Double-standards being applied to men and not women has been a recurring theme of this site in the past year. It has always been a clear example of the extra rights afforded to women over men, often perpetrated by those organisations (the government, council's etc) that claim they believe in equal opportunities.
A good example was shown by Lothians Council in Scotland who when having to give 300 female employees £1,800 compensation initially refused to give the compensation to 50 male employees who do the same job. They claimed they did not have to because they were men and that legally they were not entitled to the compensation. It would have meant that male staff would be paid less for doing the same job as a woman.
The story was revealed by Scotland's Evening News which stated:-
'Around 3000 women are being offered average pay-outs of £1800 after they won the sexual discrimination battle. They successfully argued they had been unfairly treated because men in similar grade jobs, such as binmen and road repair crews, had been paid more.
The pay-outs are designed to compensate them for years of missing out on bonuses paid to the bin and road crews. But around 40 to 50 male cleaners have been told they will not get the same payments. Their claims are likely to cost the council less than £100,000 to settle.'
After the story was revealed, there was rightly uproar and the trade union, UNISON, threatened the council with taking them to court. Lothians MSP George Foulkes described the situation as "outrageous" and lodged a motion in the Scottish Parliament, demanding the council treat all staff equally. He placed a motion which stated '"The City of Edinburgh Council should abide by the spirit of the Sexual Discrimination Act and ensure that equal pay means equal regardless of gender."
The council in the end relented. The unfolding story can be found at these links (link), (link) and (link).
What lies behind this shameful act is that firstly the council and those running it (Lib Dem / SNP)thought that because it affected male pay, then it didn't matter and that they could get away with it. In their politically correct pecking order, equal pay does not apply to men.
It is the thought process that shows this double-standard though because if it related to women, the council would never ever had thought about not applying the equal pay principle. The council still did not sorry to those men and only grudgingly accepted defeat. They were still talking about legal loopholes. Unbelievable, or is it?
Public bodies have a duty to apply equality standards. This duty requires them to consider gender. It is important that the reqirements of this duty are understood so that people use it to ensure that men are not discriminated against. In effect men can use the duty to make visible the often "invisible" discrimination. The Men's Heath Forum has some good info on the Equality duty. http://www.menshealthforum.org.uk/
Posted by: Nigel | Thursday, 03 January 2008 at 10:06