It seems inconceivable that more than 30 years after women's liberation,
female employees battling for equal pay rights should make front page news
today.
Unfortunately, recent compensation pay-outs prove that this is irrefutably
not the case.
For example, Julie Bower notably won a £1.4 million pay-out from Schroder
Securities in a sex discrimination and unfair dismissal case and at the
moment, former media analyst at Investec Hendersen Crosthwaite Louise Barton
is also seeking damages from her former bosses at an employment tribunal.
Whatever the rights or wrongs of the two cases, it is perhaps the more
pertinent issue that pay for women continues to lag behind male colleagues
particularly in the investment banking sector.
Surveys frequently point out that female pay equates to approximately 80 per
cent of their male colleagues. Incredibly, the same surveys often point out
that this at least represents a narrowing of the pay gap as if that is cause
for celebration.
It most definitely is not. Until the macho culture is taken out of the
workplace, companies will continue to promote an environment that is not
conducive to getting the best out of people. And, if some of those face
seven figure compensation claims as a result, then they will have no one to
blame but themselves.
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