The gap between earnings for men & women is a complex & tricky area. It’s difficult to compare like-for-like when the types of work are so skewed between the genders in the first place.
The figures from the UK currently suggest about a 7.9% gap, and the equivalent US figure seems to be even higher. around 17-20%.
What IS clear is that there is a real gap, and that women have to work more days to earn the same. The US “Equal Pay Day” was 15th March this year (2022), representing the additional days women had to work after the end of 2021 to earn the same as men made by the end of 2021. And this is the earliest in the year that this day has ever fallen. Moving in the right direction? Yes. But at the current rate, it will be something like a century before parity is reached.
“Pieces of seven, pieces of seven!”
(Parroty Error)
Relating this to my experiences in Girl-mode leads me to an interesting conclusion. But first let’s look at just a few of the expensive bits.
Girl-mode Is Expensive!
The total value of my two sets of clothes is very different. It’s between 10x and 20x for girl-mode cf boy-mode. Yet women are expected by society to dress well, and not to wear the same things all the time like men can get away with so easily.
The cost of cosmetics is astronomical. One tends to buy it piecemeal in tiny quantities, a few £/€/$ here, a few there… but add it all up and it’s…. stunning just how much it comes to. Again, women are expected by society to look good. All the time.
Even if not wearing heavy makeup, it’s expensive (just slightly less so). Women are still expected to appear blemish-free.
Shoes deserve a special mention.
In boy-mode I pay about £100 for a pair of good shoes which will last for months being worn every working day, and only need to consider work, casual, and walking boots.
But in girl-mode it can easily cost much more for a decent pair, and far more pairs are required (currently 3 pairs vs 12 pairs) because different ones are required for all sorts of different circumstances, and since the range of clothes & colours is greater, it all explodes into an exponential requirement with there never being enough shoes.
(and these are only the black ones)
Luckily boy-mode doesn’t have any expensive hobbies.
My Naïve Conclusion
This might be controversial, but I think that the current level of pay gap is about right.
Just in the WRONG DIRECTION.
If society expects so much more from women, then society should fund the difference, right?
If helicopters and helicopter maintenance & servicing are considered essentials rather than luxuries (hence their VAT free status in the UK), then surely women’s clothes, cosmetics and shoes should be VAT free too?
Or maybe there should be an amount of VAT which could be offset against income tax each year for women’s clothing, shoes and cosmetics. Hey, this could apply to everyone – reducing the cost for everyone who wishes to explore their girl-mode!
Right, enough dreaming. I’m off to get my* VAT-free helicopter VAT-free serviced!
* Sadly non-existent!
Sophie Baskerville 