From The Mind of Merc - Gender Pay Gap

Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today I was thinking about the gender pay gap.

What struck me about the pay gap was whether job titles could possibly be having an impact on them as there are several job roles where the title ‘differs’ depending on gender - e.g. actor/actress, headmaster/headmistress, waiter/waitress - and that perhaps these differences in job titles feed off the perceived differences in gender and thus contribute to a difference or bias with regards to salary. So even if it’s exactly the same role, an actress will be paid less than an actor, a saleswoman paid less than a salesman, a comedienne paid less than a comedian. 

(There are also cases when this inference works out negatively for men. For example, stewardesses, nurses, midwives are all perceived to be female yet are jobs performed by men and women.) 

As we have already got rid of some denotations – such as dropping the W from WPC – and as we now live in a time when the emphasis for employers is on focusing on equal opportunities, is it perhaps time to amend the others?
So instead of actor/actress we use actor, perhaps use server instead waiter or waitress, and might this be the start or help towards achieving true parity with incomes.

Here are examples of other roles with perceived or clear differences (and their proposed revisions):
- Actor/Actress à Actor
- Fireman/Firewoman à Firefighter
- Salesman/Saleswoman à Salesperson
- Policeman/Policewoman à Police officer
- Chairman/Chairwoman à Chairperson or Chair
- Usher/Usherette à Usher
- Author/Authoress à Author
- Waiter/Waitress à Server
- Steward/Stewardess à Flight Attendant
- Barman/Barmaid à Bartender or Barstaff

Particularly in our (for the most part) more accepting gender-fluid society should gender neutral roles now be the norm?

After all:
Are the roles they refer to any different? No
Do they impact on the person’s ability to do the job? No
Might they help dispel any associated misconceptions and prejudices? Who knows…

From The Mind of Merc - Comebacks

Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today I was thinking about some of the best comebacks in the world which, perhaps unsurprisingly, have come from women. Comebacks such as when Muhammed Ali was travelling on an aeroplane, he was asked to fasten his seatbelt.

His response: "Superman didn’t need no seatbelt."

The airhostess’s reply: "Superman didn’t need no airplane either."

Or when Noel Coward commented on Edna Ferber’s choice of clothing by saying "You look almost like a man", Edna Ferber replied "So do you."

Not even women are safe from female retorts. For example, when Miriam Hopkins encountered a wannabe starlet and was told "Did you know I’ve insured my voice for a thousand dollars." Hopkins response was "That’s wonderful. What did you spend the money on?"

Ilke Chase experienced a similar situation when an actress approached her and said "I enjoyed reading your book. Who wrote it for you?" An unphased Ilke retorted "Darling, I’m so glad you liked it. Who read it for you?"

And there is, of course, the infamous encounter when Clare Booth Luce moved aside from a doorway to allow Dorothy Parker to go through first and remarked "Age before beauty." To which Dorothy Parker immortally replied "Pearls before swine."

When it comes to comebacks, Dorothy Parker is probably the queen of them all.

For example, on being told Coolidge had died, she remarked "How could they tell?"

After being interrupted on her honeymoon by a query as to why her book review was late she said "I’m too fucking busy, and vice versa."

Talk about Burn!

The wit displayed in these few simple sentences demonstrates how women can be (and are) incredibly funny, intelligent, talented, and capable of contributing so much but for some reason throughout history they have been oppressed, ignored, betrayed and lied to just so men can come out ‘on top’

I personally think it speaks volumes when the word ‘feminism’ doesn’t mean the rise of women to the subjugation of men but instead equality of the sexes (if you don’t believe me – after all, I am a woman – may I humbly suggest you look it up).

Feminism is an incredibly simple idea but a vitally important one for two crucial reasons.

1) Look at this list of women who have achieved amazing things but been sidelined by their male co-workers

- Rosalind Franklin: scientist whose work on DNA with Raymond Gosling led to Watson and Crick’s breakthrough

- Alice Guy: first female studio director and owner whose husband convinced her to combine their studios under his name

- Elizabeth Magie: created Monopoly 30 years before Charles Darrow – who sold it to Parker Brothers for millions

- Lise Meitner: physicist who discovered nuclear fission with Otto Hahn who won the Nobel prize but refused to give Jewish refugee Meitner credit

- Chien-Shiung Wu: a physicist who discovered the law of parity. Her 2 male colleagues men received the Nobel Prize for their work

- Margaret Keane: artist who created the ‘Big-Eyed Waifs’. Her husband convinced her (through threats) to put his name on them.

- Jocelyn Bell Burnell: the first person to observe radio pulsars. Her 2 male colleagues received a Nobel Prize for their work, unlike Burnell.

- Anna Arnold Hedgemann: organised the 1963 Washington march but left out of the “Big 6” who were credited with its organisation

- Margaret Hamilton: wrote the code that put the first men on the moon. But have you ever heard of her?

Imagine what they could have achieved if they’d been supported instead of downtrodden

2) Up until the 1970s(!), women did not have the following (what might be viewed as basic) right

- Women couldn’t protect themselves from workplace harassment

- Women couldn’t refuse their husbands sex – marital rape was not a crime

- Women couldn’t get a divorce for domestic violence – proof of a husband’s infidelity was needed for a divorce

- Women couldn’t get the morning after or birth control pill

- Women couldn’t receive direct consultation about their own physical or mental health

- Women couldn’t own a bank or open a bank account

- Women couldn’t be judges or serve on a jury

- Women couldn’t be astronauts

- Women couldn’t purchase athletic shoes or be part of the Olympic Games

- Women couldn’t get into ivy league university

- Women were obstructed from studying law

And while a lot has been achieved, there is still a LONG way to go.

Feminism is not even a female-only concept. For example:

This is what a feminist looks like:

And there have been many, many, examples of those who grasp just how important it is:

William Golding: I think women are foolish to pretend they are equal to men, they are far superior and always have been.

Hugh Jackman: I’m for gender equality because it should never have been any other way

John Legend: All men should be feminists. If men care about women's rights the world will be a better place.

Mahatma Gandhi: Of all the evils for which man has made himself responsible, none is so degrading, so shocking or so brutal as his abuse of the better half of humanity, the female sex

Prince Harry: We know that when women are empowered, they immeasurably improve the lives of those around them – their families, their communities and their countries

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: What feminism means to me is that you don’t let your gender define who you are – you can be who you want to be, whether you’re a man, a woman, a boy, a girl, whatever

John Stuart Mill: The legal subordination of one sex to the other -- is wrong in itself, and now one of the chief hindrances to human improvement

But if you need further reasons why women are not to be underestimated or indeed messed with, consider this:

- Women are able to bleed for 1 whole week every month and not die

- Women are able to create life inside their own bodies

- Women are experts at doing multiple tasks all at once

- Women use both sides of the brain (men predominantly use only the left side of their brains)

- And finally, women are experts at getting blood out of clothing

Just remember – women are not the subjugators. The majority of women are not out to ‘control’ or oppress men. They do not want to get their own back. They want equality and an equality that will benefit everyone.

So maybe the answer to the question what does a feminist look like should be ‘Look in a mirror’

Mind of Merc - Real Issues

Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. 

Today I was thinking about an article I was reading earlier this week about the recent decision to cast Joseph Fiennes to play Michael Jackson. 
Apparently this has caused uproar and generally has received a mixed reaction with some seeing it as further support of the perceived racism in the Academy Awards and some as ‘ridiculous’ that a white actor could play a black celebrity. Meanwhile some are viewing it as an accurate representation of the character given Jackson’s ‘pale’ appearance at the time when the production is to be set and some take it (and its reaction) to be an interesting observation given the opposite direction of other casting choices – such as black actress Noma Dumezweni being cast as an adult Hermione Granger and the consideration of Idris Elba for the next James Bond.

But, if you want to know what I think – I think such squabbles are petty and obscure the real issues, the real battles that still need to be fought. 

If you’re wondering what I mean then, just picking some off the top of my head, women’s pay is still unequal to men’s, extant racism, sexism and ageism exist everywhere we look (and on a much bigger scale) and poverty has still not been ‘made history’. These are the matters and fights worthy of our attention and concern. These are the issues that need to be addressed, the problems that need to be solved – not whether a casting decision for a one-off production is acceptable.
 
Is it acceptable that 22,000 children die every DAY from poverty? Of course it isn’t. Is it acceptable that women still receive on average 20% lower pay than men doing the same job as them? Of course it isn’t. Is it acceptable that there are still some places that decide how they treat other human beings based solely on the colour of their skin, which religion they practice or their own misinformed opinions? Absolutely not. 

Racism is wrong, but, if you want to battle it, how about taking the fight to places where it is much more widespread and prevalent, much more unchecked, and often a matter of life or death. 

While time and effort is wasted debating the fiddling intricacies of possible perceived slights, the real discrimination still carries on unchecked. While we debate and argue and nitpick over minor ‘issues’, real social injustice endures. We blindly follow the unimportant and trivial when we should be concerning ourselves with the far-reaching and substantial matters that affect everyone consistently and unceasingly. 

We need to focus on the real ‘social wrongs’ – showing our objection to real ‘outrages’ and ‘prejudice’ – saying this is what we don’t accept and, what’s more, that we want something done about it.
 
Wake up, world! You’re looking in the wrong direction!