Tag Archives: gender

Women can’t catch men’s earnings, even after any children have left home

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  • In 2018/19, women earned an average of £22,200 and men £27,400 (median).
  • Men earned more than women at every age. At 20-24, men averaged £19,100 and women £17,700.
  • On average, income before tax peaked at age 40-44 at £30,200. However, it peaked for men between the ages of 45-49, at an average of £34,100, and for women at age 40-44 at £26,000.

Now is the time for us ladies to take charge of our finances. Check your state pension entitlement and make sure there are no gaps in National Insurance contributions. Also consider taking out a LISA.

 

HMRC has issued a range of tax and income statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-income-by-tax-year

Sarah Coles, personal finance analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown:

“Women are out-earned by men at every stage of their career, so if women are waiting for a better time to get started with their financial plans, they could be in for a very long wait.

Despite the fact that on average female students get better results at school, are more likely to go to university, and get more first class and upper second degrees, when they emerge from the education system, men are paid more. Between the ages of 20 and 24, women earn 7% less.

The official pay gap – which measures people doing the same work – is close to zero below the age of 40, so the difference is likely to owe much to the careers dominated by women being lower paid than those dominated by men, and how we value particular skills as a society. It’s also influenced by more women working part time from the outset, and some starting families at younger ages.

The gap between the average pay of women and men widens dramatically when people reach the age when they typically start a family. By their early 30s the gap is 13%, and by their early 40s it’s 22%. This is partly because women are overwhelmingly more likely to take career breaks in their children’s early lives, and make compromises over working hours and commutes in order to have more flexibility during their children’s school years.

There’s no time to catch up afterwards either, because not only are women paid far less later in their career, but they reach their peak earning years well before men too – at the age of 40-44 rather than 45-50. This owes something to the fact that senior management roles tend to have a later pay peak, so women continue to pay for missing out on promotions during key childcare years.

Women are also paid less later in their careers partly because once they have taken a financial hit relatively early on, they’re in the frame for any caring responsibilities that come along – including caring for elderly parents. This may mean they have to move into working part-time once again.

A solution to unequal pay requires a combination of an awful lot of things – from changing the way different skills are rewarded, to altering the balance of caring responsibilities in the home, and building workplaces that allow equality of flexibility. The pandemic may help accelerate some of this change, by revealing just how many jobs can be effectively completed with a much higher degree of flexibly, but this kind of societal change tends to be slow and incremental.

It means women can’t afford to wait for pay to equalise, they need to protect themselves now. These figures show the risk of putting off saving and investing, or building up your pension, until you’re in a better place financially. If you postpone it because you’re on a starting salary, or going on maternity leave or working part-time, then you could find yourself putting it off forever.”

 

The Moment of Lift By Melinda Gates Book Review

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The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World, the moment of lift, Melinda Gates, book reviewThe Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World

Melinda Gates is the perfect example of an extraordinary woman who does not get the credit she deserves because she just happens to be married to a rich, famous man. It would be easy to dismiss her on the basis of privilege, and many people do. But to judge a woman by her husband is sexist. Melinda Gates stands as a giant in her own right. She has done so much for women’s rights and to make the world a better place. Her new book, The Moment of Lift, should be read by every single person in the world. Then the world would be a better place for everyone. Full of blistering facts and, yes, some harrowing tales; The Moment of Lift is a call to action. The book is powerful and puts up the fights for women’s rights. I hear that women have never had it so good a lot, and yet there is still so much to be done. I challenge anyone to read this book and not be inspired. When you read it you want to do something. The book covers so many aspects of gender bias: from FGM, contraception and inequality at home. Even the fact that most women do most of the domestic work is in here, and so it should be. Only recently was childcare and domestic world including by economists when it came fo GDP. Women’s work has been largely invisible and, in many ways, still is. Melinda also writes about herself and her marriage in this book. She is honest and brave. Her voice is in this book and so is her strength. It is powerful stuff. This book is essential reading and gets Frost’s Gold Standard stamp of approval. Only the second thing so far to do so.

 

A debut from Melinda Gates, a timely and necessary call to action for women’s empowerment.

“How can we summon a moment of lift for human beings – and especially for women? Because when you lift up women, you lift up humanity.”

For the last twenty years, Melinda Gates has been on a mission to find solutions for people with the most urgent needs, wherever they live. Throughout this journey, one thing has become increasingly clear to her: If you want to lift a society up, you need to stop keeping women down.

In this moving and compelling book, Melinda shares lessons she’s learned from the inspiring people she’s met during her work and travels around the world. As she writes in the introduction, “That is why I had to write this book – to share the stories of people who have given focus and urgency to my life. I want all of us to see ways we can lift women up where we live.”

Melinda’s unforgettable narrative is backed by startling data as she presents the issues that most need our attention – from child marriage to lack of access to contraceptives to gender inequity in the workplace. And, for the first time, she writes about her personal life and the road to equality in her own marriage. Throughout, she shows how there has never been more opportunity to change the world – and ourselves.

Writing with emotion, candour, and grace, she introduces us to remarkable women and shows the power of connecting with one another.

When we lift others up, they lift us up, too.

The Moment of Lift is available here.

Parenting Gender Truths: Do Mums Want Boys or Girls?

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childbirth, birth, labour, labour tips, labor, childbirth book, what to expect, catherine BalavageTwice as many mums want baby girls over boys 

  • 39% of mums wish for girls compared to just 18% for boys – but dads are three times more likely to want sons

 

  • Four in five mums say a gender preference is normal – but still taboo to talk about

 

  • A quarter admit to feeling very disappointed if child is wrong sex, with three per cent bravely admitting it affected their ability to bond with their child

 

  • One boy / one girl is seen as the nation’s ideal family – but 18% of families have suffered negative comments about their family’s gender mix

 

  • Over a third of modern mums plan ‘Gender Reveal’ parties – but modern trend for instant family ‘Pink & Blue’ twins putting parents under pressure

 

IT MAY BE a man’s world – but modern mums are twice as likely to want daughters over sons, a new study from parenting site ChannelMum.com shows.

 

Two in five mothers (39%) said they wished for a girl while pregnant, compared to just 18 per cent who hoped for a son. But for fathers the reverse is true, with men a whopping three times more likely to want boys. A huge 31 per cent of men expressed the preference to have sons, while only one in ten wanted a daughter.
While four in five mums (80%) said they believe it’s normal to have a preference on the gender of your child, the report revealed the subject is still strictly taboo with few families willing to admit it.
Of the 2,189 mums polled, over a third (36%) didn’t tell anyone they had a gender preference, and under half (48%) confided in their partner. Only a third (33%) admitted their feelings to their own family. However, the desire for a certain sex is so strong that only 18 per cent of mums claimed to feel ‘guilty’ for wanting their favoured gender.

The study also showed parents are now so desperate to discover their child’s gender that almost two thirds of parents (62%) find out at a scan, while only 38 per cent remain on ‘Team Yellow’ – the modern code for not finding out your baby’s gender until birth. And over a third (35%) of pregnant mums now plan ‘gender reveal’ events or parties complete with pink or blue-hued balloons and cakes.

However, a quarter of mums quizzed admitted to feeling ‘very disappointed’ if their child was the ‘wrong’ gender. (24%). Bravely, a further three per cent even admitted this affected their ability to bond with their child long-term.

This disappointment means two in five mums (41%) say they tried for second child to get ‘right’ sex, while 26 per cent opted for a third and 10 per cent kept going for four or more children. A further six per cent would even fly abroad for gender selection IVF which is currently illegal in the UK.

Worryingly, 18 per cent of families have had negative comments on the gender mix of their children, with close family and mother-in-laws most likely to make rude jibes, followed by strangers and then friends.

The study also unveiled the nation’s ideal family as one girl / one boy, voted for by 54% of mums quizzed. But 15 per cent of mums claim the growing celebrity trend to have ‘pink and blue twins’ – like Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt, Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez – is putting pressure on normal mums.
Two in five mums polled said the ‘PBT’ phenomenon is being used to make working mums to have an ‘instant family’ and take less time away from the workplace, and 15 per cent had even felt pressured to try for mixed-sex twins themselves.

But despite so many parents favouring one gender over another, surprisingly just three per cent of parents polled tried to ‘sway’ the sex of the child. The most popular method was timing sex, followed by eating a special diet and even calculating dates to conceive using astrology.

The study also revealed the most common reasons for wanting a certain sex.

Top Reasons for Wanting Girls

  1. Girls stay closer to their parents when she grows up (41%)
  2. Girls more fun to dress up (40%)
  3. Girls are better behaved (7%)

 Top Reasons for Wanting Boys

  1. Boys are easier (14%)
  2. Boys are more fun to play with (9%)
  3. Cultural reasons (4%)

Siobhan Freegard, founder of ChannelMum.com said: “Boy or girl – every child is a blessing, but the issue of gender disappointment is something we need to talk about and bring into the open. With mums and dads often at odds about the gender they really want, one parent will usually end up disappointed, so we must ensure families have the support they need to bond with their baby. It’s worth remembering a child isn’t their gender – they are their own people with their own personality. So whatever the gender, let your child be who they are, not what you hoped them to be.”

http://www.channelmum.com/topic/gender-reveals/

Zoe Saldana: Being a Working Mother is The “Biggest Battle”

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Zoe_Saldana_at_82nd_Academy_Awards_(cropped)Avatar actress Zoe Saldana has said that juggling her career while raising her twins is her “biggest battle”, because her requests for childcare is seen as a perk. Zoe and husband Marco Perego welcomed their twins, Bowie and Cy, 19-months ago.

“It should not be considered a perk, I’m not asking for a masseuse on set. I’m asking you to pay for my children to have proper care so that I can give your film the proper care it needs too.” She told the Evening Standard. The 38-year-old actress also said that she wants to “contribute to a greater good” by only doing films that further gender and racial equality. She also said she would not do any jobs which are “objectifying or gratuitous”.

“Studios are the ones that are not green-lighting black projects, they’re the ones sending internal emails and laughing, And bullying women and bullying people of colour. I am speaking up and I am stepping down as well. Sometimes by saying no (to some roles), you’re helping – you’re contributing to a greater good. Women have been compelled to be quiet for too long. We have to shed light on things that are obviously unfair, uneven, unequal – things that should be illegal.”

She said about her role in blockbusters: “In a world where there’s so much turmoil, maybe what our children need is to believe in superheroes,”

 

There Is Only One Word For Sex Selective Abortion: Gendercide. But Should It Be Illegal?

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gendercide, sex selective abortion, abortionOn Monday the 23rd February MPs voted on whether to amend the serious crime bill to make abortion based on foetal gender a crime. MPs ultimately rejected the amendment to the bill from Fiona Bruce. But was it the right decision?

Sex selective abortion is only one thing: gendercide. This brilliant article on gendercide in The Economist states the shocking fact that at least 100 million girls have been killed. It will be much more now, the article was written five years ago, but it has always stayed with me. I always thought sex selective abortion was a problem in China and India, I had no idea that it was also problem in Britain. And lets be clear: it is a problem, and a growing one.

I tend to be wary of amendments to abortion rights. In the US more and more bills are passed to take away a women’s right to her own reproductive future. History also proves that it doesn’t matter if abortion is legal or not, women will still have them. Legalisation means less maternal deaths. I am pro-choice even though I would never have an abortion myself. A woman’s body belongs to herself, not the government. But what about gendercide? Which is a very real crime.

As I write this I am 35 weeks pregnant with a boy. When we told people the sex of our child I was shocked at the sexism. I was told congratulations for having a boy. I was even told it is ‘better to have a boy’. Why? Usually no reason was given. Or a fluster of babbling that made no coherent sense. I was supposed to feel proud that my body was making a boy, as if by making a daughter I would somehow have failed. What makes a boys life more important than a girls? It’s a good question, if only so we can address and dismantle it. If there is pressure for a white, British, non-religious female to have a boy, can you imagine how much pressure a woman from another culture would feel?

Feminists widely criticised the amendment. Bryony Gordon spoke out against it. Rebecca Schiller wrote an amazing article on it but I think they are both wrong. Should gendercide be illegal? Yes. Schiller says “This is not about whether sex-selective abortion is right. This is about a woman deciding what happens to her body throughout her life and valuing her as the key protagonist in these decisions across her lifetime.” She makes a good point, but if that decision is to kill a baby girl then it is not okay. The Telegraph did an amazing expose on doctors agreeing to do sex selective abortions.

Lisa Hallgarten, chair of Voice for Choice, said: “We urge MPs from all political parties to oppose this dangerous amendment. This is the wrong piece of legislation to address the issue of son-preference and gender discrimination and could disadvantage the very women it claims to be helping. “If passed, this amendment would seriously undermine abortion law and provision in this country, which is clearly the intention of its proposer Fiona Bruce MP.” Some feminist may be up in arms but what is more anti-feminist than a girl being aborted just because of her gender? One way to fix this is the gender of the child not being revealed until the abortion limit has passed.

Women’s reproductive rights have been hard won and should always be protected but the truth is sex selective abortions are becoming more common in Britain. Christina Odone wrote a great piece in The Telegraph and stated that ‘We should be up in arms at the thought of would-be parents deciding that girls are not worth conceiving. In a country where the culling of baby seals brings out street protests, the culling of baby girls is happening without a murmur.”  We must defend the rights of girls. In the womb and out. Labour MP Yvette Cooper MP has said that the practice of aborting a foetus simply based on their sex is already illegal, but more must be done to enforce it. Over one million girls are lost every year to gendercide. Something must be done about it. We must show that a girls life is just as important as a boys.

 

 

 

 

Charlize Theron Negotiates $10 Million Pay Rise After Sony Hack Revealed Male Co-Star Was Paid More

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Charlize Theron Negotiates $10 Million Pay Rise After Sony Hack Revealed Male Co-Star Was Paid More, equal pay, charlize theron, The Sony Hacks revealed a lot of unpleasant things, and one of them was the unequal pay between men and women, even in Hollywood. One, amazing, ballsy, actress was having none of this however. Charlize Theron negotiated a $10 million pay rise after reading that male co-star Chris Hemsworth was to be paid millions more for The Huntsman. She will now be paid the same as her male co-star. What an inspiration. We need more honesty about pay so more women can get paid what they are worth, and certainly as much as men. The pay gap between men and women is still significantly unequal. 

The hacked emails from Sony showed vast pay gaps between male and female stars. In American Hustle all of the male stars, and the male director, got 9 per cent of back-end profits. The two female stars, Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence only got 7 per cent. This is despite the fact that Jennifer Lawrence was an Oscar-winning actress and that Amy Adams had been nominated four times.

At Sony things were not any better. Out of 6,000 employees, only one of the seventeen who made over  $1 million or more was a woman. Even worse, while Michael De Luca and Hannah Minghella share a job as co-presidents of production at Columbia Pictures, De Luca makes almost  $1 million more than Minghella. 

In the UK the pay disparity between men and women is so great that women effectively work from November 4th until the end of the year for free. There are a number of social and feminist movements trying to make a difference. We must join them and do what we can. Find out how much men doing the same job are being paid and negotiate a better deal.

Mind The Gender Gap – Men (Apparently) Make The Best Bosses

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Frost has come across a survey we are not sure about. Do men really make the best bosses? 56% of people in a staff bay survey thought so, but we would like your input. Do men or women make the best bosses or does gender not matter when it comes to leadership? Let us know by commenting below or emailing us at frost magazine@gmail.com

  • 56% said they thought men make the best office generals
  • Just 4% of those surveyed said “they didn’t mind” whether a man or woman was their boss
  • Survey comes on back of recent ONS figures showing gender pay gap has decreased since the 1970s but disparity between what men and women take home today still differs dramatically after the age of 30.

 

suitamnestypaulcostelloeThe gender gap might be closing in the office, but men still make the best bosses, that’s the message from a new survey by social media-based recruitment specialists, staffbay.com

 

staffbay.com, which uses social media to bring jobseekers and employers together, asked 15,000 workers which gender they would prefer as a boss, and 56 per cent of them said they thought men make the best office generals. Interestingly, 62 per cent of those questioned were men, and just 4 per cent of those surveyed said “they didn’t mind” whether a man or woman was their boss.

 

staffbay co-founder, Tony Wilmot says that, although attitudes are changing, there still exists a gender divide in the workplace.

 

“The results of our latest survey show that, when it comes to taking up positions of power at work, men still rule the roost. What is particularly shocking about our survey is that only 4 per cent of those surveyed are ambivalent about the gender of their boss.

 

Tony adds: “In 1953, Gallup ran a poll showing that 66 per cent would choose a male boss and only 5 per cent a female one. Thankfully, times are changing. No-one wants to live in a male dominated world, as this only deters young, female talent from entering the workplace.

 

“We know from seeing behind the scenes at staffbay.com, that there are more young females than ever applying for traditionally male roles, and we welcome this. Our message is: get yourselves out there – become the bosses and business leaders of tomorrow.”

 

The survey comes on the back of recent Office of National Statistics Figures which showed that the gender pay gap has decreased since the 1970s but the disparity between what men and women take home today still differs dramatically after the age of 30.

 

Figures show that in 1975, 16 to 18 year olds of both sexes were paid similar sums but this changed after the age of 18 with men earning more than women at every age group. At that time, the biggest percentage pay gap was for 38 year olds, with male employees receiving on average 61 per cent more than their female counterparts.

 

“It’s time for this to change,” says Tony. “By pushing themselves forward and showing their talents off to prospective employers, fast-rising females can make sure this gap closes. We urge them to do all they can to make sure the gender balance is equal.”

 

 

Men Are More Decisive Than Women

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genderdifferencesMen are more decisive than women, it emerged yesterday. The women at Frost weren’t so sure about this study, until we realised that it just means we take more time over our decisions. Not necessarily a bad thing.

A study of 2,000 people into the nature of decision making and the thought processes behind them found men are twice as likely to make a decision ‘straight away’ than women.

The research asked men and women to evaluate their decisions in life and found women are much more likely to consider the opinions of friends and take time on their choices while men adopt a more immediate process.

A quarter of women said their approach was often to spend a long time mulling over the details of a decision before making it – but less than a fifth of men take the same approach.

The study also found that even though women take longer to reach their decisions overall, they are more likely to regret the choice they made further down the line.

Women are also twice as likely to consult their partner and get their opinion before making a decision as were men, results showed.

The research, which was commissioned by indoor swimming pool builders Origin Leisure, found the head really does rule the heart with Brits more than four times more likely to make a decision with their head than go on what the heart says.

When a choice does require a bit of soul-searching, women are more likely to do something ‘from the heart’ than are blokes results found.

Psychologist Cliff Arnall said: ‘’There are stark differences between how men and women make decisions. Women’s significant reliance on others plus a reluctance to make a wrong decision points to a measurable lack of confidence compared to men.”

‘’Weighing up different outcomes and scenarios may seem like a good strategy but it appears to be accompanied by increasing levels of stress and uncertainty. Going round in circles soon becomes counterproductive and leads to decision paralysis and feelings of frustration.”

The study also found a quarter of Brits find it easier to make really big decisions than they do smaller ones – trusting their gut for ‘life-changing’ choices like whether or not to buy a house or propose to a partner, but then agonising over things like buying jeans or new shoes.

Cliff Arnall adds: “Heart and gut feelings operate at a much faster and more primitive level than regular thought processes. The heart is based on emotion, the gut on survival. Gut feelings shouldn’t be dismissed as rash – 95% of the human body’s feel-good neurotransmitter serotonin is produced by the gut.”

Women are more likely than men to change their minds overall- showing more indecision when it comes to buying shoes or jeans or whether or not to book a holiday.

They also take longer to make up their minds on work matters like whether or not to hand notice in and move job and suffer the most back and forth on decisions around changing the look of the house or re-decorating.

However, men showed more indecision than the fairer sex when it came to putting an offer in for a house, talking to someone they find attractive or deciding whether or not to ask a partner to move in.

When thinking about the big decisions made in their lives so far- women were more likely to cite starting a family as the biggest they’d made, while men chose the financial commitment of choosing to buy a property.

Interestingly, women were more likely than men to feel they get the smaller decisions wrong in life while men are the gender most likely to feel they get big decisions wrong overall.

In fact, seven in ten are prone to making bad decisions and more than half the 2,000 men and women studied felt they are indecisive.

But certain decisions come fast- one in five people in relationships knew they wanted to be with their partner within minutes of meeting.

Men know sooner after meeting someone if they want to be in a relationship with that person – 41 per cent make up their minds on the same day compared to less than a third of women.

And a third of homeowners knew their current property was for them almost instantly upon viewing it.

But other property decisions don’t come so fast, results showed the number of potential upgrades to the home currently being considered by the average homeowner with a new kitchen or bathroom top of the list.

While redesigning the garden, getting a conservatory and even adding a Jacuzzi, hot tub or swimming pool are currently being mulled over by many.

 

Psychologist Cliff Arnall offers some remedies for indecision:

1. Adopt an attitude of boldness. If you’re not feeling it then pretend!

2. Get all the information you reasonably can. Acknowledging that 90% or 100% is rarely possible aim to gather 80% of the information you need to make your decision.

3. Write down the pros and cons of making the decision. Don’t hold back – being brutally truthful and open at this stage can save much stress later on.

4. Write down the very worst thing that can happen, e.g. lose all your savings, become homeless, be thought of as a failure by your community.

5. Talk separately to your three closest friends and get a dispassionate opinion from them but you’ll need to give them permission to tell you what they really think!

6. Are your head, heart and gut aligned? If not sleep on it for a day or two.

7. Set yourself a date and a time at which point you will decide either way. Suggestion is between 5 and 10 days, e.g. by the 17th July at noon I will make my decision with conviction come what may.