24 000 krs more a year for possessing a penis
Today I was slapped in the face. TWICE. Metaphorically, of course. Today, I was slapped in the face by that which we angry raging feminists like to call the Patriarchal System. I know many of you might stop reading at this point, and that is OK. For those of you who decide to stick around: here is what happened:
I got an email from a communications job I have applied for saying that they were interested in me, but that they have 'forgotten' to ask about my salary requirements. And so they would like to know my requirements. I have never had to do this before and when you have survived solely on CSN (student loans) pretty much anything is going to make you feel like Bill Gates. So I have absolutely no idea, and money does not really interest me, especially because this is a job I really really want. It also felt particularly weird when I have not even been called in for an interview, and already I am having to put a price on myself.
So I speak to my family and friends and get some advice, but I decide that I should research this online and see what I find. I go to my friend, Google, and get directed to the website for the national salary statistics, and also to the website for Swedish communicators and their salaries for 2013. On the first page I am surprised to find that women make up 75% of the sector. (How and why gender determines the types of jobs you go into is a different story- but now I want to focus on my other discoveries). Then, my dearest friends, I read this: The average salary for women is 29 292 kr per month, and for men it is 30 850. So almost 2000 krs/ month or 24 000 kr/ year difference for possessing a penis.
I know the statistics. I have read them a million times. I even read them before I opened the pdf. On the homepage it clearly stated that on average, women earn 87% of what men earn within the communications sector. I knew this. I have read about it in angry blogs (like this one perhaps) I have read the articles, I have read the books. But it's like I never really took it in. It was just words. This is the first time it slaps ME in the face. This is the first time I am faced with it. These statistics found me, I wasn't actively looking for them. I was genuinely just trying to get a rough idea of what I should be earning. And so... I have to put a price on myself. Do I aspire to what women are earning or what men are earning? Will I be underpaid or is it them who are overpaid?
I have always known the pay gap to be a pressing issue, but I have always been distanced from it. As if it is a far far far away issue, that I will not have to deal with. Especially not in Sweden.
I call my friend Amira in rage and she asks me why I am surprised. I do not even know what to answer. She tells me that the gap in engineering is way worse for women. Which makes no sense. I thought that a possible, logical, solution could be that men receive more because they are a minority within the sector. But if female engineers receive less in a dominant male sector, then my naïve hopeful theory can kiss itself in the ass.
Then. I get slapped AGAIN. My boyfriend sends me a picture of an article he just read which claims that men are becoming the most disadvantaged group in terms of going to University because more women are applying than men. The article highlights the pressing urgency of this issue and suggests that accepting men with lower grade could be a good solution.
Pause.
Then it goes into explaining that the reason 87 000 more girls are applying to go to University is that they have better GSCE and A-level results, and at the same time 'boys may be more attracted to apprenticeships and jobs, rather than incur debts from the £9,000 a year fees regime.'
Pause.
So. If this information is true it means a few things.
Girls are working harder than boys, and achieving better grades overall, and yet they decide to continue further education rather than apply for apprenticeships and jobs straight after School.
Fewer men are achieving the same results at school the UK as women, yet men dominate the workforce, and also receive higher salaries
And instead of the article highlighting the real issues, perhaps questioning why women are achieving better grades, why aren't women attracted to getting jobs straight away? Could it be because they can't? Could it BE that these educated smart women, still need to work harder than men to prove themselves, and are still considered inferior in the workplace? Or just of less worth in terms of cash. And so the alternative is to make it easier for men to get into University...
Put two and two together and it makes six. This shit don't make sense.
Gender issues are often dismissed by placing focus on females' freedom of choice, freedom of work, and physical and sexual empowerment. The rest is just noise. Basically, we should just shut up, and not complain. Hopefully some day soon I will write a bit more about my thoughts on feminism and in particular the dangerous term 'post-feminism'. And I hate to be this girl now. I am not trying to nag, or whine. For me, feminism is more than just about the pay gap. It feels like a lot of the time gender equality is measured in equal pay. And it is not. Absolutely and definitely not. For me, it goes beyond that. It is equal opportunity, its is being norm-critical, it is not being judged by your sex. It is knowing that there is a difference between being male/ female and being masculine/ feminine. One is a clear social construct. It is not feeling inferior. It is believing in a society where your gender, race, religion or sexual orientation is not a hindrance.
For the full article: http://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/women-are-now-a-third-more-likely-than-men-to-opt-to-go-to-university-according-to-ucas-application-figures-9097135.html?origin=internalSearch
And for full statistics on the salary of Communicators in Sweden check out http://www.sverigeskommunikatorer.se/Global/Media/Dokument/L%C3%B6nestatistik.pdf)
