Arguments For And Against Women’s Fight For Equal Pay For Both Sexes

Southland Times, Issue 23676, 26 November 1938, Page 16

Arguments For And Against Women’s Fight For Equal Pay For Both Sexes

SHOULD there be equal pay foY the sexes when men and women perform equal work? The answer is an emphatic “yes” by the million men and women who it is expected will have signed the giant petition which it is hoped to present in a few days to the Federal Government, states the Sydney Morning Herald.

Equally emphatic is the “No” of those in opposition, whose arguments are both economic and social. Both sides have telling arguments.

In October 1937, a certain measure of equal pay was enacted in the Shop Assistants’ Award when women working in certain departments were given a wage equal to male assistants. The result was twofold. Many stores continued to employ women at the increased wage. Others did not More than 800 extra men, it is stated were absorbed into the retail trade. Many women lost their jobs temporarily. Others had to seek other employment.

The Coucil of Action for Equal Pay for the Sexes, which is sponsoring the petition that is to go to Canberra, represents 53 bodies, including trade unions and feminist organizations. . “Equal pay for the sexes is the greatest problem of the day,” claims Miss M. Heagney, joint president of the council. “Give women payment equal to the male rate when they are doing the same work and you will immediately break down one of the most persistent influences against women’s freedom,” she maintains. “So long as the present differences in the basic wage exist there is still a consecration of so-called differences between the working abilities of men and women, which are false. Increased ' wages and working status would immediately make themselves felt in the home life. A better and more generous home life will bring about a corresponding . standing in the social position of women. Probably the most significant thing about the fight is that of the men we have approached in the drawing up of the petition, although many are eager for equal pay because they see a chance to win jobs for themselves at the expense of women, the greater number are heart and soul in it because they believe the working equality of women with men is something essential to the progress of society and their own happiness.”

“CHEAP FEMALE LABOUR” The secretary of the Shop Assistants’ Union, Mr E. C. O’Dea, is also a stalwart supporter, but presents a different angle. “The application of this principle to industry is more vital than defence to our country,” he claims. It would destroy the cheap female labour market, which degrades women, and brings men back to employment There would be more marriages and home building, the numbers of working women thus being pruned down. The introduction of equal pay for certain shop assistants proves that the idea works. Over 800 extra men were absorbed into the retail trade. Many women temporarily lost their jobs, a few unfit were replaced altogether, but the remainder were immediately absorbed into other jobs. The 1927 peak period in industry is another proof. Unemployed men were few, and working women were never in such demand.

“As for the success of the equal pay award, what better proof is there than that after nine months’ try-out in the metropolitan area country shopkeepers were so satisfied they approached the Court and asked to have similar conditions of equal pay brought in for them? THE MARRIAGE FACTOR Marriage is one ef the strong arguments presented by the employers against equal pay, and from the business point of view it is considered as

an extremely disturbing factor. Women, counting on the possibilities of marriage, accept smaller wages cheerfully. The same possibility discourages training in special skill—an immediate cause in keeping a great army of women in the ranks of the less-skilled workers at lower rates of pay. Also, the low average age of women workers probably keeps the average wage level down. Employers also claim that women have to have more comforts _in their working life and take more sick leave than men. Then there is the assertion that women have not the same family responsibilities that men have—the chief reason for the difference in the basic wage rates.

However, in reply to this, it is contended that many women never marry; that many must work to fend off family poverty, and must help to maintain parents or members of their families; and that 33 per cent, of men never marry; 22 per cent, marry, but have no family, and only 45 per cent marry and have children. Then there are the women who must inevitably, submit to a single life and who it is claimed should be enabled to save for a decent independence. It is also argued that, while past generations placed the burden of family responsibility with the male, the conditions were no longer the same, and sex was an extremely faulty determination of family responsibility.

S “JUST DIFFERENTIATION” The Employers’ Federation of New South Wales supports the basic wage discrimination between the sexes. “The statutory difference between the male and female basic wage is a just one,” says Mr T. H. Silk,- president of the federation, who added that it might also be contended that if equal pay for the sexes was established then it might be necessary for the “female of the species” to support a husband and two children before she was entitled to the basic wage of £4. Another argument against equal pay from the employers’ side is that it would increase production costs, and these would be passed on to the consumer. The acting president of the Retail Traders’ Association of New South Wales, Mr R. P. Gowing, said: “If equal pay for the sexes was adopted in indusfty—that is, if female wages were made the same as male wages, and if the females were kept in employment the cost to industry would be proportionately greater, and would quite naturally have to be passed on to the public. It is just a question as to whether the country can economically stand such a state of affairs.” WOMEN INDISPENSABLE The claim by women for equality of wages is largely based on their, skill and industry. Women are still indispensable, ’as in the textile .industry, where women almost exclusively are used to operate the machines. And on their behalf it is pointed out that certain machines are worked by women by day at the female rate and are worked by men at night at the male rate, yet exactly the same work is done. Many other examples are quoted, such as women who sell men’s clothes at the counter and are given a man’s wage, while those who sell women’s clothes receive a female wage. , It is undeniable that a preference exists for woman stenographers, , clerks, and typists. Some employers assert that if both sexes in clerical work were put on the same wage the men would displace the women; but others have admitted that they prefer women in this capacity. “They just seem to do the job better,” was the general reply. The principle of equal pay for the sexes' for equal work has been supported by the Sydney County Council, and by the last State Presbyterian General Assembly. Prominent churchmen of various denominations have also approved, and public announcement by Sir Frederick Stewart, M.P., and other Parliamentarians, State and Federal, have been in favour.