News and Views
Gender pay gaps, the benefits of reading fiction and why men's lack of friendships is hurting women
Three myths hold back pay parity in women’s sport. Let’s smash them.
Myths underpin so many aspects of gender inequality and they’re SO easily disproven with facts. And it’s the same for the gender pay gap in women’s sport.
“While the grassroots interest in women’s sport is exploding, its institutional legitimacy continues to be stymied by persistent myths rooted in sexist attitudes. Each one of these myths, like all sexist dogma, can be disproved with a little economic analysis."
The myths:
that women's sport isn't worth the time or effort because women can't perform at as high a level as men due to physiological differences
investment in sport should be based on viewership
women's sport doesn't add anything of value beyond what men's sport is already providing
I don’t know how anyone could have lived through 2023 and the epicness of the Matildas and still believe that women’s sport is somehow less than men’s sport. But this article does a great job at debunking some of the pervasive myths about women’s sport.
Think your male colleagues earn more than you? Soon you’ll know for sure.
There is a lot of discussion around in the news at the moment about the gender pay gap. And that’s because on 27 February, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) will publish the median gender pay gap for organisations with 100 or more employees for the first time.
Previously the gender pay gap has been published at an industry level, but now it will also be published for individual organisations.
My issue with this headline (and I am sure the writer of the article had no say over the headline) is that it’s actually pretty misleading. The publication of the gender pay gap won’t tell you who earns what. But it will tell you what the median gender pay gap is for your organisation which does give you leverage for having those discussions more openly in the workplace. (And from next year, they will also publish the average as well as the median).
Pay transparency is proven to assist in closing the gender pay gap so this is a great thing. And I am really looking forward to the data being released! Headline aside, this article does lay out the importance of this data and the impact it can make.
But don’t expect it to actually tell you if your male colleagues are earning more than you at an individual level.
How to talk to your friends about salary
Speaking of pay – this is a good article to refer to if you want to be empowered to have conversations with friends and colleagues about salary.
(Also the law in Australia now means you have the right to talk to anyone about your pay)
Men have no friends and women bear the burden
Men are key to rectifying gender inequality (in much the same way it’s on white people to end racism). It sucks that they often don’t realise that, although often it’s deliberate because why work to change a system that works for you? But men have emotional needs and women are the ones who majority of the time have to meet those needs. It’s deeply unfair that women constantly have to do the emotional labour because men just won’t.
“Toxic masculinity—and the persistent idea that feelings are a "female thing"—has left a generation of straight men stranded on emotionally-stunted island, unable to forge intimate relationships with other men. It's women who are paying the price.”
The key takeaways from this piece are:
1) Men are socialised to avoid emotional expression.
2) Men thus tend to have weaker, less intimate friendships than women.
3) As a result, heterosexual men often try to get all their emotional needs met by their female intimate partners.
4) This is bad for men. It limits their sources of support, and makes them more vulnerable e.g. if they go through separation.
5) It’s bad for women. Women face the burden of having to do all the emotional labour.
6) Let’s encourage men to develop intimate friendships with other men. And to seek help: support groups, therapy, and men’s groups.
7) Men’s groups in particular are valuable spaces for men, and can improve their relationships.
Men need to step up, for gender equality but also for themselves! When we talk about gender equality, it’s often focused on the outcomes for women and rightly so, but the research is very clear that gender equality benefits all genders not just women!
Reading fiction may have more benefits than you realise, particularly in the workplace
Lots of people feel guilty for reading fiction but actually there are a lot of benefits to reading, and particularly reading fiction.
Research shows that reading fiction and using your imagination helps you develop greater empathy and also increases your ability to have an open mind. Avid readers are also more likely to have higher levels of curiosity (one of my favourite values and qualities).
I’ve recently started a somewhat informal book club at work so glad I’ve also got some research to back up the benefits!
The role of gender in bystander intervention
Did you know that women are less likely to receive defibrillation from a bystander? Research indicates it’s caused by a few factors.
“Consistent themes in interviews with bystanders in other studies that might explain this relate to concerns around public exposure of women’s chests, causing injury, and misattribution of a woman experiencing an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.”
This is a great example of why a gender lens is really important to be included in policy and education. Women are typically excluded from a lot of health research and data, and it can literally have fatal impacts.
Australia does do better in bystander CPR on women than a lot of other western countries though which is encouraging. In countries like the United States, Denmark, Canada and Sweden the rate of women receiving bystander CPR is significantly less than for men.
It’s wild that people have taken the wrong message from #MeToo where women continue to bear the negative consequences.