The underlying premis of the thread is that females are systematically victimised by males and thereby kept away from participating in the markets as paid employees.
There are multitudinous statements from the OP, saying “Men are abusers”,men are child abusers", men are rapists", " men are wife beaters" even “Men are responsible for market crashes”, “Men start wars” etc etc
Quite how we can discuss the question as framed in the thread title without occasionally discussing the veracity (or lack of it) of the underlying (false) assumptions I cannot say and would invite yourself and @PipMeHappy to comment on that question !
Interesting to see that article in here! My wife has a conventional ‘career’ job, whereas I left law enforcement/defence after 11 years when our second child turned up (getting shot at for 20% of my wife’s income seemed a poor family choice once it was more than just the two of us), so for a couple of years I was the stay at home dad, and then for kids three and four my wife and I shared childcare, between us around work. It meant that we didn’t need any childcare, which we preferred. I encountered much of the sexism mentioned by the chap in the article. If I took a baby or toddler to the supermarket and they cried, I many times had a woman approach, ignore me, but then say directly to the kids ‘don’t worry, Mummy will be back soon’. Primary School party invitations (our youngest are five and nine) invite Mums to stay, but don’t mention Dads. There are umpteen ‘Mums’’ coffee mornings, I am of course welcome and I do go but the language has not caught up and I occasionally feel uncomfortable asking. I have an old car I tinker with during the day when markets are quiet. Neighbours and sometimes even tourists will walk past and ask me 'how do you live in this big house when during the working day you’re out here playing? They never think that my wife might be in the house/in London working at her full time, six figure salary 20+ year career job I senior management with a major multinational. They’d never dream of asking my wife the same question were position reversed - they’d assume that I was inside making bank.
Anyway, it’s all fine, and I love this thread, but thought I would post up those brief experiences, having seen that interesting BBC article you posted. Sorry if I am off-topic or a distraction.
@SimonTemplar Wonderful to hear your story again, Simon!
I think the difference is this: women go on marches about sexism; men barely talk to each other about it.
So the kind of ‘incompetent dad’ or ‘breadwinner husband’ stereotypes are something that men who experience them do not much complain about but often tolerate in silence.
There is a doctrine in First Aid that you ignore the ones who are screaming and go look at the ones who are quiet first - They are most likely the ones in most need of real help !
Aww! Don’t say that @PipMeHappy! I’m sure there are other silent readers like me who always read your updates on this thread. Haha. Keep up the good work!
Hello and Yes I am. Nice to meet you and thanks again for mentioning our company. Much appreciated. Sorry for the late response back. We are finishing up our Summer session…
One of the topics that I have not explored on this thread is women from ethnic minorities (e.g. black, Latino) in finance: as well as you and your business partner, I noticed a diverse mix of women on your website, which makes it unique.
Aye, very true, but in truth I think that gender pay inequality often happens because it’s the way it was, almost a continuation by default.
Modern businesses find that by paying staff according to value is the way to go, just the same as all investments the better return then the more it’s worth, then you have incentivized workforce.
The opposite is the case, one young girl that I know has a highfalutin job in finance, she accidentally found out that she was being paid less than male colleagues so she promptly cut her hours.
I know from experience that this young lady is good at what she does, now her company will receive less value and lose her potential when she inevitably moves.
Interesting scenario @peterma - clearly she has a contract of employment and provided her decision to take this passive aggressive step falls within the wording of that contract, she is entitled to take it.
If not, she is breach of her employment conditions and would rightfully receive a written warning.
However the likelihood is that this would be taken as an opportunity to claim “Constructive dismissal” and instigate a tribunal event. She would likely get some recompense from the tribunal, although it is a long time since I went to one, they may decide that her action was partly to blame and reduce the award.
Naturally, this would prejudivce any future potential employer against treating her as “an equal” with someone who had never taken an employer to tribunal.
As a Freelance QS, I used to charge a slightly bigger hourly rate than PAYE employees get, because I have to cover “Sickness, holidays, NI”, etc etc.If I were a young female “freelance” I would need to decide whether I needed to charge a little more still, to cover “Maternity” requirement.
The likelihood is that I woud decide not to be “Self-employed” in this case and that I would get a “nice secure job” somwhere that the Employer would be forced to cover the costs of My decisions to have children.
However, it is currently illegal for that Employer to pay “more reliable” (male) employees a premium for this, so I see many smaller Offices and firms, with somwhat older females working within them.
Now life has reached a stage where I can relax a little and can now reduce my prices and take on a different type of clients; small builders, subcontractors and clients who feel they are being “abused” because they cannot afford a full-time QS. Generally I’ll charge them a fairly nominal amount to look through the documents, discuss the issues and form an opinion as to whether I can help them in a cost effective way or not. If the answer is in the affirmative, I’ll put together the claim for them, work out their Final Accounts" or whatever, write the correspondence and hopefully get them their money (Often considerably More than they thought they were due ! )
I am still as good as I was, but am happy to work for less and they get the advantage of my skills and abilities at a discount rate.
My prima facie opinion is that your “young lady” is playing a dangerous and as I said “Passive-Aggressive” game by taking her apparent actions - but of course I don’t know the full facts.
She already is disadvantaged by the perceived “threat” of “maternity absence” from getting an equal job in the private sector and if she is revealed to future “Employers” as a “trouble - maker” is liable to be offerred only second rate opportunities if any !
My advice to her would be to get the “better paid” job and leave, on the basis that if that was all the Employer thought she was worth, they were wrong. I would Not advise her to demand “Equal pay” or to take the action she has.
It could be worth her asking for a pay rise and pointing out her value to the firm, but unilaterally going “Part-time” (whilst I can see her Anger being assuaged by th eaction), cannot but harm her current credibility by casting doubt on her “commitment” and her future prospects as explained above.
Don’t say that 
I’m sure there are other silent readers like me who always read your updates on this thread. Haha. 
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