News from the TUC

This just in…

*bong* (aka Big Ben sound effects)

Motherhood affects women’s pay

*bong*

Women without children most likely to be doing unpaid overtime

On the former research has shown that having children results in a drop in pay of up to one fifth and the gender pay gap trebles after women pass 30. The wage gap is apparently greatest between the ages of 50 and 59 (i.e. towards the end of someone’s working life). On the latter almost 25% of women without children end up doing unpaid overtime with teachers apparently the most likely occupational group to do so.

The Fawcett Society, which campaigns for equal pay and conditions, said women were being presented with “impossible choices”. “They are forced to choose between caring for a family at home or maximising their career opportunities in a workplace that measures performance by the number of hours put in,” the society’s Kat Banyard said.

From BBC News

RowbothamMeanwhile, for anyone who missed it, Shelia Rowbotham has been told by University of Manchester that she is not allowed to continue working after the retirement age because they are strapped for cash. This despite paying Martin Amis £80,000 per year for 24 hours work (yes that’s per year giving him a whopping £3,333 per hour fee). There is a campaign to contact the relevant University administration people (Head of Social Sciences, david.farrell@manchester.ac.uk (professor), Dean of Humanities, air.ulph@manchester.ac.uk (professor) and President and Vice Chancellor
president@manchester.ac.uk (professor)) and also a Facebook Group for those who feel passionately. Rowbotham is author of, amongst many others, Woman’s Consciousness, Man’s World, Dutiful Daughters: Women Talk about Their Lives with Jean McCrindle, Beyond the Fragments: Feminism and the Making of Socialism and A Century of Women: The History of Women in Britain and the United States .

Posted by Louise Livesey on 11 March 2008, at 10:22 AM | Comments (1)

Your Comments

Roxanne said:

That is disgusting. Sheila Rowbotham is an amazing writer and she was one of the writers my mum encouraged me to read when i was first developing my feminist views. She has always been an inspiration and when i was studying my gender and history module her books were the first i looked in when doing research for my essay. She was the only reason i was considering going to Manchester Uni and now i'm glad i made the right decision and decided to study Modern History and Politics at Aberystwyth.

The fact that Martin Amis is paid that much and yet the University cannot "afford" to keep her is just beyond words. Especially as she has volunteered to work for a third of her salary.

It is just another example of people considering Feminism and Women's studies not to be relevant anymore. I'm still referred to as "The Feminist" when out with people as it's considered so unusual...

Posted on 11 March 2008 at 5:46 PM

Have your say

In order to keep this blog as a feminist and friendly space, comments will be subject to some rules. We do not seek to censor debate: the beauty of the internet is that anyone can set up their own blog or website to express their views.

  1. This blog is a safe and friendly space for feminists and feminist allies. Debate and critique are welcome where it is constructive and deepens analysis or understanding. Anti-feminist comments will not be approved. We get to decide what's anti-feminist.
  2. All comments must be approved by one of the bloggers. For this reason, there may be a delay before your comment appears.
  3. No sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, classist, ablist comments, comments which make personal attacks on any blogger or commenter, or comments that are otherwise deemed offensive by us will be posted.
  4. Trolls will be banned from commenting. We get to decide who is a troll.
  5. No anonymous comments - please feel free to use your real name or make one up, though.
  6. Be nice.

Please note that your email address will not be displayed on this website. All comments are checked, prior to being published on this site.

< back | top ^ | next >

Latest Posts
Apparently men know better....
I Kissed A Girl
New feature: The future of activism
New feature: Knife crime and masculinity
Latest Target Women!
New review: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
We are the robots
Women being held back by equal rights legislation... or by anti-women business owners?
Post-feminism....?
Rounding down to Friday evening
More posts
Latest Comments
v on Apparently men know better....
Cath Elliott on Apparently men know better....
Maevie on Apparently men know better....
JENNIFER DREW on Apparently men know better....
Michael on Fuck you, PETA
CMK on Women being held back by equal rights legislation... or by anti-women business owners?
Jess McCabe on Harriet Harmen=praying mantis. Thanks Times.
Laura Woodhouse on Harriet Harmen=praying mantis. Thanks Times.
bola on Harriet Harmen=praying mantis. Thanks Times.
Anne Onne on We are the robots
More feminist bloggers
There are plenty of fantastic UK feminist bloggers around. For a fantastic introduction to feminist blogging, go to the Carnival of Feminists website, which showcases the finest feminist posts from around the blogsphere, including many from UK blogs.
Small Print
All blog posts are the views of the individual post author, and not those of The F-Word.

Inside this section

Blog Home
Archives by Month
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
More Archives
Archives by Author
Abby O'Reilly
Anne Onne
Carrie Dunn
Catherine Redfern
Guest Blogger
Helen G
Holly Combe
Jane Eyre
Jess McCabe
Kate Smurthwaite
Laura Woodhouse
Louise Livesey
Lynne Miles
Samara Ginsberg
Sokari Ekine
zohra moosa
News prior to April 2005
XML feed Feeds
Latest Blog Posts
Latest Comments

Contact Us

This webpage lives at: http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2008/03/news_from_the_t