Gender Equality

I get equality but at the same time, equal pay is fine if its for equal work.

Tennis - Grand slam finals are 5 sets for men, 3 for woman - is it fair that the woman are trying to get the same prize money?

I read the article about the stalker - not sure how the Hotel is caulpable -also  not sure how the perpetrator is going to find his share of the $55million!! Yes of course he deserves to be fined and imprisoned but is it really an equality issue?

I think gender can be used in the wrong scenarios just to bring home a point much as is race relations. If you see colour or gender and not a PERSON then its game over IMHO

Crikey, here's a thread I missed while on my hols!

There's so much recipe for debate and grief, I suspect most have been nervous to comment, particularly men!

I think it's a by product of the PC world we live in, with people terrified to express an opinion. In an ideal world, I think we just need a little more common sense. 

I remember back in the 80's and 90's, women in the military were paid less than us. The argument was that they couldn't fulfil the exact same role due to some physical (ie strength) or operational reasons (UK servicewomen at the time were unable to deploy to certain Middle Eastern Countries or operational theatres).

So the discrepancy in pay seemed fair, and was generally accepted. You never heard any of the girls complaining about it. The arguments got weaker the more senior the roles, were physical or location constraints were often irrelevant, but that was well above my pay grade.

Times have changed now, women deploy with men operationally (rightly or wrongly) and pay is the same (I believe).

In civvy street, I was first exposed to pay differences in blue chip companies which did seem odd, and I can't see any reason or justification for pay scales for an IT techie based on gender. It's ability and thats it.

But as I managed a team of techies, I became exposed to the maternity argument, and witnessed first hand someone back from 12 months maternity, then quarrelling over missed education entitlement, something her team mates had already lost due to work commitments and lack of resource. It caused a lot of bad feeling in a male dominated team and unfortunately that's the kind of thing that sticks in your mind.

On the other side, my wife took 2 bouts of maternity leave, so I've seen both sides of the argument. In her case she was ostracised when she returned and tried (unsuccessfully) to be forced out, which was a real eye opener to the realities working mums have to face.

Business travel and security is real interesting point, and it's something I've never considered, particularly after managing women, and is real food for thought.

No real answers, just an honest insight into my experience and thought process.

Interesting to read the comments and experiences already posted.  I agree that it's a contentious issue that may put some people off voicing their opinions.  When I was working on the female business travellers project, I posted on a worldwide business travel forum and received some interesting views from travellers and cabin crew.  However, it was a different matter when I posted on a predominantly American site, where someone told me (impolitely) that I was nuts!

Thanks to everyone for their views so far.  Totally agree with the tennis comments.  Steve, in your own words, a very honest insight with added experiences.  Unfortunately, there are lots of people getting rich on organising events for empowering women, which promise so much but deliver so little.

Recently I saw an Asian Female business network group getting promoted, which to me is wrong on all levels and sends out all the wrong signals.

Interesting seeing you say lots of people are making money out of these female networks. Do we really have such drastically different requirements based on race and gender to warrant a dedicated group or netwrok, or could this not be included or discussed in a mixed environment? 

Just my 5 pence worth, and maybe I'm wrong, but wouldn't it better to educate and empower women from within normal networking channels? If groups are male dominated, then women need to do something about it and join  The days of old boys clubs, or blokes tut tutting are long gone aren't they? (genuine question).

I've just come back from a digital marketing conference at the NEC today, and 1 of the 5 speakers was female, and I'd say about 25% of the audience were female.

Each speaker was very good, but gender played no part of my expectation, or biased my opinion. It could have been 4 women and 1 bloke, but as long as it was an interesting presentation, I don't think anyone really cares do they?

It would be nice to know that the top spots in businesses are done on ability versus gender or even race. That may be idealistic and I know UK boardrooms still have some way to go, but I also wouldn't want to see women accelerated to positions above their ability purely to fulfil some kind of daft target or quota. The best person for the job, simple as that.

Does it actually matter if the boardroom is female or male dominated? Or we will have to have a token director position for a one legged black lesbian just to fulfil a government target?

I expect not hope that my daughters will have equal opportunity when they eventually arrive on the job market in 15 years or so, and there is no logical reason or argument other than common sense that will convince why this shouldn't happen. But no doubt time will tell...

Spinning it slightly, did you see the article on the Guardian about low take up of fathers taking paternity leave?

The research found that concerns over career progression were a factor for many, with half of men saying they thought taking leave was perceived negatively at work and 55% of mothers questioned said they did not want to share their leave.

Only 40% of individuals said shared parental leave was encouraged by their employer, although almost half of businesses said they offered enhanced pay in line with what they offered employees taking maternity leave.

www.theguardian.com/money/2016/apr/05/shared-parental-leave-slow-take-up-fathers-paternity

So a lot of mums don't actually want to share their maternity leave, while men are worried about career progression damage. It just shows what a complicated subject this is, even when efforts are made at resolving equality issues.

I probably should not say this, but we're not meant to be equals. Of course, you should feel and be safe while traveling or staying in a hotel, but generally - It's bullocks.

And let's be honest here, feminists are not after gender equality at all. When's the last time you saw any feminist talking about man's rights at all! *mic drop