A number of years in the past, I discovered myself on a press junket with then-TV3 presenter Sinead Desmond. The place most of us journalists had been pleased to chill out, drink within the native sights at leisure and take in the native wineries much more enthusiastically, Desmond was knowledgeable powerhouse.
Whereas we nursed hangovers or faffed about on Fb, Desmond was awake hours earlier than anybody to get a morning run out of the way in which. She socialised sensibly within the evenings, holding one eye on the job at hand always. She labored tougher than anybody on the journey, getting her on-camera takes excellent.
On her downtime, she was knowledgeable and fascinating firm; sharper than most of us, at any fee. The broadcaster is fortunate to have her, I believed. Little doubt TV3 thought so too, which is why their determination to pay her lower than her Eire AM co-presenter, after which not maintain on to her when she determined to resign, is a complete thriller.
This week, contemporary focus was shed on Desmond’s equal pay case, introduced towards Virgin Media Tv. A decide gave the broadcaster previously often known as TV3 permission to problem a Office Relations Fee determination in her equal pay case. Desmond, you’ll recall, resigned in 2017 and filed a declare for constructive dismissal following the revelation that she was paid lower than her co-anchor Mark Cagney.
For his or her half, Virgin Media Tv claimed that Cagney, arguably a extra skilled and better-known broadcaster, was not an “applicable comparator”. Not solely did Virgin Media Tv cite Cagney’s “star energy”, in addition they famous that he was a contractor and never a member of employees, like Desmond.
Star energy and nationwide profile decided wage on this case, not gender. Whereas Cagney left the station in July 2019, Desmond has been absent from Irish screens since demanding pay parity for doing the exact same job as her colleague. And doing it properly too.
Virgin Media’s determination to double down and problem Desmond’s case isn’t prone to encourage confidence in any girl hoping to ask for a pay rise, and even asking for pay parity with colleagues. There are clearly causes for Virgin Media Tv’s determination to problem Desmond’s case that the remainder of us are usually not aware of, however the optics aren’t nice in an occasion like this.
Search pay equality along with your colleagues (gender, as we’ve stated, isn’t coming into it) and overlook simply being knocked again on the request: see what occurs to the profession that you simply’ve labored extremely onerous to construct. I ought to assume a lot of girls would check out a case like this and determine to maintain the peace and never hassle searching for pay parity with their colleagues. Besides this isn’t actually placing one’s head above the parapet, is it?
Asking for a similar pay because the colleagues that do the very same job as you shouldn’t be seen as disruptive or troublesome. And but that is seen as a scenario nonetheless couched in gender. Males haven’t any downside in any respect asking for pay raises. Analysis undertaken by the Harvard Enterprise Evaluation in 2018 discovered that ladies ask for a elevate simply as usually as males, however males are extra doubtless to achieve success. Ladies who requested, obtained a elevate 15pc of the time, whereas males obtained a pay improve 20pc of the time. Appears like a modest distinction, but is probably going so as to add up over a lifetime.
Difficult the established order and perceived inequality takes bravery and, fortunately, it has labored out in some cases. Over on the BBC, broadcasters like Huw Edwards and Jeremy Vine took sizeable pay cuts after studying their feminine colleagues earned lower than them. The late actor Chadwick Boseman took a pay lower on a movie to extend the wage of his co-star Sienna Miller.
These are beautiful gestures, however the onus shouldn’t be on males to do that. It’s on their bosses to take a step again, have a look at the job that’s being carried out on a day-to-day foundation and write the suitable pay cheque. Within the meantime, I hope Desmond ultimately returns to our screens.
Nobody ought to really feel compelled to halt a profession they constructed slowly and steadily simply because they’ve requested their boss for pay equality; one thing many individuals would take into account proper and truthful.
Heaps to love about Twitter in 2020
You may inform an terrible lot about what sort of loopy yr we have now had as a nation by taking a look at our Twitter exercise. It can most likely come as no shock to anybody that #Covid19 and #Coronavirus had been the 2 most used hashtags on the social media platform this yr.
Elsewhere, #ActsofKindness, kickstarted by TV government/writer Helen O’Rahilly, was one other extensively used hashtag, as was #SelfIsolationHelp. Actor Paul Mescal lays declare to tweeting essentially the most appreciated Tweet of 2020, who posted a succinct “I’m Irish” after sure media shops described him as British after his Emmy nomination.
The second clearly hit a nerve with Irish people who find themselves fed up with the UK press ‘claiming’ homegrown expertise, in addition to Mescal’s brief, sharp strategy to diffuse the mistruth. As if Twitter’s potential to propel urgent social issues into mass focus was ever unsure, the platform additionally propelled the #BlackLivesMatter motion into the mainstream dialog, whereas #Golfgate, #Brexit and even #ConnellsChain had been additionally sizzling subjects.
Wanting again on the yr’s most used hashtags and hottest music/movie handles, it exhibits simply how a lot we wanted one another and to have communal dialog.
Twitter will get a number of flak for being poisonous, however trying again on our shared exercise on the positioning proves that, at the very least this yr, we wanted it greater than ever.
It is by no means tattoo late for Madonna
Cue the ‘inked for the very first time’ headlines as 62-year-old Madonna will get her first ever tattoo — information that has made worldwide headlines.
The world appears notably obsessive about Madonna’s efforts to carry again the tide of ageing, but when they’re ready on this sixty-something to tug out the Radio Occasions and staff it with slippers and cocoa, they’ll be left wanting.
At an age when many others are eyeing retirement, Madonna continues to be checking off firsts.
It’s a must to doff your hat to that on the very least.
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