Equal Pay Day 2023 will be 22nd November.Today, the Fawcett Society, the UK’s leading membership charity campaigning for gender equality and women’s rights at work, at home and in public life, can confirm that Equal Pay Day 2023 will fall on 22nd November.Equal Pay Day is a national campaign led by the Fawcett Society in the UK. It marks the day in the year when, based on the gender pay gap, women overall in the UK stop being paid compared to men.The gender pay gap is the difference between the average pay of men and women within a particular group or population. Fawcett uses the mean, full-time, hourly gender pay gap for the UK to calculate the gender pay gap for Equal Pay Day which this year is 10.7%, a tiny shift from 10.9% last year.
Category: Equality of Opportunity
System Update: Addressing the Gender Gap in Tech
System Update: Addressing the Gender Gap in Tech is the culmination of eight months of extensive research, interviews and polling. The report explores the views and experience of women and men who work in tech roles, those who have recently left, and women who have qualifications but are not currently working in the sector.Key findings include:
- 1 in 5 men working in tech roles believe that women are naturally less suited to working in the sector.
- 43% of women in the tech sector think about leaving their role at least once a week.
- More than a quarter of women with STEM qualifications outside of the sector believe there is more sexist behaviour in tech than other types of work.
- 72% of women in tech roles have experienced at least one form of sexism at work.
- This includes being paid less than male colleagues and sexist ‘banter’ (22%) and questioning of their skills and abilities (20%).
- Black and minoritised women have experienced additional levels of exclusion, with almost three in four having experienced racism at work.
- 1 in 3 Black women have been assumed by colleagues to not hold a technical role
The Worker Protection Bill will become law
TODAY IS A HUGE DAY IN THE FIGHT AGAINST WORKPLACE SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN THE UK.We are delighted that The Worker Protection Bill has passed its final stage in the House of Commons which means it will become law before the end of the year.Everybody deserves to feel safe at work but the harsh reality is that too many women don’t because workplace cultures allow sexual harassment to thrive. Recent news stories have shown just how deep the crisis is and the research backs it up. At a minimum, sexual harssment is experienced by 40% of women in the workforce over the course of their career. Different women experience different rates and forms of harassment. People of colour report even higher rates of sexual harassment while 68% of disabled women and LGBTQ+ workers have experienced workplace harassment.
Remote Work Has Seemingly Emboldened Workplace Harassers
In some ways, the often informal and unsupervised channels through which remote work takes place can actually enable increased harassment—because of both the lack of oversight and witnesses to employee interactions and the blurring of barriers between professional and personal spaces. “We often hide for a reason, and for many of us, the pandemic made that covering impossible,”
https://jezebel.com/remote-work-has-seemingly-emboldened-workplace-harasser-1847059639
Report: Facebook Content Mods Say Company Therapists Were Pressured to Share Session Details
Adding to an already ridiculously long list of complaints, now Facebook’s content moderators say a higher-up asked company-appointed counselors to share information from their sessions, according to a new report from the Intercept.
Numerous investigations have described this workforce as notoriously underpaid and overworked in crappy working conditions that require them to scan through some of the most disturbing posts the internet can offer. You know, all the things it might behoove someone to see a therapist about.
This most recent criticism comes from a site in Austin, Texas, led by Accenture, an independent contractor Facebook hired to oversee 1,500 of its content moderators. Accenture and Facebook also employ trauma counselors, a.k.a. “wellness coaches,” to help staff cope after screening all that potentially graphic content to judge whether it violates the company’s terms of service.
via Report: Facebook Content Mods Say Company Therapists Were Pressured to Share Session Details
Ex-student sues Cambridge University over harassment complaint – BBC News
A former student says she’s suing the University of Cambridge over the way it dealt with her harassment complaint.
Dani Bradford, 21, says she’s taken the action because she “wants things to change for other students”.
The university upheld a complaint she made about being sent “sexualised” text messages – but Dani isn’t happy with the way it handled her case.
Cambridge University says it “takes the personal safety of its students very seriously”.
via Ex-student sues Cambridge University over harassment complaint – BBC News
Sex, lies, and surveillance: Something’s wrong with the war on sex trafficking
Silicon Valley’s biggest companies have partnered with a single organization to fight sex trafficking — one that maintains a data collection pipeline, is partnered with Palantir, and helps law enforcement profile and track sex workers without their consent. Major websites like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and others are working with a nonprofit called Thorn (“digital defenders of children”) and, perhaps predictably, its methods are dubious.
Thorn offers internet companies its content moderation tool “Safer,” and for law enforcement, its separate data-mining and user-profiling tool “Spotlight.” Both use data sources and AI to automate policing of sex content. Of Thorn’s 31 nonprofit partners, 27 target adults and vow to abolish consensual sex work under the banner of saving children from sex trafficking.
via Sex, lies, and surveillance: Something’s wrong with the war on sex trafficking
Alabama Mayor Mark Chambers Wants to ‘Kill the Problem’ of ‘Homosexuals’
Last week, Mark Chambers, the mayor of Carbon Hill, Alabama, shared an image on his Facebook page that read, in all-caps, “WE LIVE IN A SOCIETY WHERE HOMOSEXUALS LECTURE US ON MORALS, TRANSVESTITES LECTURE US ON HUMAN BIOLOGY, BABY KILLERS LECTURE US ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIALISTS LECTURE US ON ECONOMICS.”
SOUNDS LIKE AN OKAY WORLD TO ME!
In case the post wasn’t clear enough on just where he stands on the issue of LGBT rights (or abortion, or socialism), after a friend commented that it “will take a revolution” to change society, Chambers then replied, “The only way to change it would be to kill the problem out. I know it’s bad to say but with out killing them out there’s no way to fix it.”
via Alabama Mayor Mark Chambers Wants to ‘Kill the Problem’ of ‘Homosexuals’
Kesha Drops ‘Rich, White, Straight Men’: Listen
Has anyone talked to Kesha about the 2020 election recently? Based on the new track she dropped on Monday, she is mad as hell and ready for change. “Rich, White, Straight Men” is a droll, tongue-in-cheek critique of the United States’ treatment of women, immigrants, and same-sex couples who want to get married. Kesha also takes serious issue with the country’s reluctance to adopt universal healthcare and free college for all. The message is clear! (Is she voting Warren?)
Sonically, this song is unlike any other Kesha’s ever released; there are no thumping club beats or glittery opening chords. This is far from the perfectly manicured pop songs that were once her calling card. “Rich, White, Straight Men” opens with the unsettling sound of cashiers opening and coins falling, and then Kesha begins to dryly check off a list of policies that would materially improve our lives, if only the people in power would enact them. The best part, though, is the song’s literal chorus of voices demanding to know “What if the rich, white, straight men didn’t rule the world anymore?” The melody is almost… swashbuckling? Burlesque? Kesha’s voice uncharacteristically slides up and down as she sings “Guess what, God is a woman, I know her.” The whole thing feels slightly uncomfortable, I guess rather like the political climate. It’s an unprecedented and ultimately enjoyable change for her; what would it sound like if this Kesha made a whole album? I look forward to finding out.
Japanese Women Protest Requiring High Heels at Work
Women in Japan are asking that the government ban employers from discriminating against women who don’t wear high heels to job interviews or work. The movement was started by freelance writer and actor Yumi Ishikawa, who submitted a petition with more than 18,000 signatures to the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare on Monday, according to BuzzFeed News Japan.