a.Is the story long enough to provide some interesting points of discussion?
b.Does the story address a theme related to the course readings / theme for that week?
c.Are you interested in the issue/issues the story addresses?
d.Could you explore the story from different angles? (ie. Is there more than one opinion on this issue?)

Part 2: Facilitation of in-class discussion

Each student will take a turn facilitating an in-class discussion with fellow group members. You will have 20-30 minutes of in-class time for discussion with your group. Following this, each group will have 3-5 minutes to report back on key findings and observations from their discussion.

By the end of your discussion, you will provide a judgement as a group on whether this news item reflects progress or a step back. It may a bit of both. We will discuss criteria for this assessment in Week 2 or 3

Answer:

Part 1

Workplace gender equality is when people regardless of gender are able to access and enjoy the same opportunities, resources and rewards (Beronio, Skopec & Glied, 2014). Today there are many countries that have shown significant progress towards the gender equality in past few decades specifically in education, health and female workforce. The aim of the essay is to analyses the media which in paper is the analysis of an article. The article is based on gender equality at workplace that is written by Gaby Hinsliff. The paper discusses the summary of the article followed by identification of theme and sociological perspective.

The article ‘Gender equality at work is a matter of respect, not just money’ is written by The Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff. The author writes about the sexism that still lingers heavily on every aspects of society
. The author says that it is not just money that women seek through equal pay but it is respect that is the main concern. Since there is a direct relation between a person’s salary and the person’s social status the debate is in the same accordance (Stevens, Browne & Graham, 2013). It took a very long time to reach to this point where women are getting salaries that are only satisfactory however they are still lower when compared to the other male employees. Therefore, after pulling the women salaries close to the amount of male employees it was necessary to demand for recognition. It is not about money and it has never been about money. Money is only a factors that is used to understand the existing difference that the society has created between the two genders (Andersen et al., 2013). The existing sexism is often measured and identified through the remuneration offered to women. Giving the example of Carrie Gracie, the author showed the way she has been insulted by the company. The whole debate of equal pay is that it is the respect and recognition that women want and know that they are as good as anyone else. Giving the companies same amount of work like other male employee and yet not receiving the equal salary gives out the message that women are disposable and they are not necessarily required. It is even mortifying to go public about being underpaid along with other mental pressures such as stress, self-doubt, low self-esteem and forces to wonder the lacks one might be possessing. The article mentions about Helena Morrissey who tells women to get better at asking money for the work they do. The old days are not dead however it is rare and women need to stand for their rights. There are several things that does unwitting discrimination between women and men. Lastly, the main point that the article give out is the fact that the determinant of salary should be only on skills, talent and qualification and not gender, race or any other prejudice.

The theme of the article was emphasizing on the pay gap that is existing in the society. When the theme is seen from a broader lens, it is perceived how the women are given the lower status compared to men. Women are seen inferior and often seen working best only as homemaker (de Oliveira et al., 2014). The notion of women depending of men is not dead till now and therefore when a men is given a certain amount of salary it is assumed as the main source of income in a family. Unlike the same way the salary paid to women is seen a pin money. The entire article was based on women, women rights and inequalities faced by the women in the society.

The story gives out several examples such as the Barbara Castle, Carrie Gracie, Helena Morrissey and few more to show that improvements chronologically. The article has shown several ways through which women face gender inequalities in the society. The fact that it is not about money but respect and recognition is a fact that needed to be highlighted for the society as often the money is seen as the major significance however it is important to understand that money is underlined by several social injustice and prejudices faced by women.

The article can be considered as the mark of progress for the fact it has addressed the present state of women. Along with the inequalities faced by women, it has also identified that the situation of women has become little better than how it was 60 years ago. It has provided insights regarding the present state as well as provided information that should be adopted by women. The article has shown how women are often over pressurized and how women’s decisions are shaped by the gender bias norms and regulations.

The reason was I drawn towards to this particular article was for the question that has always been in me about equal salary. The question is in regard to the salary that is why is it so hard to accept that women’s salary can be the main source of income in the house. Since I have a keen interest in sociology I was already familiar with the topic however the article has helped be gain more information.

Gender bias is a major issue in society and it is reflected in various way. In the same way, the equal pay is also a reflection of the gender inequality. In the end, it can be concluded that the article was a helpful media that helped in gaining the information regarding the gender inequality existing in the society. There is need for women to act accordingly and it is even for the society to treat women equally.

Part 2

Question 1. What was the main message the article wanted to convey? State in brief.

Answer: The main purpose of the article is to establish the point regarding equal pay at workplace. The significance of equal pay is that it is associated respect, recognition and social status even when Barbara Castle nudged into creating the Equal pay act.

Question 2. How well the title of the article fit with the article? Give reason.

Answer: The author writes about the sexism that is existing on every aspects of society and in the corporate world. The author says that it is not just money that women seek through equal pay but it is respect that is the main concern and the main idea is clearly explained in the title.

Question 3. What are the information regarding pay gap that developed the credibility of the article?

Answer: The information drawn from history such as the stories of women who fought sexism helped develop the credibility of the article.  The way Carrie Gracie, Helena Morrissey inspired women think differently made the article’s credibility strong.

Question 4. Which paragraph was the most suitable as per the current age and which paragraph was obsolete (if there are any, considering the gender aspect)?

Answer: there is not paragraph that is obsolete. The paragraph beginning with “Half a century on from the Dagenham strike, the overt discrimination of the 60s isn’t quite dead but it’s rare…” is one of the paragraph that says about the present situation of women.

Question 5. Who do you think the audience is?

Answer: the audience is mostly for the corporate workers who need to know what changes should be bought and what are the issues women face due to unequal pay gap.

References

Andersen, S., Ertac, S., Gneezy, U., List, J. A., & Maximiano, S. (2013). Gender, competitiveness, and socialization at a young age: Evidence from a matrilineal and a patriarchal society. Review of Economics and Statistics, 95(4), 1438-1443.

Beronio, K., Po, R., Skopec, L., & Glied, S. (2014). Affordable Care Act will expand mental health and substance use disorder benefits and parity protections for 62 million Americans. Mental Health, 2.

de Oliveira, S. F., de Lima Cardoso, K. R., de Almeida, C. A. P., Cardoso, L. R., & Gutfilen, B. (2014). Violence against women: profile of the aggressors and victims and characterization of the injuries. A forensic study. Journal of forensic and legal medicine, 23, 49-54.

Gaby Hinsliff, 2018, Gender equality at work is a matter of respect, not just money, The Gardian. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/02/gender-equality-work-respect-money

Stevens, J., Browne, G., & Graham, I. (2013). Career in mental health still an unlikely career choice for nursing graduates: A replicated longitudinal study. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 22(3), 213-220.