Unless you’ve been living under a very large rock you cannot have failed to notice that March is Women’s History Month and March 8th was International Women’s Day. As ever Spreadlove™ is keen to celebrate and take in the significance of this in 2018. Check out our article celebrating some of the achievements of women that you might not have considered before here: http://spreadlovetm.com/10-outstanding-women-and-3-7-billion-more
It is always a joy to look back on the achievements of women past and present because it really puts the ongoing struggle into perspective. Yes, things are far from ideal. Gender equality is still a way off with one of the biggest issues – the gender pay gap – still proving to be a mammoth task that companies can apparently not get their minds around. Seriously, how difficult can it be to pay a woman the same amount as a man for equal work?
We understand that tight budgets may impede some private companies in their efforts to establish equal pay. However there are a lot of multinationals out there with the means to make the change but refuse to do so. Why? Really there can only be two reasons.
Money
Like it or not, the importance of money is inescapable and is therefore perhaps the easiest to understand when it comes to the lack of equal gender pay. We need money to run our personal lives and businesses need it to run their operations. Money gives us the feeling of security in our personal lives and they also secure the jobs of Chief Finance Officers keen to show shareholders what a great job they’re doing.
We all understand that for businesses the bottom line will always be… well, the bottom line. Profit. Of course there is nothing wrong with profit. We are all for it, as you can find out by checking out our 8-day wealth-building conference at sea.
Prejudice
Prejudice is a lot more difficult to understand as it is tightly bound with history, personal experience and emotions. These are usually tied to gender roles which, believe it or not, women are still struggling against. In 2018 the narrow view that some men have of women continues to persist. Consciously or not a lot of these men simply don’t want to deal with women in the workplace. Why is this?
Do men feel threatened? If so, why? Why do these men see women as so different to them, as unequals, as “other”?
Men and women aren’t so different. We all want and deserve the same things. One of these things is to be paid what we’re worth. (The classic line is that you’ll never be paid what you’re worth, just enough to keep you coming back. I think most of us feel like that at some point in our lives.) Understanding this means the men standing against equal pay must understand how women feel. The same principle applies to women and that they must be paid equally as a matter of course.
Where the challenge lies is in changing attitude so women are seen as equals to men after centuries and generations believing that men are superior. We all tend to focus on the equal pay issue. While it is a big issue it is relatively a bullet-point when we’re discussing a much more complex matter.
Yes, it’s frustrating that, although society largely agrees that women should be treated as equal to men, equality can’t just happen overnight. Yes, it’s shocking that a process that began over 100 years ago is still ongoing.
Preconceived perceptions shouldn’t be a factor when it comes to assessing someone’s suitability for a job or any position in society. We underestimate one another to our own detriment and the men who obstruct women are those who have become accustomed to positions of power, and they are the real losers. They are robbing themselves of the opportunity to do the right thing.
What do you think? Got a thought to share? Leave us a comment.
