WHERE'S MY $14,000?

It's no secret that for decades – perhaps even since the beginning of time – some groups have been oppressed. African-American's, Jew's, homosexuals, the disabled, women... it's a long list. Sojourner Truth spoke about women, white women, as being handled delicately, aided and lifted in all manner of ways as though they are not capable of looking after themselves (Brah & Phoenix, 2004:77). Whilst Truth doesn't exactly say that it's a negative thing to be given these graces, she does suggest that women are not treated as equal to men.

McIntosh, in one of the most interesting readings of the course, observes the following:

I think whites are carefully taught not to recognise white privilege, as males are taught not to recognise male privilege.

(McIntosh, 1992:1)

It is the idea of male privilege that I want to focus on. Did you know that in Australia in 2013 the average woman is paid 17.5% less than a man for doing the same job (Cleo, 2013)? It doesn't just end there however, as women are under-represented in the workplace with dramatically less women in executive roles than men – unable to earn the big bucks (Cleo, 2013). Not only does the Cleo investigation name and shame the big name perpetrators (see here: http://www.cleo.com.au/get-talking/news/2013/6/pay-gap-the-who-the-what-and-the-responses/), Cleo is also bang on the money with it's research. No pun intended.

Whilst I acknowledge there is an argument that men in general perhaps work longer hours or do more skilled jobs, I wanted to prove that the matter actually goes far beyond hours and skill sets. I found a table at the Australian Bureau of Statistics that shows hourly earnings in relation to skill level broken up into genders. Under each skill level is the highest and lowest paid occupation at that level. For example, medical practitioners have an average hourly pay of $47.40 for males, and $38.80 for females (ABS, 2006). Why the difference? They're doing the same job.

I also happened to read an article from The Atlantic, suggesting that the whole idea of a gender wage gap is a myth. Derek Thompson, yes that's a man, suggested that:

“women aren't starting off behind their male counterparts, so much as they're choosing different jobs and losing ground later in their careers.”

(Thompson, 2013)

Well, Mr Thompson, do you know that if you had twins – a son and a daughter – who both went on to be architects, the boy would be paid $52,000 a year, and the girl, $43,000 immediately upon graduating (Preiss, 2013). If they were law graduates, the boy would be paid $55,000 a year, and the girl, $50,700 (Preiss, 2013). This is for the exact same job, same level of experience, same qualification. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that is clearly women starting off behind their male counterparts. This brings me back to what McIntosh (1992) was saying about males failing to recognise their male privilege, and also allows me to acknowledge a point raised by Whelehan, who in regards to female autonomy, observes that 'men hold such rights naturally' (Whelehan, 1995:29 cited in Arnot, 1999:168).

So what to do? Educate businesses and companies to make genders even where possible. Inform young women entering the workforce of their rights in regards to pay and encourage them to take a stand. Lastly, make workplace earnings more transparent within the business so that genders of comparative occupations within a company are able to see what their male counterparts are earning and vice-versa.

Words: 547

REFERENCES

ABS. (2006). Income distribution: female/ male earnings. Retrieved from

<http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/BAC94EBF241B1C9CCA25703B0080CCC8?opendocument>

Arnot, M. & Dillabough, J. (1999). Feminist politics and democratic values in education. Curriculum Inquiry, 29 (2), pp. 159-189.

Brah, A. & Phoenix, A. (2004). Ain’t I A Woman? Revisiting Intersectionality. Journal of International Women's Studies, 5(3), 75-86.

Cleo. (2013). Ditch the pay gap. Retrieved from

<http://www.cleo.com.au/get-talking/news/2013/6/ditch-the-pay-gap/>

McIntosh, P. (1992) White Privilege and Male Privilege: A personal account of coming to see correspondences through work in women’s studies, In M. Andersen & P. H. Collins (eds), Race, Class, and Gender: An anthology. Belmont, CA, Wadsworth Publishing.

Preiss, B. (2013) Gender pay gap doubles in a year. Retrieved from

<http://www.smh.com.au/national/tertiary-education/gender-pay-gap-doubles-in-a-year-20130103-2c78q.html>

Thompson, D. (2013) The Biggest Myth About the Gender Wage Gap. Retrieved from

<http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/05/the-biggest-myth-about-the-gender-wage-gap/276367/>