Female Window Dressing
Caroline Flint, the former Europe Minister, resigned from the government yesterday - and went on to accuse the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, of treating his women colleagues as 'Female Window Dressing'.
The force of her attack was blunted by the fact that she spoke out - yet only after not getting the big cabinet promotion she felt her performance and party loyalty deserved.
But that should not obscure the fact that she's right - we live in a sexist world where people in positions of great power and responsibility - say one thing, then do another.
If you ask any employer: "Do you believe in equal pay and equal treatment?" - they would say "Yes", unequivocally and without hesitation.
And they would have given the same answer at any point over the past 10 years.
So too would the trade unions - very vehemently, no doubt.
How is it then that the women's work has been so badly undervalued and underpaid for all these years - right in the heart of the public sector where the trade unions are relatively strong - and where so many councils wear their political hearts on their sleeves?
The answer is that while all of these people say they support equal pay in public - when push comes to shove - they never devote the time, energy and resources to achieve - what they say they believe in - with such passion and conviction.
The truth is that they don't really believe in what they're saying - even now, even after new pay structures have been introduced - many female dominated jobs continue to be paid less that traditional male jobs.
Whatever is said in public - in private the rules are contrived to ensure a better outcome for the male jobs - in many areas the old pay differentials still exist.
That's the proof of the pudding.
When it comes to equal pay - like everything else - actions speak much louder than words.
And that's because a tribal, out of date, male dominated culture - is running the show.
The force of her attack was blunted by the fact that she spoke out - yet only after not getting the big cabinet promotion she felt her performance and party loyalty deserved.
But that should not obscure the fact that she's right - we live in a sexist world where people in positions of great power and responsibility - say one thing, then do another.
If you ask any employer: "Do you believe in equal pay and equal treatment?" - they would say "Yes", unequivocally and without hesitation.
And they would have given the same answer at any point over the past 10 years.
So too would the trade unions - very vehemently, no doubt.
How is it then that the women's work has been so badly undervalued and underpaid for all these years - right in the heart of the public sector where the trade unions are relatively strong - and where so many councils wear their political hearts on their sleeves?
The answer is that while all of these people say they support equal pay in public - when push comes to shove - they never devote the time, energy and resources to achieve - what they say they believe in - with such passion and conviction.
The truth is that they don't really believe in what they're saying - even now, even after new pay structures have been introduced - many female dominated jobs continue to be paid less that traditional male jobs.
Whatever is said in public - in private the rules are contrived to ensure a better outcome for the male jobs - in many areas the old pay differentials still exist.
That's the proof of the pudding.
When it comes to equal pay - like everything else - actions speak much louder than words.
And that's because a tribal, out of date, male dominated culture - is running the show.
