We must stop accepting 'life isn't fair' as a reason for gender inequality
Writer Emily Hill rejects the "life isn't fair" argument when examining the issue of gender inequality in the workplace.
Thursday 27 September 2018 03:36, UK
This week is National Inclusion Week - an annual opportunity to raise awareness of inclusion in the workplace.
Here, Emily Hill, author of Bad Romance, says employees must stop accepting excuses for gender inequality in the workplace.
As children we're told repeatedly: "Life isn't fair."
This is supposed to prepare us for the harsh realities of work.
But while cynics may scoff at every effort to make capitalist society a better, kinder, more equitable place, wouldn't it be marvellous if - thanks to movements such as National Inclusion Week - we could create workplaces that are fair in future?
Imagine environments where your work will interest you, your boss will be nice to you, no one will shout at you or harass you.
You will be paid the exactly the same amount as your colleagues and you will be promoted entirely according to your talents.
The demands of your family life will be taken into account so you can work around them, leaving you less stressed and more productive.
The fact is, if you are a woman past a certain age, most workplaces aren't as inclusive as this vision.
Yes, it's been illegal to pay a woman less than a man since the Equal Pay Act of 1970, but it still happens.
At a crucial point early on in my career I was paid less because I worked in an all-female department rather than the male-dominated one down the corridor. I've failed to catch up since.
Last year, when various organisations released the details of how much they paid their top talent and a great fuss was made about the gender pay gap, many (mostly male) commentators demanded to know why any of the rest of us - who aren't paid anything near as much - should be in the slightest bit bothered that certain famous female names were paid less than their even more famous male colleagues.
But if two sorts of people do exactly the same job and are compensated differently - with those of one gender being paid overwhelmingly more than the other well - surely the principle is important and we shouldn't put up with it?
So why do we? Because we're told life isn't fair.
I do not like to talk publicly about the struggles I have faced in the workplace. Women like me don't because we still hope to battle against and overcome them ourselves.
But the fact is if my employers had focused on the gender divide as Sky is now proposing I would have had a better time of it.
I would not have been sexually harassed, I would have more money in my bank account and I would not now have to worry about how on earth I will support myself if I am lucky enough to have children.
The fact that women have children is what sustains the gender pay gap.
Sure, right-wing think tanks will point this out proudly: the gender pay gap is an illusion - it's thanks to women taking time out to have babies and raise their children!
But it's really not much of a choice is it. For the crucial business of creating the next generation we are essentially fined £223,000. Why? Because life isn't fair.
But maybe, just maybe, take this week to think about the needs of the female gender in the workplace, and one day it might be.
New research commissioned by Sky reveals that 25% of British workers have experienced discrimination in the workplace, and one in three under-25s believes a "glass ceiling" still prevents them from progressing.
Sky has partnered with to highlight the everyday practical ways an inclusive environment can be created in your workplace - and Sky News has asked writers from a diverse background to explain why the issue of inclusivity is important.