Men and Women; an unfair business
Since the prehistory, there has always been a difference between men and women. The men were going for a hunt, while the women were caring for the kids and preparing a meal. But in the last decades, there has been a huge change in the working mentality of women. More often women are going to work to earn money for their family. Because of that, there is a big shift in the job industry. We can ask ourselves questions to see if this is honest and equal. How is the division between men and women in the job industry in the Netherlands? And are the men and women in the job industry being treated equally? We will find out in this article.
The amount of women who have a job right now has risen over the last years sharply every year, but for the first time in years it seems that there is a decrease instead of an increase. The recent “Global Gender Gap Report” has showed us that in the Netherlands there is more inequality if you look at the participation. At the moment 85% of the labor forced men is working, and only 74% of the women. Also women often have part time jobs. This is in comparison with the last years much more unevenly divided.
If we take a look at the top of companies, we ascertain that the difference between men and women is even bigger. In the Netherlands, we can divide 212 top functions to men and women, but we see that only 15 of those functions are for women. One of the biggest causes is that women are often working part time. So they can care for the kids or do something else in the housekeeping. Top functions require high educational skills and full time managers. Since women are working more part time is it logical that the most top managers are a man.
Differences in wage are also astonishing. Even if they have the same function in a company, the difference in wage can reach up to 32%. Where a 40-year-old man in the business world is earning about 25 euro’s an hour, that amount lies much lower for women. Women make an average of 20 euro’s per hour. That is 20% less than what a man in the same position would earn. Where this difference comes from is to the present day still not yet known.
Also, the amount of unpaid work plays a role in the inequality between men and women. Because women are keeping the household running, they make about 2 times more unpaid hours a day than men. The proportion of work women are getting paid for is only 45%. Where men get paid for 73% of their pursuits.
Summarizing this text will make us think that there still is a lot of inequality in the job industry in the Netherlands. The difference in wage for the same work shocks me the most. I think it is a right that for the same work you should get the same amount of money, and not depending on your gender. Let me know in the comments what your thoughts are about this subject. I would like to read what you are thinking about it!
References:
http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2016/
http://accountantweek.nl/artikel/nederland-zakt-op-global-gender-gap-index-
https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2016/09/02/212-bestuurders-197-m-en-15-v-4110914-a1519445
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