Work, don’t whinge, ladies – How to get ahead. Oh, the shock of telling people how to get ahead!
Herald Sun (Melbourne)
9 May 2008
Andrew Bolt
PROFESSOR Mark Wooden this week learned how shocking it is to tell people the surest way to earn more is to work harder.
Actually, that’s not shocking at all, is it? Common sense, really. Refreshing.
But not if you’re a certain kind of professional complainer. Then you gasp at the crass rudeness of blockheads such as Wooden. Literally gasp.
To illustrate, here’s a report this week from news.com.au: “(The) pay equity gap between men and women in Australia will not close until women are prepared to work longer hours, an academic says.
“Social researcher for the University of Melbourne Mark Wooden said men were earning on average 15 per cent more than women because they put in more time at the workplace.”
Quite true, of course, but read on: “The only male taking part in a National Press Club panel discussion about the pay equity gap, Prof Wooden’s remarks drew gasps from the mostly female audience.”
Gasps? Here were professional women being told of a link between hours and pay, and gasping?
I refuse to believe all these women, including ones as successful and seemingly bright as Minister for the Status of Women Tanya Plibersek, are actually so dumb as to not know that Wooden is actually right.
After all, we have laws banning people from being paid less just because they are women, and I know of not a single job where the pay for the sexes is different.
Do you? Nor can I imagine bosses paying less than market rates for workers in this tight market just because they are women.
And, indeed, Wooden wasn’t sucking his opinion out of his trotter….(Full Story and Comments)