Fitaloon at MicroShaft

A new “crime” has been invented by Miss Harperson.

This is the crime of being a gender pay discrimination denier.

Whatever next can Zanu Labour imply about people?

In an answer to an otherwise innocuous question  as follows:

Mark Harper (Shadow Minister (Disabled People), Work and Pensions; Forest of Dean, Conservative)

May we have a debate about how to measure accurately the difference in pay between men and women? In one of her other guises, the Leader of the House is always very fond of quoting just one figure, but the Office for National Statistics made it clear yesterday that pay rates are an important but complex matter, and that a range of measurements should be used. According to one of those measures, men who work part time are shown to be paid less than women.

Miss Harperson had the following to say:

Harriet Harman (Lord Privy Seal, House of Commons; Camberwell & Peckham, Labour)

I have had discussions with ONS about this and it has decided on three measurements. The top-line measurement is the average hourly pay difference between all employed men and all employed women. That is the top-line measurement. Below that, another measurement is the average hourly pay difference between men and women working full time, while the third measurement is the average hourly pay difference between men and women working part time. I would not want the hon. Gentleman to be under the misapprehension that somehow men are paid less well than women. That is not the case. If one looks at men and women going out to work, we find that women are paid a fifth less than men across the average. I do not believe that per hour of their work, women are 22 per cent. less intelligent than men, 22 per cent. less hard working than men or 22 per cent. less valuable to their employers than men. That is gender discrimination in pay, but, given the hon. Gentleman’s question, it very much sounds to me as though he is a gender pay discrimination denier. It is certainly not the case that men as a whole are paid less than women, even though the hon. Gentleman might dredge up a few examples.

I have had discussions with ONS…: 5 Nov 2009: House of Commons debates (TheyWorkForYou.com).

Related posts:

1. Equality Harriet Harman Style
2. Equality from Discrimination – But not Us of Course.