Welcome back to Taking Fair Work Forward – a learning course on emerging issues, for EIS equality rep. In this course, we wanted to link in key learning on equality issues, with current matters affecting education.
In this week’s learning you will receive a foundation for understanding the relevance of gender equality today, in relation to pay justice. Gender pay justice is a key component of the current EIS pay campaign.
About this week
Gender pay justice is an important component to the EIS Pay Attention campaign.
In this week’s learning you will gain a foundational understanding of the relevance of gender equality today, in relation to pay justice.
This week’s expert is Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Trainer Ellie Muniandy
Reflective question: Think about key milestones in a person’s life (being born, going to school, relationships, first job, becoming a parent, going for promotion, retiring and so on). What are some examples of where the experiences of these milestones differ between men and women?
Some may wonder whether gender inequality still exists in modern Scotland, or feel that different experiences between genders are not really to do with inequality but preference, and simply just that men and women are inherently different.
Historically in trade unions, we are used to seeing men on the frontline, but there are countless examples of women leading the charge for workplace rights.
In 1888, the Women’s Trade Union League Secretary Clementina Black successfully moved a motion at TUC Congress for equal pay for equal work, which laid the foundation for the equal pay legislation we have today. Despite this legislation, the pay gap remains. In 2022, Close the Gap reported that the gender pay gap in Scotland decreased only from 10.4% to 10.1% between 2020 and 2021.
Within the EIS, women led the charge for equal rights to training, and for the removal of differential pay for primary and secondary. In 2018’s Value Education Value Teachers campaign demo, it was notably a majority of women in the streets of Glasgow, marching for fair pay for teachers.
So, we still see that gender dynamics and structures have material effects on women’s lives and livelihoods. As trade unionists, Fair Work for women is an essential consideration – how can work offer effective voice, opportunity, security, fulfilment and respect for women, and address the barriers exist, today?
View our archived material on Fair-Work within Scotland’s education system