Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
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It’s been an interesting week, hasn’t it, with the world’s media – and much of the global population – focusing on the US presidential elections. And as with the Brexit vote and its aftermath, I think that this one’s going to run and run…
While most commentators felt that it was a case of choosing the lesser of two evils, one thing that surprised me greatly was the comment I heard more than once, that, “America isn’t ready for a female president.”
Am I naïve to think that this is a ridiculous idea, in this day and age, in a progressive country like the US? If you’re one of Cleanzine’s 20,000-plus US readers, I’d love to hear your views!
I’ve always believed that a job should go to the person best suited to it and I abhor the EU’s idea that our boardrooms should have a specific female quota as it’s demeaning to women, who have to deal with the stigma of: “She’s only made it because she’s a woman”, while some who’ve made it on to the Board for all the right reasons, may be left wondering whether they’re there on merit.
What started these musings was learning that today is Equal Pay Day – the point at which Britain’s gender pay gap means that men could go unpaid until the end of the year and still earn the same as a woman working the whole year.
The Equal Pay Act, passed 46 years ago, made it illegal to value a woman’s work less than a man’s for the same role. However, the gender pay gap persists and last year we marked Equal Pay Day on 9th November, meaning we have only progressed by one day. At this rate it will be another 51 years until we have pay equality.
Campaigning group The Fawcett Society, says that overall, the pay gap is a result of differences in caring responsibilities; women clustering in low skilled and low paid work, the qualifications and skills women acquire; and outright discrimination.
I can’t help feel that its comments on ‘low skilled and low paid work’ refer to the cleaning industry amongst others but I’d question the thinking behind it. To my knowledge, the professional cleaning industry is one of those that sets standards in gender pay equality and transparency when it comes to its cleaners.
Don’t you agree?
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Yours,
10th November 2016