The infamous ‘pay gap’ is one of the most contentious, misunderstood issues within gender equality. So often waylaid with soundbites, and outdated, ’77 cents to the dollar’ claims; the gap is never fully understood, and so, will never be closed. In simple terms – Women in the west, who do the same jobs as a man, for the same hours, at the same level, are paid the same as men (well, 99.5 cents to the dollar). Such a finding has been substantiated, again and again, over the years, as a huge, hard-won success story, that we should celebrate… yet never want to. Meanwhile – The so-called ‘gaps’ that do remain, are exploited, so various parties can fill their pockets with cash. And now, this money-grab is rolling into local councils; where unions (the GMB), representing women, argue that a male bin collector should be paid the same as a female teaching assistant, because both offer “equal value”. Which is absurd. Not only is ‘value’ impossible to define, but it overlooks the common sense observation that these jobs aren’t the same. When I rush outside, having forgotten to take out the bins every week; and I see a group of exhausted men, at 5am, collecting rubbish in the freezing cold, I tell myself I could never do such a job, and am full of admiration for those who can. It’s a hard, dirty, unsociable, dangerous, thankless, extremely important job, that keeps society going. And whilst teaching assistants and admin staff have their hard times too – they are not the same – and, no, shouldn’t be be paid the same. The reason why bin collectors, sewage or road workers, are paid more than a receptionist, is because nobody would do them otherwise. So if you want to be paid like a bin collector, then guess what, apply to be one, and I’ll see you too in the blistering cold at 5am. These common sense facts are lost on the GMB and its opportunistic, litigigously trigger-happy grifters; who are pummeling cash-strapped councils (already reeling from budget cuts), to extract more than a BILLION pounds from their already empty coffers. So is this what equality really is? And have we lost sight of “equal pay for equal work”? What do you think?

2026-01-07