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Unequal pay - no way
Opinion: We don't have to be the same to be equal.
Women only get paid 80% of the amount that men do. Shock horror?
Sorry, not here. I may only be 17, but I'm pretty sure I want a family. I don't want to be one of the mothers that doesn't get to go to their kid's school plays. It's all about the pregnancy leave and flexible hours.
There is no way a woman who is looking after two small children or even one small child can be as efficient as a man who isn't. This isn't sexist - if you're getting your kids' breakfasts, making their lunches, then coming home and picking them up from the minders, making their dinner, helping them with their homework then falling into bed knackered, you're not going to have any reserves left for when your kids are sick, when there's an extra tight deadline at work, any of that stuff. Someone who isn't looking after their kids won't have the same problems.
Women want to be with their kids more. Now I'm not going to get into the whole nature-nurture debate – i.e. are women more likely to be the primary caregiver because they're naturally better or more suited to it, or because they've been raised (nurtured) to be that way? Suffice it to say that in today's society, women are more likely to be, and to want to be, with their kids more than men are.
We have a system then that recognises that women are the primary caregivers in the majority of households and we can't deny that. Just look at women's rights in regards to time off etc. as compared to men's rights. If women are, generally, the primary caregivers, then it's fair enough that they don't get paid as much as men do!
The simple fact remains that a woman is liable to disappear for nine months and then be unreliable (due to having different priorities, i.e. her kids) for the next five years, minimum. A man is not.
It's harsh, but it's true ladies. And to be honest, where's the problem? I hate to echo the Catholic Church on this one because in general I disagree with their attitude towards women, but we don't have to be the same to be equal. We can be equal to men and just different.
And if you want to get paid as much as men, find a house husband, see your kids for half an hour after dinner every night and on the weekends. Doesn't sound so attractive now?
Thought not.
By: Jennifer Hegarty
