It’s that time of year in the UK when the government requires publication of gender pay gap reports under the 2010 Equality Act. There are guidelines in the act for calculating pay figures in a standardised way, so that all reports are consistent and comparable.

One such report from a local organisation in my county contains some interesting figures:

  • The mean gender pay gap is -8.38%.
  • The median gender pay gap is -29.15%

Gender proportions for the four pay quartiles are:

  • A: 56% / 44% (Includes all employees whose standard hourly rate places them at or below the lower quartile)
  • B: 56% / 44% (ncludes all employees whose standard hourly rate places them above the lower quartile but at or below the median)
  • C: 21% / 79% (Includes all employees whose standard hourly rate places them above the median but at or below the upper quartile)
  • D: 29% / 71% (Includes all employees whose standard hourly rate places them above the upper quartile)

What this means is there is a sizeable gender pay gap, explained largely by the gender proportion skews at the higher earning bands. Or in other words, the patriarchy is real, the men are keeping all the top jobs for themselves at a ratio of almost 80/20 (hey where have I heard that before?) and I can practically hear the screeching from the blue-haired, feminist banshees now. Something must be done about this!

Except not, because the organisation in question is called ShropDoc, which provides out-of-hours emergency medical care, and the twist is that men earn 8% mean and 29% median less than women, and are outnumbered by women in the top-earning jobs by a ratio of almost 4/1.

The report concludes:

Shropdoc is therefore confident that its gender pay gap does not stem from paying men and women differently for the same or equivalent work. Rather its gender pay gap is the result of the roles in which men and women work within the organisation and the salaries that these roles attract.

No shit.

I am stating the obvious here but that is almost always the reason for any gender pay gap (it’s actually an earnings gap, stemming from the differing career choices men and women make), the difference in this case is that nobody cares because it’s the men that are losing out.

Always have this in mind when strong independent wahmyn are whining about the injustice of it all. Nod, agree, then forget all about it and go about your business of earning more than them because you know the truth.

Link to the short report if you’re interested:

https://shropdoc.org.uk/cd-content/uploads/files/Gender%20Pay%20Gap%20Report%202018.pdf

Mods: wasn’t sure which was the most appropriate flair for this so please re-flair as you see fit.