Why can’t a woman be more like a man?
This week there there are a raft of headlines bemoaning the financial state of women. Here are just five:
- Women pile twice as much money as men into their pensions in their 20s, but get left behind when family life begins at 30
- Rwanda best for gender equal pay, but US pay gap is getting worse
- Wanted immediately: an end to the gender pay gap
- UK jobs pay less than they did a decade ago: in one chart
- ‘National living wage’ will push up wages at more than half of employers
Of course, many of us women have the inconvenient habit of taking time off work to have children, going part time to look after said children and not giving 100% to jobs owing to all sort of demands from these offspring.
To be less tongue in cheek about such a serious issue: the point is that there are fundamental differences between the genders and how we contribute to humanity. Yet our finances and pay are structured around a world where it is men who are expected to be the full time breadwinner.
This is why we need to challenge the bigger structures and attitudes. Simply tweaking pay and pensions isn't the final answer.
Some people believe that this is why women should have equal opportunities to men. And I support this view, although it is not the route all women can, or want to, go.
My own view is: our contributions, both men and women, to our societies needs to be just as highly valued. For example, the CEO is not more important to society than the mother raising the next generation.
That kind of radical mind shift is long term.
So, for now, let’s crack on with lifting people (of both genders) out of poverty, ensuring gender gaps are closed and that everyone has enough to live on in old age.
The UK is both wealthy enough and kind enough as a society to achieve that.
Debi O'Donovan
Founder
Reward & Employee Benefits Association (REBA)
Twitter: @debiodonovan @REBA_global
