Westpac, planning to address this issue?". Gail's response - that despite equal pay for equal work being completely entrenched at Wespac, there is still a gender pay gap - shows that the pay gap is caused by the work/life choices of male and female employees, not any mythical male conspiracy to pay women less for the same work.

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Women quotas are 'demeaning', says Latvian ex-president (Europe)

The EU commission's idea of imposing quotas on women in businesses is based on the "demeaning" principle that no woman can make it on her own merits, says former Latvian president Vaira Vike-Freiberga. "What does it actually mean to have quotas? It's to say we don't have enough competent or interested women to do a certain job," Ms Vike-Freiberga told the EUobserver on Tuesday (8 March) on the margins of a gender equality workshop organised by the Norwegian funding scheme for eastern European countries - EEA/Norway Grants.

Feminist Myths and Magic Medicine (Catherine Hakim)

Equal opportunity policies, in regards to women’s access to the labour market in the UK, have been successful. Despite this, many politicians and feminists appear disappointed with the slow pace of change in women’s attainment of top jobs. Sex differences are treated as self- evident proof of widespread sex discrimination and sex-role stereotyping rather than the result of personal choices and preferences. Thus, calls to smash the glass ceiling, to eliminate the pay gap and to end sex differentials are regularly heard in Parliament and from supranational organisations, academia and the media. But these demands for further change rest on faulty assumptions and outdated or partial evidence. For the latest academic research and cross-national comparative studies show that most of the theories and ideas built up around gender equality in the last few decades are wrong. Despite feminist claims, the truth is that most men and women have different career aspirations and priorities. Men and women often have different life-goals and policy makers should therefore not expect the same job outcomes.

Gender pay gap 'down to women's lifestyle choices' (UK)

Catherine Hakim, a sociologist at the London School of Economics, said women have the freedom to make lifestyle choices about their work and private lives, and that tougher equality laws will not open any more doors for female workers. She also warned that women who combine top executive roles with a family rarely have more than one child - and struggle to spend much time with them. In a 12,000-word report to be published next month, Dr Hakim described new government policies to promote equality as “pointless” and based on “feminist myths”.