Monday 30 April 2018

GENDER GAP




Iceland has passed radical new legislation to become the first country in the world where companies must legally prove they are not discriminating on the basis of gender.
The new law - effective from 1 January 2018 - requires all private and public employers with more than 25 staff to obtain government certification of their equal pay policies – or face fines and auditing.
Brynhildur Heiðar- og Ómarsdóttir, the managing director of the Icelandic Women’s Rights Association told HuffPost UK: “We are absolutely delighted with this new legislation.”
Iceland already uses the Equal Pay Standard, a set of rules and regulations which companies use to measure the gender pay gap within their establishments. The new law means they are now mandated to undergo certification every three years based on this standard.
Heiðar- og Ómarsdóttir warned: “But of course, the Equal Pay Standard is not a cure-all. That is, it only tackles one part of the problem of gender pay discrimination. To completely eradicate the gender pay gap, we need to tackle larger social issues such as making sure that professions which are mostly female are paid equally to professions that are mostly male, and we need to ensure that men and women are equally responsible for families since today women are more likely to work part-time or take time off work to take care of families.”
Iceland, which has a population of about 335,000 and where 38 per cent of parliamentarians are female - above the global average - including Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir, wants to eradicate the gender pay gap by 2022.
The North Atlantic island nation was ranked first in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 2015 Global Gender Gap Index, followed by Norway, Finland and Sweden. But Icelandic women still earn, on average, 14% to 18% less than men. The United Kingdom ranked 18th out of 145 countries.
The WEF reported last year reported an economic gap of 58 percent between the sexes and forecast women would have to wait 217 years before they earn as much as men and have equal representation in the workplace.
“Iceland is ranked as world’s most gender equal country by (the World Economic Forum) ... Clearly Iceland is very serious about gender equality,” former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark wrote on Twitter.
“The new law by Iceland can help change attitudes to women in business as well as in politics, and inspire other countries to do the same,” said Virginie Le Masson, a research fellow at the London-based Overseas Development Institute.
“Ample evidence shows that women work as much as men and are still paid less,” she added.
US independent Bernie Sanders, a leading liberal voice in the Senate, called on the United States to follow Iceland’s example.
“We must follow the example of our brothers and sisters in Iceland and demand equal pay for equal work now, regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexuality or nationality,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
News of the new law was first announced on International Women’s Day in March 2017.
That month, Equality and Social Affairs Minister Thorsteinn Viglundsson said “the time is right to do something radical about this issue”.
“Equal rights are human rights,’’ he said. “We need to make sure that men and women enjoy equal opportunity in the workplace. It is our responsibility to take every measure to achieve that.’’
In October thousands of Icelandic women left work at 2.38pm and demonstrated outside parliament to protest the gender pay gap. Women’s rights groups calculate that after that time each day, women are working for free.

One of the most common arguments made about the gender pay gap is that it simply doesn’t exist.
Pay gap deniers love to dispute the claim that, on average, women in the United States make 79 cents for every dollar a man earns, arguing that it is a misleading oversimplification. “Few experts dispute that there is a wage gap, but differences in the life choices of men and women — such as women tending to leave the workforce when they have children — make it difficult to make simple comparisons. That’s what’s so facile about repeatedly citing ‘78 cents,’” argued a 2015 Washington Post article. (Since that piece came out, the figure increased from 78 to 79 cents.)
But the argument that “life choices” made by women are the real reason behind the gap is, in itself, an absurd oversimplification. Sure, many women choose to stay home or cut back their hours after having children. But many others don’t opt out. They’re forced out because they cannot afford child care, or find a full-time job that affords them any kind of flexibility. And, culturally, Americans remain ambivalent about women working outside of the home. A little more than 30 percent of Americans still believe women should stay home full-time to care for young children. These biases, which play out both in the workplace and outside of it, affect how much “choice” some women feel they actually have, and speaks to the types of judgments women face for making said choices. Plus, women face a well-known “motherhood penalty.” They’re less likely to be hired for jobs once they have children — unlike men, whose prospects improve.
Another beloved means of dismissing the gender pay gap is to point out that women tend to work in lower-paying (i.e., traditionally “female”) fields, like teaching, nursing and social work. And yes, that’s true. “Women, as a whole, continue to work in lower-paying occupations than men do,” Pew says.
But research has shown that even when women enter traditionally “male” fields, they make less. In fact, research looking at pay changes over decades has shown that when more women enter a traditionally male field, pay within that field begins to decline. As The New York Times reported, when more women began working in parks or running camps, for example, median hourly wages declined by 57 percentage points. Same goes for fields like design, housekeeping and biology. Conversely, when more men enter a traditionally female field, wages go up.
“It’s not that women are always picking lesser things in terms of skill and importance,” a researcher told The New York Times. “It’s just that the employers are deciding to pay it less.”



Men and women who perform similar tasks in the workplace do not earn the same in Spain. Women’s hourly earnings are 12.7% lower than men’s, according to a study that is based on statistically adjusted EU data from 2014.
This figure is lower than in 2002, the first year covered by the research, but it still evidences “some worrisome dynamics.” The gap exists across variables such as age, education, years of service, occupation, type of contract, length of working day, activity and company size.
Gender pay gap deniers have long claimed that these differences in earnings stem from the fact that women tend to work fewer paid hours, have more precarious jobs, perform lower-paid work and have fewer job responsibilities. Yet this claim now appears to have been debunked by the adjusted figures, which emerge from a research project funded by the Foundation for Applied Economic Studies (FEDEA), and to which EL PAÍS has had access.
The study was headed by José Ignacio Ruiz-Conde, a Spanish economist who teaches at Madrid’s Complutense University and is deputy director at FEDEA, a think tank that conducts research on economic and social issues affecting Spain.
The project used data from the EU’s Structure of Earnings Survey for 2014, the most recent available year, which show that a woman’s hourly earnings are 14.9% lower than a man’s. But this figure is unadjusted and does not necessarily mean that the jobs are similar, or even comparable. In order to achieve a more homogeneous comparison, FEDEA researchers adjusted the figures according to impact on wages caused by variables such as age, experience, contract type and others.
But researchers note that the Eurostat survey “does not contain information about the number of children or the socioeconomic traits of people who could have joined the workforce but didn’t.”
The result of this research is a pay gap of nearly 13%, compared with nearly 15% in the EU survey. If annual earnings are considered instead – and these are what really determine a person’s quality of life – the gap reaches 23% (€20,051.58 for women versus €25,992.76 for men).
Paying a woman less than a man for the same position has been illegal since 1980. These statistical analyses do not claim that this is happening, since the data is not detailed enough to know whether two individuals are performing the exact same job in the same company and with the same collective bargaining agreement. Instead, these studies “measure whether men and women are receiving similar pay for similar tasks.” And that is where a pay gap shows up across variables.
“Worrisome dynamics”
The FEDEA report notes that “significant progress has been made, adjusting for all observable characteristics, as the gap has shrunk by a third since 2002,” the starting year for the analysis. This progress is tied to “education, experience and average years of service.” However, the study adds that “we are still far from gender equilibrium, and a few worrisome dynamics persist.”
One of these is the fact that “the gap increases with age.” Women under 30 earn 4.7% less, and this percentage rises progressively to 17.2% among women over 59. Maternity could be an explanation, but researchers warn that the survey does not contain information about personal family circumstances, and so “it is not possible to estimate the effect” of child-rearing on pay gaps.
Researchers also suggested, based on an analysis of other studies, that the pay gap could also be influenced by the fact that “women tend to be worse negotiators than men when they are negotiating something for themselves.”

FURTHER READING

Monday 6 June 2011

GOOD LUCK

You are unlikely to see this message because I suppose you must be revising for your "selectividad" exams but I just wanted to wish you GOOD LUCK.

Friday 3 June 2011

DISCRIMINATION IN WORKPLACES

 
Discrimination exists everywhere; in school, in workplace… Even it is about white or black people, men or women,… In my opinion, discrimination seems to be indispensable for people because narcissism and individualism are the strongest points from human specie.

First of all, women have been discriminated for years and this nightmare hasn’t finished yet. In the past, they were considered to be like an incubation machine and a “mother”, so they were displaced from workplace. Nowadays, there are some people who think that women aren’t incompetent for certain jobs and, what’s more, there are some bosses who fire their pregnant employers. However, women aren’t the only ones who are discriminated in workplace, because there are lots of businessmen who hire illegal people and take advantage of them as they pay them a little salary and make them work for many hours.

To sum up, discrimination exists in workplace and it should be over soon, even though the expectations are negative as discrimination is a good way for bosses to make a profit of their businesses.   
Marta Seoane  2n BTX A
 (NOT CORRECTED YET)

Thursday 26 May 2011

I NEED MORE DESCRIPTIONS OF A PLACE

I suppose you are very busy preparing for the selectividad exam, but you mind posting a few more descriptions of a place? I need them for the Comenius Blog.
Thank you

Tuesday 24 May 2011

Fornell's Bay




The place, that I will describe now is the Fornell's Bay, situated on north coast of Menorca, it's a peaceful place and a fishing region, this bay is one of the biggest harbors in Menorca, it's 5 km long and 2km wide.

Around the bay are small beaches, like Sargantane's island.
In my opinion it's one of the bests places in Menorca, I go every summer many times, sometimes I do some sport or just go for walk, other times I go with my friends and take a yacht and we do wake, an aquatic sport, Fornell's bay is the best place to do it because you have a lot of space, it has a deep sea and it's never dirty, the majority of times i've been it was crystal clear.

The Fornell's bay is a big zone where many people take advantage and do all types of aquatic sports, kayaking, diving, windsurfing, when you walk around the zone you can see so many persons practicing them.

They aren't many buildings, it's a natural place where you can enjoy the landscape, but it's a tourist place too, and if you go you can see several hotels.
The advantage is that once people go, they normally come back another time, and many people who live there know each other, beacause of that it's a peaceful place, if you want peace, Fornells is your place!

When you walk near the sea you can smell the typical smells of the place, like the salt, or fish, you don't hear anything, only the sounds of the sea and the murmur of the people in the distance.
Another fact to enhance Fornells is the excellent gastronomy that it has, all the restaurants are excellent quality: you can enjoy good food for a reasonable price.

In conclusion, people like Fornells for how peaceful it is, the great sights, the fabolous things you can do there, t'is an ideal place to go on holidays, you can't forget it once you go, you definitely will come back, come on, ¡Go for it!


Maria Girona Dorado 2nB

SMOKING BAN


Nowadays the new smoking law is being mentioned by everyone.  This law is causing a lot of headaches because neither all smokers nor some non-smokers like it.

In my opinion I’m one of those who think that this new law is stupid because the only thing that the government will achieve with it is  to harm bar as well as disco owners,  and all those who own places where you can’t smoke now. One of the reasons is that they are losing a lot of clients because if they can’t smoke inside a bar they won’t probably go to that bar. Another reason is that some years ago the Government passed a law with which bars had to prepare a special zone for smokers if they wanted to have smokers in their establishments. Therefore a lot of restaurants had to pay a lot of money to separate their restaurants into smokers or none smokers’ zones and now they see that all the money that they had spend has been wasted.

In conclusion, for me, this law is a law that threatens freedom and an insult to the business.
Ignasi Rovellada 2n BTX C

Monday 23 May 2011

Communication technology

Communication technology is very important in your lives today. people are used to using this technology and they wouldn't know how to live without it.

But this communication has advantages and disadvantages, one advantage is that everyone can contact with everybody and this makes jobs easier.

In my opinion, there aren't many negative aspects, i don't think to be all day speaking on the moble is good, ever for your health, they broadcast waves which can harm your brain or cause some kind of cancer.

Dani García 2n A BTX

champs de mars garden and the eiffel tower

The "camp de Mars" garden and the Eiffel tower are situated in the 7th district in Paris,France. During the day this place is very beautiful because of the garden, and because those Parisian symbols are situated next to the Seine river. I heard people who said that the Eiffel tower is only a lot of iron and they say that it's very ugly... I don't think so, because when you are on the top you can see one of the most beautiful citiesto 300 meters high. You can see the river, the garden and a lot of things under your feet while you are drinking a glass of French champagne which cost 10 euros only one glass (and they only fill half).

The weather in Paris is more or less like in Spain. I went in March , so the weather was a little bit cold sometimes but in general we had fine weather. In this city, there are a lot of enormous gardens like Versailles, Champ de Mars, etc There are a lot of monuments, museums (louvre, Orsay,...) and important places which are always full of people.

The best moment to visit the Eiffel tower is, obviously at sunset and at night, because you can see a very beautiful dusk and all the city lights. Then , when you go down, you can see the tower lit too. Then, just in front you can buy cotton candy in a little Fair, which the place with this sweet smell. Also you can buy souvenirs for your family and cheaper than in shops, because just under the tower there are a lot of immigants who sell souvenirs. If you walk a bit more you go to a viewpoint, only a few minutes of the tower, where you can see the garden and the Eiffel tower perfectly, this viewpoint is ideal to take photos and buy more souvenirs. Paris is famous because it's a magic city, which a lot of people call ''the city of love'', full of monument , beautiful places and a very interesting history.

Maybe the french are not always very nice, but their city is one of the most beautiful , for that reason I think nobody should miss the oportunity of visit Paris and the huge Eiffel tower, a monument which every tourist should see.

Aroa Cortés 2nC batx

change eating habits

A lot of times people can't avoid eating snacks , fast food or unhealthy food because they like it, but we have to be concious that this type of food is very bad and dangerous for our body and health.

I'm not talking about eating only vegetables , I mean that wehave to get used eating healthy food, like vegetables, fish, meat, fruit, etc. and eat sweets , snacks or chocolate with less frequency. We only have to follow the food pyramid, in which we can see what is recomended to eat and how many times, it says that we have to eat mainly cereals, bread, pasta, vegetables, fruit, meat, milk... And sugar or snacks only sporadically.

Sometimes it's very difficult to follow this type of advices, but our body will thank us, because we will be more healthy and have confidence in ourselves.

Aroa Cortés 2nC batx