News from the TUC
By Louise Livesey | 11 March 2008, 10:22
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
Meanwhile, 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 .
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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