There’s nothing like the issue of the gender wage gap to get people going.
Research published yesterday by the Institute of Fiscal Studies revealed that women earn 18 per cent less than men on average. The IFS also found that the gap widens after women have children, raising the prospect that mothers are missing out on pay rises and promotions.
According to the Institute, the pay differential widens consistently for 12 years after a first child is born, by which point women receive 33 per cent less pay an hour than men. Although the IFS points out that is partly because women who return to work often do so in a part-time capacity.
Well, colour me surprised. Women returning to work part-time earn less than men? What will they think of next.
It’s deeply unpopular to say so, particularly as I am a working woman with personal experience of the male/female pay disparity, but I have no problem with the fairer sex earning less cash after childbirth – if they decide that five days a week is no longer for them.
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