Interviewees for Accounting Technician feature: gender pay gap

System
System Posts: 100,537 🤖 Admin 🤖
edited June 9 in AAT member discussion
Hi all

I am writing an article for Accounting Technician on the gender pay gap. I’d like to hear from AAT members and students who have a story to tell on this topic.

Ruth Kelly, Minister for Women, has recently announced new government initiatives to close the gap between men and women’s pay – which, 32 years since the introduction of the Equal Pay Act, still stands at 12.6%. Why are women still getting a raw deal in the workplace in 2007, and what is being done about it?

Kelly also announced that 107 organisations – including accounting/finance firms such as KPMG, Ernst & Young, PwC and BDO Stoy Hayward – have joined the Exemplar Employers scheme and committed themselves to gender equality projects.

Perhaps you have experienced the gender pay gap first-hand, whether in the past or more recently. Maybe your employer still has an old-fashioned attitude to women in the workplace. Or perhaps you have changed your employer’s stance and successfully achieved pay equality in your workplace.

Or maybe you work for one of the Exemplar Employers, or feel that your organisation is a shining example of gender pay equality.

If you would like to be interviewed for this feature (you can remain anonymous in the article if you wish), please email me at marc.grainger@tenalpspublishing.com before 6 February.

Thanks

Marc Grainger
Assistant Editor, Accounting Technician

Comments

  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 🤖 Admin 🤖
    Re:Interviewees for Accounting Technician feature: gender pay gap

    I don't know about women's pay, but as far as I know, all but one of the women in our practice earns at least 25% more than I do. And, as the only man apart from the senior partner, I'm outnumbered and have to put up with all sorts of "indignities" just to be politically correct.

    As I once read, men were fighting for equality long before women took up their cause!

    :wink:

    Michael
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 🤖 Admin 🤖
    Re:Interviewees for Accounting Technician feature: gender pay gap
    Michael56J wrote:
    "indignities"

    Please elaborate!

    :wink:
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 🤖 Admin 🤖
    Re:Interviewees for Accounting Technician feature: gender pay gap

    Indignities was in inverted commas for a reason. It wasn't meant to be taken seriously.

    But, since you asked:

    Do I get to come into work and talk about my latest underwear? Or my sex life? Or my personal bodily functions? Or complain about haw badly I feel about some person of the opposite sex? That's not PC. But women can do any of those things all day!

    And men whispering together are viewed as distasteful. Women whispering together is expected.

    Mind you, they do make tea for me, so I can't really complain :lol:
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 🤖 Admin 🤖
    Re:Interviewees for Accounting Technician feature: gender pay gap

    I always thought the pay gap in office jobs was fair recompense for men having to wear suits and ties whereas women could wear pretty much what they like.

    :shock:



    (He says waiting for the onslaught to begin...!)
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 🤖 Admin 🤖
    Re:Interviewees for Accounting Technician feature: gender pay gap

    You really are living dangerously aren't you Dean!!!

    Have you got a death wish today??????

    :lol: Annette
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 🤖 Admin 🤖
    Re:Interviewees for Accounting Technician feature: gender pay gap

    Hey - in my office - I WEAR THE TROUSERS!

    Oooh - is that thin ice over there...

    :wink:

    Helen
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 🤖 Admin 🤖
    Re:Interviewees for Accounting Technician feature: gender pay gap

    Thick snow rather than thin ice where I am but either way I'm starting to get that sinking feeling.. :|
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 🤖 Admin 🤖
    Re:Interviewees for Accounting Technician feature: gender pay gap

    Oooh Dean you're brave aren't you (though I must admit Dean's interpretation of the gender pay gap did make me smile!).

    Ste
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 🤖 Admin 🤖
    Re:Interviewees for Accounting Technician feature: gender pay gap

    We've also been discussing this over on the off-topic forum so it might be useful to tie the two together;

    http://www.aat.org.uk/forums/posts/list/14554.page

    I'd have to say that contrary to what we hear in the press and on the news, there doesn't appear to be a gender pay gap at all. Like the Loch Ness monster, people still believe it exists despite little solid eyewitness testimony without the attached personal agendas! I think the level we work at - professional and semi-professional - with the combined years of experience should be pretty representative of this problem if it actually was there. There do seem to be -isms of different kinds though and ones that governments don't want to talk about since they don't win votes, court public opinion or are just too hot to handle...

    Robert
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 🤖 Admin 🤖
    Re:Interviewees for Accounting Technician feature: gender pay gap

    ..and I thought I was treading on thin ice!

    :wink:
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 🤖 Admin 🤖
    Re:Interviewees for Accounting Technician feature: gender pay gap

    32 years, eh?

    My experience in that time is that every employer I've worked for, and there have been quite a few, have implemented the legislation.

    The problem is that there are a few people who have strong feelings on this. Maybe they are getting less money, not because they are female, but because they complain too much. If they got on with their work instead of spending so much time complaining about their so-called rights (rights that men don't seem to have) then maybe they would qualify for pay rises.

    Now, if you want to write an article on the gender gap, why not be more realistic and talk about men's rights, or the lack thereof? After all, we've ended up with a negative discrimination situation where women have all the rights and men have to give in to them or be accused of sexism.

    Real experience,rather than media hype, shows that the real discrimination is against men.

    As I said in an earlier post, nearly all of the women in our office are paid more than I am, including those with less or no qualifications.

    Michael
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 🤖 Admin 🤖
    Re:Interviewees for Accounting Technician feature: gender pay gap

    I'll be totally honest with you and I do not wish to cause offence to anybody here. Please, my female counterparts, forgive me in advance (he says, saying his 3 hail mary's before he starts!!)

    I, personally, as a male, would never ever ever work for a woman boss again. I have even stipulated this request when looking for jobs. I have worked for 3 women bosses over the years and they have been completely totally and utterly impossible to please. No matter what you do, it is never enough. I'm sure if I knew where my previous women bosses were, I could bring a "Post Traumatic Stress" claim against them, and boy would I!!!

    I worked for one woman in a firm of accountants and she was AAT qualified (I am tempted but won't name her[and the firm which successfully went under] but I'm sure if she read this she would know who she is her name begins with L if she subscribes to these threads :evil: ]), there was only 3 of us working there and she INSISTED that we sign letters in BLACK ink and NOT blue because the print was black. She also insisted that we don't send coloured paper clips to clients as they "look unprofessional". How sad is that? There was also the incident where a set of accounts were produced and the program didn't use correct line breaks (I think it was VT [an excel based program] we used) and she went hysterical!!! "We can't send things like this to clients, what will they think - it doesn't look professional!". Hmmmm client gets accounts, accompanied with 2 coloured paper clips and an extra line break. Are they really going to go to another firm because of that?!!! :roll:

    Again, for those women bosses out there reading this thread, please don't take offence, I don't wish to tar all women bosses with the same brush, but some women bosses can take take the phrase "neurotic" to its limits. But I'm sure they've work very hard for their money, hence narrowing the so called "gender pay gap".

    kind regards
    Steve

    p.s. and like Dean Shepherd I shall await the mortar bombs!
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 🤖 Admin 🤖
    Re:Interviewees for Accounting Technician feature: gender pay gap

    Well, I can only respond as I feel and from my own experience.

    I've worked for and with men that have been hysterical - I don't think it's just women that claim that honour.

    As sad as it may seem, I had it drummed into me by a very senior partner at my first practice, that blue ink was not permitted!

    Since then I've followed his rule for my own work, and have to bite my tongue when others use blue. Really.

    It seems we've all had varied experiences of working for the opposite sex.

    Can I say something and run? Maybe men still don't like being told what to do by women. And perhaps women are more convincing at being compliant whilst plotting their next step up the ladder?

    Helen (female, and lovely to work for)
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 🤖 Admin 🤖
    Re:Interviewees for Accounting Technician feature: gender pay gap

    Helen, I'm sure you are a truly wonderful boss (seriously, I'm not taking the urine) and like I say (trying to redeem myself here) there are probably women bosses (like there are men bosses) who would drive people to insanity.

    I've had a pretty bad experience with women bosses but I would never dissuade somebody to work for a woman, just because I've had a bad experience. Some people like tomatoes, others don't. I don't like women bosses (bossing me I mean), but I'm sure there are blokes out there that do :wink: Easy tiger!!!

    Best regards
    Steve

  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 🤖 Admin 🤖
    Re:Interviewees for Accounting Technician feature: gender pay gap

    Interesting comments coming, now we've worked through the humour.

    I spent 20 years in Industrial Engineering, where I did time and motion study and it grieves me to say that women work far better and harder and more effectively than men. :cry:

    But the comments coming through now show just how serious the problem is. It's not that women don't make good bosses. One of my best friends started as a candidate that I interviewed and, when I left and returned to the company, ended as my boss. She's probably one of the best employees, employers, and friends I have ever known, with a keen eye for detail and problem-solving.

    But the experiences on this thread show just how bad some people can get. The fact is that there are bosses out there who think they are dictators. To be fair, the buck does stop with them. But that's not the issue, here.

    The issue is whether there is a gender gap in employment. And the fact is that any gender gap is maintained only in the minds of a minority who insist on bullying others into submission. The female boss mentioned by Steve and my current male boss are both good examples of people who are so insecure that they have to bully others into submission and keep them repressed by poor economic policies.

    The gender gap is maintained by people who have nothing better to do than to stand on their so-called rights; "rights" than trample on the rights of the majority.

    Marc, I repeat my request, above, that if you're going to write an article on the gender gap, make it realistic by telling the truth: That it is a fallacy hyped up by a minority who have nothing better to do than campaign for their "rights". Make it clear that if they were to simply apply the same energy to effective professional development, they may have more chance of catching up with their colleagues. By the way, their colleagues would be very happy if these complainers just left; after all, they just make the lives of the rest of us miserable.

    The AAT's CPD policy is, surely, an equaliser in this regard. If employers take it on board, properly, then the question of equality in salaries will be solved by paying according to qualification, not sex.

    One other questions: On what are the statistics based? The statement is that there is a 12.6% gap between the salaries of men and women. Is that because women doing the same work are paid less? Or because they have lower-paying jobs? In my experience, men and women doing the same work are usually paid equally by fair-minded employers. We need to know what the bias in the statistics is, not just take them on face value, just because a minority have pounced on poorly-defined figures.

    One point of interest is that my wife, who is lower qualified than I am, earns more than I do. I don't see that as a threat. I'm happy with it.

    By the way, Helen, any jobs going? :wink:

    Michael
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 🤖 Admin 🤖
    Re:Interviewees for Accounting Technician feature: gender pay gap

    The 12.6% gap is the measured difference between the average hourly rate paid to women, across the board, compared to men.

    It is a crude statistic but does take into account people across all industry sectors and those working both full and part-time hours.

    Martin, as your study showed that 'women work far better and harder and more effectively than men' then really the statistic should be the other way round.

    So why is it that women are still earning less overall than men?

    I'm a little confused by your statement:
    ..if you're going to write an article on the gender gap, make it realistic by telling the truth: That it is a fallacy hyped up by a minority who have nothing better to do than campaign for their "rights"..

    If all such 'minorities' were told to put up and shut up the world would be in a much sorrier state than it already is.



  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 🤖 Admin 🤖
    Re:Interviewees for Accounting Technician feature: gender pay gap

    During a recent appraisal I approached my manager for a wage review, pointing out that I was the lowest paid manager in our company (I am female). He pointed out that the other managers (male) had families to support! And in comparison to his wife I was on a good wage.
    Brilliant Logic
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 🤖 Admin 🤖
    Re:Interviewees for Accounting Technician feature: gender pay gap
    Sistermatic wrote:
    During a recent appraisal I approached my manager for a wage review, pointing out that I was the lowest paid manager in our company (I am female). He pointed out that the other managers (male) had families to support! And in comparison to his wife I was on a good wage.
    Brilliant Logic

    I could be wrong, but I think he's admitted prejudice/discrimination there!

    I would also point out that his wife is stupid for a) putting up with being underpaid and b) being married to him!
  • System
    System Posts: 100,537 🤖 Admin 🤖
    Re:Interviewees for Accounting Technician feature: gender pay gap


    Marc's article is in the latest issue of the magazine.

    It should be hitting your doormat anytime soon.

    Mine arrived this morning.

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