Nursery World - Childcare 'needs men to raise pay'

Childcare will continue to be a low-status and low-pay profession as long as few men work in it, the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) said last week. The EOC made its comments after its general secretary, Julie Mellor, addressed the Trades Union Congress in Blackpool, telling delegates that the pay gap between men and women in Britain would not close until society placed greater value on the work women did. She said, 'Equal pay law as it stands does not work for many low-paid women. If they only work with other women, then they do not have the opportunity to compare their pay with a man's pay - which is what the law requires.'

The EOC made its comments after its general secretary, Julie Mellor, addressed the Trades Union Congress in Blackpool, telling delegates that the pay gap between men and women in Britain would not close until society placed greater value on the work women did. She said, 'Equal pay law as it stands does not work for many low-paid women. If they only work with other women, then they do not have the opportunity to compare their pay with a man's pay - which is what the law requires.'

Ms Mellor pointed out that women working full-time in Britain currently earned on average 123 less per week than men and that many women live 'on the breadline' with a disposable income of less than 100 per week. She said, 'If you take any of the lowest-paid work, you will find jobs done mainly by women. You will find women who juggle two or three of these jobs at a time, because one alone wouldn't pay enough to live on. You will find women scraping together a living for themselves and their families.'

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