The gender pay gap as misrepresented by the BBC

The gender pay gap is one of the BBC's favourite hobby horses and they are off riding that toy animal for all its worth today.

'UK companies are rushing to submit their gender pay figures ahead of Wednesday's midnight deadline.

By 11:00 BST, 9,053 companies had done so, with more than 1,000 companies reporting in the last day alone.

Firms with more than 250 staff must state the average difference between male and female employees.

Of those that have published data, 78% pay men more than women, 13% pay women more and 8% said they had no gender pay gap, based on the median measure.

One of the biggest names among the worst offenders so far is Ryanair, which reported a 71.8% gender pay gap.'

That looks serious, but then if I turn to the ONS report then I read this:

'It should be noted that the gender pay gap figures presented in this bulletin do not show differences in rates of pay for comparable jobs, as they are affected by factors such as the proportion of men and women working part-time or in different occupations. For example, a higher proportion of women work in occupations such as administration and caring, which tend to offer lower salaries.'

Shouldn't the BBC be putting that information front and centre or would it rather misrepresent the truth in the chase foir headlines?

Maybe the BBC should precis the information to be found here before constructing their next sensationalist headline.

Kathy Gyngell reports Lady Thatcher's view of feminism

"When it was suggested they were going to have a Minister for Women, I said 'Oh really', are they going to have a minister for men? ….. If you are sure of your talents and abilities you don't expect to be treated differently at work because you are a woman. Most able women I know – women who climb to the top, whether it be in broadcasting, whether it be in business, whether it be as a woman editor – got there through merit and that is their strength, their ability. Don't try to give the impression we need special treatment. We don't."

Lady Thatcher talking sense on feminism and special treatment for women.

More here https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/kathy-gyngell-womans-hour-ties-knots-acknowledge-great-mrs-t/

A female reporter is assaulted by a male at a women’s march against violence and the feminists protect the male and help him escape

You can read the whole story here at the Rebel Media and watch the quite incredible video too. Sometimes the left just disgust me.

Here a female reporter is assaulted by a male at a women’s march against violence and the feminists protect the male and help him escape.

Ann Coulter On the 1975 Rape Case Haunting Hillary Clinton and more

A must watch for all of the women who support Hillary Clinton because she's a woman.

Women could boycott Indian Wells over comments per Martina Navratilova on BBC Sport

A whole report on this matter with nobody pointing out that women actually earn more than men for playing.  They play best of three sets, the men play best of five sets. So the women get more per set played. 

Also see how often the top women seeds win losing just one or two games across their two sets, compare that with the top mens seeds... The men's game is more competitive faster, more athletic and better to watch.

More feminist tripe here http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/35866641

Amid rape epidemic, Finland's dangerously stupid PSA says use your mittens?

Feminism loses out to fear of being called Islamophibic?

Germaine Greer on Transexuality on BBC's Newsnight

Because not thinking the right thing is not allowed any more. I do like the bemused expression on Germaine Greer's face. I'm not sure that she can believe that she's gone from revolutionary thinker to reactionary without changing her position.

The curse of "progressive" feminism

Pat Condell on the curse of "progressive" feminism.

Feminism and politics

Dan Hodges nails the difference between the Conservative and Labour parties on feminism:

' The idea the Labour Party is blazing a trail for women is one of the biggest jokes in British politics

On this day in 1975 Margaret Thatcher became the first female leader of the Conservative Party.

Yesterday the Labour Party unveiled its response. According to the Guardian "a bright pink minibus of female Labour MPs will tour constituencies to talk to female voters around the kitchen table".

A pink bus. To talk to women. Around the kitchen table. In the year 2015. Courtesy of the Labour Party.'

Israel Ranked Best Middle Eastern Country to Live in as a Woman | Jewish & Israel News Algemeiner.com

Who apart from the screaming and shouting at Israel brigade would be surprised?

'Israel was the ranked the best country in which to live as a woman in the Middle East and North Africa region, according to a 2013 report cited by The Huffington Post on Thursday.

Each year since 2006, the World Economic Forum has released its annual Global Gender Gap Report examining efforts to close the gap in four categories: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival and political Empowerment.

While raked first for its region, the Jewish state came in 53rd in the overall Gap Reportfor 2013, moving up three spots from its 2012 ranking.Iceland took the top spot for the fifth year and Colombia was the biggest riser, moving up 28 places to rank 35th.'

More here http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/03/13/israel-ranked-best-middle-eastern-country-to-live-in-as-a-woman/ but not on the placards of the anti Israel feminists.

The Bechdel Test

The Bechdel Test received quite a lot of coverage on the BBC, Women's Hour were especially excited by the idea of rating films according to how female friendly they were - if only all films could be like Fried Green Tomatoes!

Here's a cartoon that explains a problem with the Bechdel Test...

Well I did really enjoy Alien, mostly for the action and suspense but not at all for the female to female conversation between Ripley and Lambert.

However these images may also partly explain my fondness for Alien and the soft spot that I still have for Sigourney Weaver...

Remember when you were told that women want to wear the burqua and that women are not forced by Islam to cover up?

The Herald Sun reports:

'A SUDANESE woman says she's prepared to be flogged to defend the right to leave her hair uncovered in defiance of a Taliban-like law. 
 
Amira Osman Hamed faces a possible whipping if convicted at a trial which could come on September 19.

Under Sudanese law, her hair - and that of all women - is supposed to be covered with a "hijab", but Ms Hamed refuses.

The 35-year-old's case has drawn support from civil rights activists and is the latest to highlight Sudan's series of laws governing morality, which took effect after the 1989 Islamist-backed coup by President Omar al-Bashir.

"They want us to be like Taliban women," Ms Hamed said in an interview with AFP, referring to the fundamentalist rebel movement in Afghanistan.

She is charged under Article 152 which prohibits "indecent" clothing.

Activists say the vaguely-worded law leaves women subject to police harassment and disproportionately targets the poor in an effort to maintain "public order".
Ms Hamed said she was visiting a government office in Jebel Aulia, just outside Khartoum, on August 27 when a policeman aggressively told her to cover her head.

"He said, 'You are not Sudanese. What is your religion?'"

"I'm Sudanese. I'm Muslim, and I'm not going to cover my head," replied Ms Hamed.

Her dark hair, tinged golden, is braided tight against her scalp with a flare of curls at the back.

In 2009 the case of Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein, a journalist, led to a global outcry and attention toward women's rights in Sudan.

Ms Hussein was fined for wearing slacks in public but she refused to pay. She spent one day behind bars until the Sudanese Journalists' Union paid the fine on her behalf.

Others rounded up with her in a restaurant were flogged.'

What's fascinating to me is that the legion of Western feminist campaigners who will scream about the supposed glass-ceilings in the west that stop women from earning the same as men and who become incandescent with rage when a man demeans all womankind by calling an employee 'love' or 'dear', have nothing to say about actual misogyny.

The way that 'feminists' ignore the very real and sometimes fatal misogyny that occurs in much of the Islamic world is somewhat distressing to me. Is it that they are racists who believe that Islamists should be held to a lower standard than the 'civilised West' or that they really believe that making alliance with Islamists to bring down patriarchal Western civilisation is a reasonable proposition?

The feminist response to Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines

This parody nicely done but doesn't reversing the roles demonstrate that two wrongs don't make a right?

The performers are The Law Revue girls who 'want to define those supposedly "blurred lines"'. It's interesting that the credits for the video on YouTube don't include the names of the male models, presumably they're just pretty bodies on the video!

If you want to see the original Blurred Lines videos both usual and uncensored take a trip here.

TV debate - Egyptian style

That Mahmoud Shaaban is at least honest about his views on women.

I wonder why the Western feminist lobby don't protest about such attitudes which are so prevalent in the Islamic world, whereas they are happy to do so about much more minor matters in the West?

Iranian Islam and women

The Telegraph reports that:

'Iran has warned suntanned women and girls who looked like "walking mannequins" will be arrested as part of a new drive to enforce the Islamic dress code.

Brig Hossien Sajedinia, Tehran's police chief, said a national crackdown on opposition sympathisers would be extended to women who have been deemed to be violating the spirit of Islamic laws. He said: "The public expects us to act firmly and swiftly if we see any social misbehaviour by women, and men, who defy our Islamic values. In some areas of north Tehran we can see many suntanned women and young girls who look like walking mannequins.

"We are not going to tolerate this situation and will first warn those found in this manner and then arrest and imprison them." '

I await the protests from Western feminist organisations, although I expect I will wait in vain.

Happy Birthday Ursula K. Le Guin

Happy 80th Birthday Ms LeGuin a great sci-fi/fantasy novelist and unusually a feminist one.

The same misinformation again

The BBC report that:

"The financial crisis would not have been as severe had there been more women in top City jobs, MPs have heard.

Investment banker Ros Altmann also warned MPs that current measures used to recruit executives need overhauling to ensure more women land senior posts.

A more cautious approach, rather than an "alpha male" one, would also be beneficial, Professor Charles Goodhart of the London School of Economics said. "

This smacks of Harriet Harman's line that the financial crisis probably wouldn't have happened if Lehman Brothers had been called Lehman Sisters. Of course this shows how out of touch with City reality so many people are. Alex masterley:

"...if Ms. Harman had done her research, she would have discovered that the systemic disaster that is the credit default swap originated from the derivatives team run by the ever so definitely female Blythe Masters (great name for a senior swaps dealer: you couldn't make it up, sheer nominative determinism). Indeed, during the boom years, the lefty feminist press made a great song and dance about the fact that her team booked $4 trillion of the things every year."

Do women really get paid less than men?

A hoary old chestnut that gets a huge amount of airtime especially on Radio 4 is the "scandal" that women get paid much less than men. Lattenomics has an alternative point of view with an article that actually includes statistics, something that Radio 4 would never let intrude onto such a discussion.

Here's an extract that makes a point that I have not heard before:

"If it was really true that you could hire a woman for three quarters of what you could hire a man with exactly the same qualifications, then employers would be crazy not to hire all women. It would be insane to hire men. Not only would it be insane, it would probably put them out of the business because the ones that were smart enough to hire women would have such a cost advantage that it would be really hard for the others to compete."

Here's a point that I have heard before:

"Melbourne University social researcher Mark Wooden said men were earning on average 15 per cent more than women because they put in more time at the workplace.

“All high achievers in all walks of life … put in long hours into their activity,” Professor Wooden said.

“It’s (the pay equity gap) got a lot to do with the fact that women are not prepared to work longer hours.”"